Making the most of small apartments
Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As more and more properties are built in the suburbs, people are seeking alternatives and moving into apartments. It is such an advantage as most apartments are located downtown. Therefore, it will help the tenants or owners reach their working places quicker and, of course, avoid traffic jams in entrances from areas in Greater Jakarta.
One disadvantage is an apartment is usually limited in space. Therefore the interior must be carefully planned. It is not only to reflect the owners' lifestyle but also accommodate various functions without having to sacrifice the owner's needs.
To meet this objective, architect/designer Jaya Ibrahim emphasizes the proportional integration of furniture, decorations, lighting and other elements to make an arrangement in one room or area flow to another in a harmonious balance.
"When designing an apartment interior, whose architecture was designed by someone else, I always try to respond to the (architectural) design and adjust my style with the existing 'limits'," Jaya said at the Elite Grahacipta showroom in Jl. Kyai Maja, South Jakarta.
Since an apartment only possesses inward orientation -- meaning that it is centered around the interior -- the owners need to carefully select a theme for its interior's limited but usually spread open space.
"I avoid multi themes and if there are different themes I design it in such a way to enable a smooth flow from one theme to another," he said.
According to Jaya, it is advisable to choose contrasting themes as one room is always closely connected to another, making it difficult to isolate a particular theme and it will likely lead to confusion.
"This is the different between designing the interior of an apartment and a house. It is much easier to adopt different themes for each corner and room of a house," said Jaya, adding that a house possessed both inward and outward orientation, enabling people to see through to the garden.
In the case of a smaller-sized apartment, the owners do not have to sacrifice certain functions that cannot be accommodated separately. Instead, they can integrate different functions in one room. Jaya gave an example that a dining room can also double as a family room or a bedroom can also become a study room.
"It can be arranged in proportion to suit the owners' needs and lifestyle," explained the designer who was named among the world's 100 top interior designers and architects by Architectural Digest magazine, in January, 2002.
Lighting is important not only to provide proper illumination but also to help create the desired atmosphere, particularly the coziness. Apart from that, highlighting elements of the interior can help accentuate different dimensions in an apartment room.
"The eyes will be directed by the lighting to a certain area and to reach an illuminated area, we can feel different dimensions as we pass through other illuminated areas," said Jaya, whose projects include designing the interior of the penthouse in the Four Seasons Apartment in Kuningan and The Dharmawangsa boutique hotel, both in South Jakarta.
Circulation, Jaya explained, has to be carefully planned and maintained when arranging the furniture and accessory elements to ensure smooth flow and in turn give a spacious effect to the room.
Mirrors also help expand vision but they should be applied architecturally so the desired spacious effect can be achieved.
As for a divider or screen, Jaya explained that it can be used based on the layout as it has several functions including dividing a room, hiding things or attracting attention to a certain area. "When placed near a window, for example, a divider can give an impression that there is another room behind it although actually there isn't," Jaya said.
As for the terrace, the plants can be carefully selected to avoid befuddlement. It is advisable to blend plants with harmonious colors and mix large-leaved plants with small-leaved ones, the aim is to create texture and dimension to the limited terrace.