Nature-inspired home an oasis in the city

Nature-inspired home an oasis in the city

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As more people reach out and try to get in touch with nature,
they are increasingly incorporating elements of nature into their
homes in the ultimate marriage of modern convenience and natural
solitude.

Among these people is Joelianto Noegroho, a young executive
whose nature-inspired home reflects the search for a sanctuary
amid the stress of the capital.

His three-story house, built mainly from wood, stone, glass
and steel, stands on a 500-square-meter plot of land in the
Permata Buana housing complex in West Jakarta.

"The land is elevated about two meters above street level so,
for esthetic reasons, it spares us from using high fences while
at the same time we don't sacrifice security considerations,"
said Idris Samad, the architect.

The main wooden gate leads to the garage and a stone staircase
to the right, leading to the house's main entrance. This
staircase is located in a beautiful front garden, which radiates
a strong tropical atmosphere that blends well with the modern-
looking house.

The garden is embellished with different types of palm trees,
bamboo and rambling air mancur (fountain) plants, planted along
the outer wall, which is made of black candi (temple) stone from
Central Java.

Idris separated the garden from the inner court with a curved
wooden screen, stretching along the front garden and cutting
through a concrete entrance gate at the center of the house.

"It sort of creates a yin and yang effect between the concrete
gate and the wooden screen," he said, adding that basically he
adopted the concept of form-follows-function for the house.

The curved wooden screen serves as ventilation and shields the
inner court from outside eyes. Yet it still enables the house
owners to look outside to the street.

Serenity reigns in the inner court, which is a transition area
from the area exposed to the public (garden) to the private area
(house). The court, embellished only with loose natural stones,
appeases the senses and draws the mind away from the scorching
heat, heavy traffic and stressful routine before entering the
house.

To avoid any impressions of excess, Idris divided the house
into three sections -- the left part of the house was designed to
accommodate various functions, the right part for bedrooms, while
the central part of the house is for the traffic, in this case
the staircase.

The architect uses huge openings, doors, windows and glass
walls, especially in the living quarters on the ground floor,
namely the living/family room, the pantry and the dining room, to
enable good ventilation, interaction and to expose these areas to
the soothing view of the rear garden or to the small greenhouse
at the center of the house.

"It is also an energy-saving strategy because the owners don't
need lighting during the day or the air con," he explained.

The house is also differentiated into three zones: the ground
floor contains the foyer, a bedroom and the less private living
quarters, the basement is for service and a music room (to
insulate the noise), while, to ensure privacy, the upper floor is
allocated only for two bedrooms.

For the floors, Idris uses unpolished granite for outdoors and
polished granite for the interior, ceramic for the living room
and parquet for the upper story.

He also used recycled materials like granite and various kinds
of timber -- cut and piled neatly -- to build granite and wooden
walls in the house.

"Notice the interesting wooden hues of different timbers. I
love using recycled materials and love to experiment with them,"
Idris said, pointing to a wall of piled timbers that also acts as
an accent to one of the bedrooms.

The staircase is self-standing exposed concrete, which Idris
said was quite a challenge to build. It is equipped with a steel
railing and the concrete treads, layered with sonokeling wood,
are designed in a narrowing shape to avoid the rigid appearance
of rectangular-shaped staircases.

The rear part of the house is a treat for the eyes. There is a
terrace in front of a koi pond, with water falling down a high
granite wall and flanked by two small gardens.

The terrace is furnished with a set of old rattan chairs from
Central Java and lined with old and thick wood used to line train
rails.

Sitting on the terrace, the house owners can enjoy the breeze,
the rippling sounds of water falling down the granite wall to the
fish pond and the tropical view of the rear gardens, which
contains tall palm trees and exotic frangipani.

"The house's gardens are an important feature because the
owners love gardening, which they said helps untangle their minds
from their stressful lives," Idris said.