Soul support: Soothing the heart in a tranquil home
Soul support: Soothing the heart in a tranquil home
Maria Endah Hulupi, Contributor, Jakarta
A house can work wonders for its owners, as it does
not only reflect their lifestyle but with careful design, can
also soothe the heart and soul.
A home that also serves as a sanctuary from the usual routine is
hard to find, but the architects of this modern house make it
happen.
Designed by Budiman Hendropurnomo and the team of Denton
Corker Marshall Jakarta, the house allows the owner to live
surrounded by a soothing landscape, thanks to extensive use of
glass walls and doors.
The house's triangular site was, according to feng shui
principles, considered an unfavorable spot but the architect saw
the potential to build a homey, resort-like home.
When designing the house, Budiman created a series of linear
boxes with a wing-like concrete roof on the triangular piece of
land in Prapanca Buntu area, South Jakarta.
"The wing-like concrete roof acts as a sun catcher that brings
in the morning lights and directs it down to the interior of the
house so there is enough natural light without having to open the
windows," Budiman said.
He also positioned a service area at front part of the site,
whereas living areas are comfortably tucked on the other end of
the site.
Despite its clean and very modern expression, the house still
reflects a concept which embraces traditional roots. The linear
boxes elevated by columns and transverse walls were, the
architect said, were inspired by a "rumah panggung" (traditional
elevated house).
"The concept is to have three boxes floating in the air. The
service area is located in a dam-like structure that borders the
house with the Krukut stream," explained the architect, whose
Tugu Hotel, Malang, and Maya Ubud designs won the Indonesian
Institute of Architects' Awards.
"Before construction begun, we had to raise the site to around
1.6 meters because the area is prone to flooding," Budiman added.
From the entrance gate to the interior, the transitional
spaces unfold in sequences which condition the owners to
gradually forget the routine or the nerve-wracking traffic and
instead enjoy the soothing exterior landscape and private
interior spaces.
The transition area consists of a garage, a storage area, a
driver and security quarters. There is a fish pond with a timber
deck separating it from the service area, which include the
kitchen, the laundry washing and drying sections and the
servants' quarters.
The house is equipped with a drop off area in front of the
entrance door which leads to the living area. The latter
accommodates a dining room, a sitting room and a family room.
The master bedroom is also on the ground floor but has a
direct access to home theater on the upper level, which is
allocated for private areas such as three children's bedrooms, a
seating room and a game room.
Elements of nature -- like trees and water from the fish pond
and the swimming pool -- are an important part of the airy
interior, due to the use of glass walls and foldable glass doors
which obscure the separation between indoor and outdoor areas.
The glass doors can be opened to allow fresh air into the
interior and on the upper level, the use of glass further
intensifies the floating impression.
The beautiful tropical landscape also brings soothing tropical
flair into the interior which can be viewed from different
corners of the interior.
The dinning room overlooks the fish pond, the terrace and the
access bridge to the houses on the other side of Krukut stream,
which are also the property of the owners and was also designed
by the architect. Right above this access bridge is an upper
balcony that is nicely embraced by the twirling branches of a
large existing mango tree.
For the house, the architects used in situ concrete for the
wing-like roof and bangkirai for timber decking and ceiling
slats. For the swimming pool, they opted for flame-finished
andesite, quarried from West Java.
As for the landscape, the architect maintained the existing
trees to support the overall design by fulfilling both esthetic
and functional purposes. The large palm oil trees, for example,
shield the master bedroom from the street.
"The (existing) mango and mangosteen trees also help shade the
interior from harsh afternoon sun. But when it comes to
landscape, we are very lucky because there are five existing oil
palm trees on the site and we maintained them all," Budiman said.
In addition to the existing trees, the team also added
frangipanis, ferns and pisang kipas palm tree to add a tropical
bliss to the landscape.
To keep the landscape neat and organized, the concrete-roofed
garage and service areas is transformed into a grass lawn. Both
the house and its landscape were designed so as to allow an
architectural dialog with the other houses on the other side of
the Krukut stream.
The architect chose white and nuances of gray for the house
and added a little darker texture by using batu susun sirih
natural stone for the walls of the service area and the one that
frames the connecting access bridge.
During the evening, most of the house interior is illuminated
with gentle indirect light. Some table and hanging lamps are also
added to add proper illuminations in several spots, such as the
dining table.
As accents to the landscape, the lighting was also designed to
make individual trees stand out through the use of up lights
placed under the pisang kipas trees and the frangipani. Such a
lighting arrangement helps bring out the tranquil atmosphere that
reigns in both exterior and interior.