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.