The luminous world of Benno Salinas Fevriarto
The luminous world of Benno Salinas Fevriarto
By Maria Endah Hulupi
JAKARTA (JP): During the daylight, the famed ninth century
Prambanan Hindu Temple, some 17 kilometers east of Yogyakarta,
has a grandeur and beauty that dazzles people from all over the
world.
At night, visitors and passersby can still enjoy its elegance
as golden lights shower the complex situated on the Yogyakarta-
Solo highway.
As the sun slowly sets and its orange nuance gently fades
away, the three main temples begin to be illuminated by lights
that transform the stone temple complex into a glittering golden
temple against the dark night.
During the full moon that falls between May to October every
year, a traditional dance extravaganza of the epic Ramayana is
performed in the complex. The candid lighting system lends to the
magical atmosphere.
In the Hanoman Obong episode, the modern lighting system
improves the visual effects of a dramatic scene in which Hanoman,
the king of apes who helps Rama's rescue queen Sinta who is
abducted by the evil King Rahwana, is set ablaze.
The man behind this lighting is Benno Salinas Fevriarto, a
design consultant with PT GE Lighting Indonesia, whose designs
have also beautified several monuments and establishments in
several Asian countries, such as South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam
and Singapore.
Among his monumental works are Changwon velodrome, Chonju
stadium, Misari boat racing arena and one of the world's biggest
container ports in Pusan -- all in South Korea -- and hockey
stadium in Malaysia.
Benno said that comprehension about history, building
structures and their surroundings are important design elements,
aside from technical lighting knowledge.
"Lighting is part of the architecture. It's a combination of
art and science because lighting is not solely for functional
purposes but also for esthetic purposes," said the graduate of
Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, majoring in architecture.
Lighting serves not only to beautify a particular building but
also as a security measure in any project area.
"When working on the Prambanan project, I learned that the
crime rate in the complex was relatively high. There had been
cases of theft of historical priceless statues. I managed to
assure the temple management that the complex needed proper
lighting at all times -- even when there was no event there," he
said.
The illumination he talked about are four lamps that shine on
the main temples and position the remaining smaller temples as
elegant silhouettes.
Benno said each project had its own challenge, especially when
it comes to esthetic taste.
"Nothing is more flattering than knowing that people like my
work," he said, referring to his acclaimed works -- Prambanan and
Changon Stadium.
His design of Prambanan Temple lighting led him to the
"semifinals" in the 1999 Edison Award, an international contest
for lighting design.
His design emphasizes energy efficiency without sacrificing
esthetics, security and beauty that passersby can immediately
notice.
This was applied in his first lighting project, Gelora Bung
Karno, formerly Senayan Sport Stadium, in Central Jakarta in the
advent of the 1997 South East Asian Games. His design required
the scrapping of around 200 existing lamps to install 92 lamps.
"It was one of my most difficult projects because I was only
given two weeks to finish the job," he said, while adding that he
usually works alone and the team from GE helps him with the
installation.
His latest project was designing the lighting system for the
historical Tugu Selamat Datang (welcome statue) monument, at
Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta. The statue was
erected in 1962 to welcome foreign visitors to the then young
independent country.
The lighting project was to give the slowly forgotten statue a
nighttime identity among the scintillating lights, sparkling from
surrounding skyscrapers and the heavy traffic.
"After securing permission from the city administration, I
toured the area to get a better look at the statue, the
surroundings and the traffic during peak hours," he explained.
After the survey phase, he came up with a concept of creating
a "barricade" around the statue with yellow tone lamps to make it
stand out among other lights, without blinding motorists' eyes.
Several lamps were set on 16-meter-high poles and protected
with locked casing -- a measure aimed at protecting the lamps
against theft or undue damage.
"After all, we all know that the area is a popular place for
demonstrations," he said, laughing.
His design for Tugu Selamat Datang was also included in the on
going JakArt@2001 program and the official ceremony to inaugurate
the new lighting took place on June 29, 2001, attended by
representatives from the Jakarta city administration.
Benno has set up his own lighting design firm, Cipta Graha
Asana, and was appointed by PT GE Lighting Indonesia as
consultant in its "Building Pride with Lighting" program.
The program is the company's contribution to communities where
its branch offices are located -- something most welcomed by
local administrations as it greatly helps their city
beautification program.
As a designer in a country where lighting is yet to be given
high priority, Benno pointed out that too many beautiful
buildings are yet to have a proper illumination.