Situated in a dense housing complex in Srengseng, Jakar- ta; this 700 sqm site feels tighter despite its size. This pushed the architect to create a workable solution for this family of 4. Client's first brief was to limit land usage for building as to provide maximum outdoor landscape capacity and the ease at which future development can be planned. The presence of indoor landscape was also deemed to be of a necessity, due to client's affinity towards plants and greenery in general.
Photos: Arththur Ardian West Jakarta, Indonesia
The architecture concept emphasizes openness while taking into account the importance of priva- cy for this family. The house is divided into 3 levels with the first floor being used only as a service area. Living area was deliberately located to occupy the second and third floor in order to maxi- mize privacy.
The house privacy is further maintained by the placement of several large windows that are strate- gically placed to face the side and back landscape, while the house front end only has three much smaller windows divided between second and third floors. A planter box, which is used as a sound buffer from the crowded surrounding, is placed directly in front of the window at the third floor.
The living area layout design revolves around an open dry garden area that maximizes direct sunlight into the house. Dry garden area is also used as the staircase placement. In the near future, a tall tree of 2 levels height is planned to be planted in the planter box placed in the middle of the dry garden, making it one of the numerous house features. The third floor has a void looking direct- ly into the dry garden. White wall paint finish was selected because it helps to absorb and reflect daylight which then makes the rooms brighter and reduces the use of lighting during daytime.
The facade is composed of several orchestrated boxes with combination of wood and stone to blend the house to the lust landscape surrounding it. The wood feel is achieved by using fiber-ce- ment panel and galvanized steel screen attached to a black painted wall. The use of wood and natural stones from local suppliers was chosen to evoke calmness and serenity needed as an escape from the bustling surrounding.
As of in Cambodia, as an honorable mention, one of the largest Companies, Chip Mong Group – consisted of supermarkets, banks, construction contraction and so on, has planned to build its very first mall in Phnom Penh aiming to boom and outdo Aeon Group Malls, also used the very conven- tional kind of wood-looking concrete blocks to decorate the mall’s outdoor ceilings too. Here are some sneak picks of what the giant company’s mall would look like, or at least, planned to look like.
With this kind of constructions, we recommend Conwood – a wide variety of strong and durable CONWOOD to give any space the appearance of real wood covering. With a fast and easy instal- lation, this environmentally friendly solution is suitable for all conditions.
Did the interior and exterior of the two constructions above really serve? Leave us a comment below to let us know what you feel. And don’t forget to subscribe to se eour 2-weekly articles.
