As we see the style was still using Javanese architecture which accomodating the Mihrab (where the Imam would lead the prayer from) and prayers’ hall. Eventhough the style is relativelly simple, there is a grand gesture from the moment we step in the hall. The aura of serenity and calmness. The fences surrounding the mosque was built in Hindu style in order to honor other religion (at that time Hindu and Budha) who have helped building the mosque. So, from the out side you will find that the compound as if we are entering a Hindu Pura (temple).

The second oldest would be Masjid Agung Surakarta (the great mosque of Surakarta) which was built in 1763.

The youngest is Masjid Agung Yogyakarta which was built nearing the end of 18th century.

On the three mosques we found similiarity of granduer even if ornamentations were rare on Kotagede mosque. The philosphy of using the space is in the same style with one main hall (although different in sizes) and a mihrab on the front (west side, since according to compass Makkah where Ka’bah is located, is in that direction), with additional function such as terraces, here and there according to the taste of the ruler at the time, but still in the main line.

As Moslems, we are obliged to pray 5 times daily, and for people who practically spend their entire day in malls, either as staff or visitor, this generates a need for Mushallas to accommodate this need. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there hasn’t been a shopping center that is able to provide its staff and visitors with a somewhat befitting Mushalla. The Mushallas I have prayed in, in these shopping centers, are usually hidden, next to the toilets, or occupy left-over spaces near, or in vehicle parking areas. To be honest, I don’t think that the places that I have mentioned are befitting to be holy spaces!

A part of me consider this a regular issue, as mall owners are generally non-Moslem, and thus it may be the case that they think “oh well, as long as I give them a place to pray in, then it’ll be ok…” but it’s not! What if I put chappels in parking lots? I bet they’ll have something to say as well!

So, why don’t we as architects, take a closer look at these public religious facilities…they play an important role in our lives, and I reckon that they deserve to be located on a much better spot.

Nanda

On Islamic Architecture

January 15: Yarshater Lectures at SOAS Lecture, United Kingdom

January 16: Heritage Issues of Hampi,Conference India

January 21: Contemporary Arab American Art Exhibition, United States

January 23: Conservation of Biodiversity in Protected Areas: Opportunities and Challenges, Conference India

January 29: 11th International Conference on Humane Habitat (ICHH) 2009, Conference India

http://www.archnet.org/calendar/

Digital Cities

New London Architecture, The Building Centre
26 Store Street
London, USA

Munio Weinraub & Amos Gitai – Architecture and Film in Israel
Pinakothek der Moderne
Munich, Germany
Now   to January 25, 2009

Bauhaus 1919 & 208;1933: workshops for modernity
The Museum of Modern Art
New York, NY, USA
Now   to January 25, 2009

Challenges of Urban Architecture – Design and Engineering of Construction Companies
Museum of Modern Art Saitama
Saitama-ken, Japan
Now   to January 25, 2009

Building Sustainable Communities
Danish Architecture Centre
Copenhagen, Denmark
Now   to January 29, 2009

The RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards
V&A RIBA Architecture Gallery
London, SW7 2RL England, United Kingdom
Now   to   January 31, 2009

More updates: http://www.architectureweek.com/cgi-bin/calendar.cgi?e

Architecture has evolved from ancient time to now in many different forms and functions. One thing we have to understand that they all come from a simple understanding of ‘space’.

As New Year had just passed, which is also a form of Roman culture invested in our life, festivities are bound to take place on all earth surface; fireworks, parties, heavy conjunctions, shopping activities and so on. So, what’s this got to do with architect as a profession?

As an architect in this era, our responsibilities mounted as high as a mountain, we are the core development on earth. We need to look back in history as a reminder on Roman Architecture, which is profoundly shaping the urban scape in many cities of the world. Whether we see it as a facade on a house, a building with functions, the roman style has been implemented as classical style that is easily to  be detected; massive structure of columns, heavy and bulky forms, and high ceiling. In contrast with this form, we now have high demands to meet special requirements such as: Eco-friendly architecture.

In some parts of the world this type of roman style is not needed, they would look strange and astray in totally different culture. Although so, heritage of the old colonial time in Indonesia, has left us many Dutch architecture which has a root on Roman style in some ways. They now stand as marks, but ridiculously there are some examples that try to imitate this style in totally new buildings. These inconsiderate moves will create foreign and fake feeling to the surrounding. We should know better, than recreating a Disney world into our own culture. What would be my advice to young architects out there, use your creativity to meet the clients request, without leaving out your own culture.

Happy New Year 2009!!!

May this year will bring happiness, good lucks, and success to all of us.

When flying across the Alps that evening, I was seeing the beautiful snow caps and take with me a freeze frame in my mind, just how wonderful the world is. And that gives me a sense of awareness, how this journey to Venice would be a different experience than many others. The journey from Weimar took almost 12 hours by it self to reach Venice in the evening, but this time I would bring with me a moment of architect’s soul in me.

bienalle venice 2008

The site was the whole Venice island, and as I choose only to see the architecture exhibition (there were also art, music, dance, cinema, and theatre), we decided to go to Arsenale where the architecture exhibition is and then later on to Giardini, where the pavilions of many countries are.

This year’s Biennale is titled “Architecture Beyond Building”. And so as an entrance in Arsenale, was this area where words have no meaning, the sight was so overwhelmingly emotional that I felt a rush of love for architecture in my vein punctured my heart. The entrance area was a dark space, with calming music and two arched screen on which projections of forms in colors and light were mingled in harmony. It made me feel as if I’m in an architectural heaven and it was by far the most probable of how it would look like.

Each step after that was more spectacular, well if you see things on a website, you might only feel as it can be only 3d models, but being there and can actually touch and feel them, was a surreal thing. The place for this was an unused area of dock or may say docklands. It was already disheveling and bad in condition, but the space that was created in it would make us think, this is a sight you would never imagined to be in, when it was only old storage rooms. The ceilings of these spaces are high, which let the creativity of architects run free.

Ideas have no limits here; this time the essence of architecture is being recaptured. What each architect’s opinion is important to what the result of their creation, and mainly we are talking about space here, not form, not building, because that is where the term got mixed up. Architects stars such as; Zaha Hadid, Frank O Gehry, Coop Himmel Blau, An Te Liu and so many others are congregated in this event. It is of no surprise that the ambience of creativities is alarmingly high.

Another point that was also being presented there was the emergence of urban design and planning. Whether we like it or not, our actions as an architect give an influence to a higher level of planning. And that is where urban design is translated as beyond building, which is a branch of this architecture exposition.

In Giardini, many of the countries who are participating in this exhibition do use some famous architects, but mainly also from educational side (university levels). Therefore it was quite a contrast between these two, but both are equally mesmerizing and enchanting. In this area, each country has its own building; many European countries are participating, but some Asian countries have their pavilions near the Arsenale main building. May be it was due to site’s and space limitation, but all in all, it was a very big show of force in architecture creativity.

I particularly like the Italian pavilion; it was very large of course, since they are the host. It also presenting so many pixels of its new architecture feature embeds with the theme of this biennale. The Danish pavilion would be my second choice with the giant globe and interactive tools. After that comes the Belgian, even though the show case it self was empty. The title was “after the party” it lays the understanding of a space of fun, interpreted by the tons of this confetti on its floor. It brought up some marks for its visitor, a mark that we have visited the Belgian’s party. A sweet reminder; try to have as much fun as possible by throwing confetti in the air, and see how the effect clench your heart. The rest have lacked the positive energy one should try to put up on this type of exhibition.

The day ended in a flash of time, when the lights are lighted, the sun sets on the water edge, while a cup of hot vanilla latte was served. Resting on a bench and sip through the drink, my mind was captured in a zen state, absorbing the fantastic creativity environment. I am in love again with architecture for the millionth of times.

Architecture and fengshui is the knowledge that two mutually related with one another. Basically, both of these things have the same objects to observe about one another, they are about the building, as the human, environmental and around the building is located.

Here I will try to explain a few things that can be related between architecture as a science, and fengshui as a science.

The origin of the word

Feng means wind, Shui means water. Feng Shui is the science that teach how to balance the elements of nature that move / flow.

Archi means art, design tekton means design and build, while the architecture is the art of design and built.

Who’s the specialist?

Fengshui = Geomanser, Architecture=Architect.

What is the objective?

Geomanser as a communicator, with a focus on ways to improve the welfare and prosperity.

Architects as a mediator, as a bridge between ‘dreams and reality, transforming a concept and notion that dwelling on the clients’ dreams to be a physical manifestation with the building.

For what?

Fengshui work to arrange the building of housing and the environment in harmony with the soul of the residents. Fengshui no longer only used in the homes, but also have been used for offices, housing, and commercial buildings.

Building as an architecture product is expected to provide benefits for all of the people around, especially related to the character of the area in the city

The Plan-less Concept is strongly related to Catalytic Planning; both being strategic approaches. Although referred to as Plan-less, but this does not mean that the planning was conceived without any thoughts or considerations. This planning model does not, in the end, come up with an actual plan as regular planning models do; its end result, instead, is a spatial program.

This type of planning model can be used to restore functions, and control planned zones that have been violated. The consideration towards implementing this concept is the characteristic of Catalytic Planning itself where a new, so to say, “ingredient” is introduced into the existing context. This new element will then influence the context in such a way according to the predetermined program.

The changes that this new element cause are of course (hopefully) for the better; thus the “chemical reaction” which takes place should be closely observed and controlled to ensure that it doesn’t cause damage to the original context. And since the characteristic/pattern of the “chemical reaction” is not predetermined, therefore there is no such thing as “one formulae for all circumstances”. In my opinion, this is a weakness of the Catalytic model.

The beauty of this model, however, is in the new “ingredient” itself. Its formulation is strongly influenced by the context to which it will be introduced, and ultimately it will influence the context itself. Thus this new component must first of all be well understood, considered, and accepted.

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Which one comes first, “form follows function”, or “function follows form”? This is just like how we can compare between egg and chicken, which one comes first, egg, or chicken?

Form follows function is a principle associated with modern architecture and industrial design in the 20th Century, which states that the shape of a building or object should be predicated by or based upon its intended function or purpose [wikipedia.org], and the other one is by the opposite. It doesn’t means as form follows function is the best answer for this, although an architect usually do the design process by creating the lay-out of the room and the arrangement first, and later designing the form of the building. Mies van der Rohe says that he did not stand against the form, but he think that form is a goal of the designing process. Rohe thinks that function follows form always end up with formalism, satisfied the building’s appearance from outside view, but we don’t know what will be happen inside.

But, many architects also do their design by not doing the same step, they design the form of the building first, and later design the lay-out next to be mixed up with that. Yes the building became magnificent, superb, and iconic, its appearance will looks like a sculpture. Tom Wright, one of the Atkin’s architect whom designed Burj Al Arab, said: “if you can draw a building with a few sweeps of the pen, and everyone recognizes not only structure but also associates it with a place on earth, you have gone a long way towards creating something iconic”. This is one of the examples of “function follows form” architect.

Another example of “function follows form” architect is Frank Gehry. Look at his work at MIT Strata Center. Iconic building with deconstructs style. But what happen next, MIT Sued Gehry much for that design. They said that accumulations of snow and ice have fallen dangerously from window boxes and other areas of its roofs, blocking emergency exits and causing damage. Totally disaster! Gehry did not follow the rule here, as Rohe already said above, we don’t know what will be happen inside.

I myself also do both of these designs process, following my clients’ order. I put one of the examples above, I called it: “The maestro’s house”. I like this one; it looks like an iconic building. Yes I think all of you know that it comes from the idea of a grand piano’s form. How bout you?

Andie Wicaksono

Architect, Urban Designer.

It seems though the design has some kind of a regular guide, pavement, reinstallment of railings, dike and of course urban furniture, such as lighting and bench. A pattern is seemed to be obvious as well, that the concern is no longer just to beautify the space, but also to function as an urban space. This attitude is really good, as a riverside or lake-side or beach, usually take up really long walkways and this means that the addition to city’s urban space is abundant along the water.

What should be considered is that the design should support facilities for the ‘diffables’; people with different abilities, especially the needs for standard dimensions. It is not a merely the design that will attract people to use this kind of space, most importantly is the’soul’, which will be added to the space by the activities that the user is doing. So, each city’s waterfront will have their specific ‘trademark’ according to their costum, culture and life.

This design was supposed to compete in the Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition in Japan, 2006; but due to unforseen circumstances, the final design didn’t make it out of the drawing board at all until now. So here it is, in all its glory, an architectural concept which my colleague, Endy Y. Prasetyo from Studio Rurale Surabaya, and I put together two years ago.

Theme Description

It is generally thought that the plan is a means for describing lifestyle. The fundamental principle of this descriptive technique is division. It is thought that the lifestyle inside a house is divided with the device of “walls.” Therefore, if only the elements called “walls” are picked out, and given an expression in which they are emphasized, people may understand the lines on a drawing that indicate the “walls” as describing the essence of a house.

Yet should a house be “walls”? Why can we not describe a house just by furniture? Why can we not describe a house just by tableware? Or what about a descriptive method using only floor textures? As the floor is the only component that the human body directly touches (actually, there are also doorknobs and toilet seats), if we were to describe a house by a technique of scanning with the body, the house would be described as a collection of textured floors. Or it would also be possible to describe a house in terms of air temperature, or in terms of malodorous places due to wind flows.

Why have I become so skeptical with regard to the descriptive method of walls? It is because I feel a sense of unease with the division of lifestyle, and the corresponding methods of spatial division. The cause might lie in devices such as mobile phones, which invalidate spatial divisions, and might also lie in the transformation (the becoming-amorphous) of interpersonal relationships and family relationships. Or, perhaps the “lifestyle” of the person that was the initial premise for the “division of lifestyle” disappears during the era of building a house. Because a person perhaps builds a house for somewhat distinct purposes, if this is investigated more thoroughly, the house, including every “thing,” rather than being something made for some particular purpose could also be said to somehow become a manifestation of its era. Taking a broad view of all of this, I am interested in a plan-less condition.

-Kengo Kuma

A house, in one of its narrowest sense of understanding, is a mere compilation of rooms, thus my partner and I have decided to discard the term room and replace it with a broader term of reference: location. In the end, the house, in our new interpretation, becomes a compilation of locations.

The word “room” indicates a concrete and completed component. Whereas the word “location” does not need to be a tangible chamber. It gains its meaning and character only when related to another “location”. As vague as it is, but at the same time, a “location” acts as a firm base for human activity. “Locations” calls for a brand new space, reffered to as “Space of no intention”. a space without intention directly confronts the functionalism of the modern era. Since the space has no specific function, it allows people within it to freely choose their own activity. Since there is no imposition, it is abundant with cues to activate people. Furthermore it easily relates to other spaces. The space exists wherever people act, so as to say, solidly yet liniently.

-Sou Fujimoto- Architecture Asia Issue 3 / Sept 2005-Nov 2005

In the attempt to achieve a plan-less condition, we decided to completely remove the interior walls therefore rendering the structure without massive spatial division, throwing away rooms, giving way to locations being a more flexible space which Sou Fujimoto refers to as Space of no intention which we interpret as spaces without clear definition since the type of activity the space contains is not yet clear. In our opinion, a space of no intention only needs a catalyst to encourage certain activities, and ultimately defining the location; rendering it no longer as space of no intention but space of intention in fact, the possibility exists for the space to become space with many intentions depending on the dimensions of its catalysts – which in the case of housing are known as furniture. As we have discovered, the larger the size of the catalyst, the greater the activities may vary.

An issue appears due to the removal of massive space dividing elements known as walls, and that issue happens to be privacy. As a solution, we applied different heights to each location, dividing it spatially by raising and / or lowering each location relative to the other; practically rotating the spatial zoning ninety degrees, zoning vertically rather than horizontally which is mostly done with housing projects. The public zone, is located at the very bottom since this is the zone in which various people have access to within it contains locations for living / gallery, and the kitchen. Above this zone, is the semi-public within it the group of people that have access is narrowed down. Locations in it are those such as : dining, and living. Then comes the semi-private zone, where the narrow group of people is narrowed down yet again to a more specific group of people. This level contains locations such as the sleeping areas. Finally, located on the highest point is the private zone containing the bathing area. Philosophically speaking, we think that people are true human beings when they leave all their attributes behind – literally – no longer being the military general he / she may be, or the businessman / career woman they may also be. Just human, simple and pure. Therefore this highly valued state is located in the highest point within the house.