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Imelda Akmal : Putting her imagination into great design
JP/Mira VitaniaArchitects are expected to be very good at drawing and designing buildings — based on their imagination and skills
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JP/Mira Vitania
Architects are expected to be very good at drawing and designing buildings — based on their imagination and skills. They sketch buildings, houses and landmarks that provide places for people to conduct their activities, while keeping the aesthetics in mind.
While other architects have been busy creating spaces and constructing buildings, Imelda Akmal loves to write about architecture itself — referring to herself as an architecture writer — and has published more than 70 architecture and interior books.
50 Indonesian Architect + Emergings is Imelda’s third book that looks into the development of Indonesian architecture. Her two previous books, Indonesian Architecture Now and Indonesian Architecture
Now (II) published in 2005 and 2008 respectively, highlighted the latest contemporary works by Indonesian architects and aimed to give international exposure to local architects.
Imelda started her writing career in 1993, after earning a diploma in architecture from Trisakti University in Jakarta. Instead of applying for a position at an architect firm, she joined the staff of Femina, a local women’s magazine, as a columnist.
“Once, I wrote a column about interior design and gardening. At that time, I was still learning to be a writer,” said Imelda.
“I have enjoyed writing ever since.”
Working as a columnist, Imelda slowly introduced changes to her column. “At first, the column only discussed how to decorate big houses or high-end homes. I slowly changed direction and accommodated my interest in decorating smaller spaces. I began to add quick tips in my column, like how to make a home look spacious, or how to pick the right color for a home. I also featured some interior designers and their work.”
Around that time, some developers changed their marketing strategy by offering smaller homes. Thus, small homes became a trend in the real estate business, and Imelda discussed this in her column and continued giving practical tips and tricks on decorating small homes.
“Surprisingly, the response was very good. Many people called just to ask about this stuff. So in my second and third year at the magazine, I started to focus my writing on that.”
In 1996, Imelda quit her job as a columnist and started writing her own books. Together with her spouse and co-worker, photographer Sonny Sanjaya, Imelda published her first book, titled Menata Rumah Mungil (Decorating Small Homes).
“The shrinking sizes of homes in housing complexes obviously affected their architectural design, but not the interior elements. So back then, houses became smaller but the furniture remained large,” Imelda explained the background of her first book.
“At that time, if you bought a sofa setting you would get one three-seat sofa, one two-seat sofa, a couple of armchairs and one coffee table. These came in large sizes but were expected to fit in small houses. So I wrote the book as guidance for people to arrange their homes.”
The book was a big hit and has been reprinted 13 times over the last 10 years. It also gives Imelda Akmal a trademark — the small homes designer.
Imelda moved to Australia to pursue a Master’s degree in business management and work as a freelance interior designer. From there she moved to Singapore. After living in foreign countries for quite long time, Imelda realized something that led her to writing her book about the development of Indonesian architecture.
“Indonesia is a vast country, but no one works to promote our architecture to the international world. So people knew nothing about contemporary Indonesian architecture development.”
Imelda therefore began to develop a concept about her first architectural writing endeavor, Indonesian Architecture Now. In this book, she presented the works of 20 local architects.
Aimed at reaching international readers, the book was published in dual language, Indonesian and English. It took five years for Imelda to finish. It eventually became a major success.
“Indonesian Architecture Now became a bestseller and was a recommended title for a month at bookstores in Singapore,” Imelda said. “It was a breakthrough. Local architects were most happy because finally their works got international recognition.”
Imelda said she was contacted by several international publishers who asked for the contact numbers of local architects featured in her book. Imelda has since kept pace by publishing her second book,
Indonesian Architecture II, and then 50 Indonesian Architects + Emergings.
When asked why she chose a career as an architectural writer, Imelda said, “I discover new things every day, and I am challenged to be creative all the time. And this is very interesting.”
She paused, and then quickly added, “Actually, the writing is only 10 to 15 percent of the entire project. The rest consists of other activities, from getting ideas, doing research, seeking out details, interviewing, visiting the sites and seeing new designs, styling, directing the photographer to get the right shots, supervising the graphic design of the book. Everything is part of a chain of activities.”
For Imelda, writing an architecture book is like doing a project. It is interesting from the beginning, but it also needs consistency. Imelda said this work also took a lot of time and was exhausting. But the best part is you can see good designs and travel, Imelda said.
This suits Imelda because she loves traveling. “I have loved traveling ever since I was in high school. I’ve been to many countries, including spending some years living abroad in Australia, Singapore and London,” Imelda said with a smile.
“I was in Australia for three years. I spent two years in Singapore and a year in London. I was in London for my postgraduate studies in architectural theory and criticism.”
Although Imelda wrote all of her books herself, she has formed a team that helps her write architectural and interior books. Established in 2002, Studio IAAW (Imelda Akmal Architectural Writers) consists of nine female writers who studied architecture.
“I don’t know why my staff is all women. Maybe women are more interested in writing than men,” Imelda laughed. “But I require my staff to have an education in architecture because architectural writers need to be capable of appraising and criticizing designs.”
The studio is currently handling a number of projects, including monthly interior design books and a series of architectural books. “For architecture books, we are working on a sequel to 50 Indonesian Architects + Emergings.”
Imelda and her little family now reside in South Jakarta. Her studio is located next to her house, so she can focus on writing about architecture and interior design.
Despite all her achievements in publishing local architecture references, she holds onto a wild dream from seven years ago.
“I still dream of building my own house from containers,” she smiled, “I’ve done some research. I thought about the design and all of that, but my husband wasn’t sure about a home like that.
“Until one day, I found the kind of houses in London. They weren’t just houses, it was more like a real estate complex for creative workers. I was rather surprised. All of my friends know that I’ve had this ambition for quite long time, and I’m sure I’m going to have that someday.”
