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Fair shows design, people are inseparable
Thinking outside the box: A visitor checks out the design show at the University of Indonesia Architecture Fair at the National Gallery in Central Jakarta
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Thinking outside the box: A visitor checks out the design show at the University of Indonesia Architecture Fair at the National Gallery in Central Jakarta. The exhibition will run until Feb. 4.(JP/Seto Wardhana) (JP/Seto Wardhana)
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span class="inline inline-center">Thinking outside the box: A visitor checks out the design show at the University of Indonesia Architecture Fair at the National Gallery in Central Jakarta. The exhibition will run until Feb. 4.(JP/Seto Wardhana)
Architecture students are trying to bridge the gap between residents and modern architects whose designs often focus only on the interests of a certain group, through an exhibition showcasing their idealism.
Students from the University of Indonesia's School of Architecture are trying to approach the relationship between buildings and people and how designs should adjust to the needs of their users through a seven-day architecture fair titled AFAIR UI 2016, held at the National Gallery from Jan. 27 until Feb. 4.
Larashintya Galia Zhara, a third year student at the university, said she spent three months doing research and getting to know local people in Manggarai, South Jakarta, before designing the Kampung Musim Manggarai (Manggarai Seasonal Village) project. Kampung Musim Manggarai is a vertical housing design situated nearby the Ciliwung River.
'What kinds of things made them settle in the neighborhood? How do the people interact with each other? These are the things I wanted to know about Manggarai,' Larashintya told The Jakarta Post recently.
She said through her design, she tried to create a neighborhood that accommodated people who shared similar interests such as aviculture and outdoor cooking, by providing them with spaces in which
to interact.
'That space brings the feeling of a front yard to the neighborhood. It is something that vertical housing must have to maintain people-to-people interactions,' she said.
Another design featured in the exhibition is the Setu Babakan Cookery Center by Indriani Pertiwi. Located in Setu Babakan Betawi cultural village in South Jakarta, the cookery center is a place where women can learn to cook and bake.
The project was based on the fact that there are still a lot of Betawi women with limited education who marry at a young age. The center, therefore, could help those women to brush up on their cooking skills to help financially support their families.
School of Architecture head Yandi Andri Yatmo, who also acted as the exhibition's curator, said what the students tried to do in their designs was respond and adjust to the conditions of the surrounding neighborhood and environment.
'They should realize that the architecture of a building is not that important. The most important thing is how the building can be accepted, responded to and bring benefits to an area,' he said.
Yandi said that many architects presently working in the city built as many modern constructions as possible without considering how it would affect society. 'There is no other objective for the building besides bringing benefit to the architect and a group of people,' he said.
He said architects could instead instigate positive changes in society, adding it was something he hoped would stay in his students' minds once they graduated.
The exhibition's project officer Belia Astoria said AFAIR, which presents 177 designs from the university's students, also marked the 50th anniversary of the UI School of Architecture.
Belia added that after previously being held at shopping malls, this year's event was held at the National Gallery to provide a more educative environment.
