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Inaugural Bintaro Design District Festival opens dialogue between designers, public
The planned township of Bintaro Jaya celebrates its identity as a creative incubator, through the hands of architects, designers and creators living in the area.
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The state-of-the-art kitchen at A House, a residential unit open to Bintaro Design District visitors (JP/Muthi Kautsar)
I
t may come as a surprise to find numerous design and architecture studios in Bintaro (Jaya), a planned township within South Jakarta that extends to South Tangerang, also referred to as Greater Jakarta.
Being a planned township, Bintaro attracts many creative individuals such as architects, interior and product designers, authors, musicians, photographers and cinematographers to come, live and build their businesses.
Bintaro is, therefore, considered a creative incubator, and this year a group of prominent architects, namely Andra Matin, Budi Pradono and Danny Wicaksono have initiated an event titled the Bintaro Design District Festival (BDD). The three were joined by graphic designer and dia.lo.gue art space founder Hermawan Tanzil.
BDD was inaugurated on Oct. 11 and slated to run until Oct. 20.
“We hope Bintaro can become a laboratory of creative individuals from various fields, thus stimulating the district to become more competitive. I’m talking about such districts as Ventura Lambrate in Milan, or Shoreditch in London,” said Budi in a released statement.
BDD initiators came up with the idea to organize this event while attending the London Design Biennale in 2016. They also served as the curators who decided that the theme of the event would be “Permeable Society”, aiming to create open dialogue on design between designers and the public.
The inauguration that took place at Andra’s coffee shop, Kopi Manyar, saw many architecture and design enthusiasts alongside architects and designers who came to support the event. A long line was seen in front of the registration desk, where people purchased a pass book to collect stamps.
Visitors of BDD would subsequently have to take a journey around Bintaro, South Jakarta and Serpong to see events and exhibits that are part of the festival. They are eligible to receive a stamp after each visit, and those with the most stamps may get a chance to win the festival’s official merchandise.
Sounds challenging with a hint of competition? It is indeed recommended for you to wear cool, comfortable clothing and bring a lot of water when going on the journey.
Starting from Kopi Manyar, which not only served as the festival’s main venue but also the venue of a photo exhibition [on architecture and design] titled 1x1, The Jakarta Post visited six places in two days. Our first stop was A House, a work of Budipradono Architects. The house is built around existing trees that provides cooling shades and blocks noise. It also uses solar rays as its energy source.
The visit to A House was followed by a tour around BPA Studio, where Budipradono Architects is based. Highlights of this tour include a bamboo installation as a façade of the property, and a compilation of architectural mock-up works displaying conceptual approach options.
Going further into sector nine of Bintaro, the Post arrived at Kebun Ide (garden of ideas) at Lot 9, where two installations had been set up. The first one is named Plasticology, created by Arcadia Architects in collaboration with Studio hand. It is made of bamboo and used plastic bottles to address the plastic waste issue. Aside from a display of bottles arranged in a bamboo structure, visitors could also see stools made of used plastic bottles.
The second installation in the venue is the colorful Art and Sound Experience, created by producer/creative story teller Handoko Hendroyono and architect Kris Kwan. Visitors may walk inside the open-air installation and enjoy ‘silent disco’ with the headphone provided. A collection of books is displayed in a booth or spread on a coffee table inside the installation for visitors to observe.
As going through installations at Kebun Ide on a warm afternoon caused sweating, The Post continued to Omnikopi at Jl. Elang to cool down. The coffee shop hosts a small poster exhibition featuring designers who are members of Indonesia Association of Graphic Designers (ADGI).
Read also: Seminyak Design Week: Captivating designs from leading creators
Later in the afternoon, the air started to cool off and it felt like the right timing to continue to Menteng Park. There are three installations in the park. The first one is Raindrop Processing to Drink-Ready Shelter, featuring a funnel-shaped container to transport rainwater into a storage tank and then a processing machine and the next water tank as ready-to-consume water.
The second installation in the park is Tan Ajer, where visitors are invited to paint patterns on bamboo stems used to build the installation structure. Finally, The Interior Journey concludes our visit to the park. Created by A2J Design Consultant, the installation describes a designing process and approach to Kedhaton Hotel project in Surakarta, Central Java.
This visit to Menteng Park is ideally followed by an exploration to Dedato office, just across the road. The office is located in a compound of sleek, white buildings with a large open space at its center.
Aside from opening its office and studio for festival visitors according to a certain schedule, Dedato also hosts a sculpture exhibition titled “When I Consider Everything that Grows” by young artist Putri Taufik at its Design Space.
While it took the Post two days to tour six venues, there are still more than 30 venues that could be explored. Those who are into architecture and design may schedule a visit to several venues of personal interest. If you find the pass book rather confusing, you may as well start from the event’s social media account.
Held for the first time in Bintaro and its surrounding area, the Post did, however, find the event confusing at the beginning. As early birds to this event, particularly during the opening on Oct. 11, the venues were not quite ready for visitors. But the venues had been better prepared by Saturday, making the festival more fun to explore.
More than just showcasing superficial works of architecture and design, the event also gives us a chance to take a closer look at Bintaro and its many facets. The Post could not help but notice the dirty river in the background of the three installations at Menteng Park, for instance. While a homeless woman with an apparent skin condition was seen sleeping on a sidewalk on our way to Dedato office.
At the end of the day, the festival also served as a reminder that we should unite to help improve the welfare of everyone in our community.
