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Contents 1 Indonesian architectural glossary 2 Javanese traditional vernacular architecture 2.1 Balinese traditional vernacular architecture 2.2 Sundanese architecture 2.3 Redirects 2.4 Javanese architecture 2.4.1 Influence of climate 2.4.2 Austronesian ancestry 2.4.3 Diversity on Java 2.4.4 Outside influence 2.4.5 Chinese 2.4.6 Majapahit 2.4.7 Islam 2.4.8 Dutch 2.4.9 Roof styles 2.4.10 Basic elements 2.4.11 Neoclassical 2.4.12 Indo-European House 2.4.13 Veranda 2.4.14 Senthong 3 Contempory Indonesian Architecture

[edit] Indonesian architectural glossary

• Alang alang
• Attap (thatch)
• Candi
• Dalem
• Indo-European House
• Jati
• Joglo
• Limasan
• Masjid
• Omo Sebua
• Pendopo
• Senthong
• Tongkanan
• Tumpang sari

[edit] Javanese traditional vernacular architecture

Unlike, most of South East Asia, traditional homes in Java (and neighbouring Bali) are not built on piles or stilts, rather they are built on a ground-based foundations. This tradition is thought to have arisen during Indonesia's Classical Era (5th to 15th centuries) during which there were close cultural contacts with India where such construction is still common practice. Classical Javanese temple reliefs from this era (such as Borobudur temple) do depict, however, dwellings that closely resemble stilt from Sumatra.

[edit] Balinese traditional vernacular architecture

Balinese rice barn resembles typical south east Asian post and beam house, despite difference in main residential.

[edit] Sundanese architecture

Traditional homes of Sunda were raised off the ground with a curved roof ridge and crossed gable ends. (p15) Raised by a smaller amount.

[edit] Redirects

The ‘‘’Omo sebua’’’ of Nias (redirect Nias house, Nias architecture) Batak architecture [Rumah Gadang]] of the Minangkabau. Already started. Needs expansion Riau architecture Sundanese homes Traditional Javanese homes, architecture of Java, Javanese architecture Dayak: see long house Balinese homes Balinese temple architecture

Lombok homes, Sasak house, Lombok architecture, homes of Lombok Tongkanan Sumbawa Timor Papua

• Indonesian Islamic architecture, Islamic architecture of Indonesia, Islamic architecture in Indonesia • Indonesian Hindu architecture, Hindu architecture of Indonesia, Hindu architecture in Indonesia • Indonesian colonial architecture, Colonial architecture of Indonesia, Colonial architecture in Indonesia, Dutch colonial architecture of Indonesia, Dutch colonial architecture in Indonesia, Colonial architecture of the Dutch East Indies, Dutch East Indies colonial architecture, Colonial architecture in the Dutch East Indies • Kraton

[edit] Javanese architecture

[edit] Influence of climate

Tropical climate shapes both house and furniture. Tempertaure are high and although stable around the clock in the lowlands, can drop quickly in mountainous areas. Humidity is high and unkind to perishable materials.

[edit] Austronesian ancestry

Today’s Javanese are descendant from Austronesian-speaking peoples who arrived some 5000 years ago after an island-hopping journey from Southern China, to Taiwan, the Philippines, Sulawesi, and then to Java and the rest of Indonesia. Astronesians brought with a shipbuilding, rice-growing, textile-making, architectural way of life which is still evident today.

[edit] Diversity on Java

Diversity had long been a characteristic of Austronesian people as they had to respond to a broad range of ecological niches around South East Asian (the nusantara) which encouraged a range of various and interdependent economies and societies. As is the norm throughout South East Asia, Java’s population is far from homogenous and is can be broadly categorised into two large ethnic groupings; the Javanese and Sundanese. A third large group is the Madurese and a number of smaller indengenous sub-groupings in more remote areas and a cosmopolitan mix of recent arrivals from within Indonesia and further afield. Although this article predominantly deals with the Javanese architecture, it does cover influences with from and on other styles.

[edit] Outside influence

Drawing from the Austronesian explorations of the East Asia, and the Pacific and Indian Oceans, Javanese have always been open to outside influence, including in the field of architecture. They were masters of materials provided by the tropics; namely timber (particularly teak), bamboo, rattans, grasses and products from palm trees including coconut palms.

[edit] Chinese

East Java had easier access to the Java Sea and trading lanes to the north. With the trading boom from 13th to 16th centuries, Java became integrated into an emerging global trading network economy and adsorbed foreign influences. The Chinese for example had established a considerable presence by the 14th century who’s notable activities included the construction of Chinese-style homes of masonry with glazed roof tiles in exotic shapes, where previously domestic construction had been largely timber. The Chinese architectural influence would become one of the strongest throughout Java.

[edit] Majapahit

The Majapahit Kingdom emerged in the late 13th century and during its Golden Age ruled the Indonesian archipelago for 150 years. The Nagatalrtyagamaby holy man Mpu Prapanca described the Majapahit’s great capital of pavilions set in walled compounds.

[edit] Islam

Although Islam had first appeared in Java in the fourteenth century it was in the 16th and 17th centuries that it had first had significant influence on architecture although it was heavily influenced by the preceding Buddhism and Hinduism.

[edit] Dutch

Europeans established a prescence in the Pasisir port of Bantam with a number of fortified trading bases. The Dutch Verenidge Oost-Indische Compagnie ("Dutch East India Company", or VOC) became the dominant European prescence in the early seventeenth century. They established their capital in nearby Batavia - which was to become Jakarta - in 1619, and over the next two centuries expanded throughout Java.

Under the Napoleonic administrator Marshall Daendels the colony was managed with a new energy and new developments included a post road linking Batavia with Bandung and Surabaya.

With the arrival of a British army of occupation, Stamford Raffles ruled as Lieutenant-Governor from 1811 to 1816 but his land reforms and intense curiosity for Java resulted in an impact much greater than his short tenure.

In the early twentieth century the native population in districts of Surabaya and Semarang fell ill as result of Bubonic plague. The outbreak of what was considered a medieval disease in the "progressive" Ethical Policy era of the Dutch East Indies was a source of both outrage and embarrassment and was responded to by the regulations outlawing thatch and bamboo for houses as they were considered to harbour rats and other vermin. The government announced that city houses not built of masonry would be torn down.

[edit] Roof styles

Pyramidal roofs were largely reserved for holy buildings; predominantly mosques. Traditional Austronesian houses are dominated by large roof structures, of which there is much diversity of style. Within Indonesia, this diversity is not only seen between the wide variety of traditional styles between its ethnic groups, but also a wide variety of roof structures within the Javanese architectural tradition.

[edit] Basic elements

(p17) Basic principles of Javan house design include wooden and bamboo walls, double beam roof truss. Floors covered by split bamboo floor mats are highly effective solution in providing a smooth cool surface for sitting and standing.

[edit] Neoclassical

Neoclassical was an important influence of Java’s sense of design and proportion.

[edit] Indo-European House

Form is essentially Javanese with a verandah, characteristic roof shape and longitudinal organisation of space, but it uses European, notably Neoclassical elements.

[edit] Veranda

The veranda has always played an important role in Javanese life. Kraton’s pendopo and colonial business.

[edit] Senthong

Rice has a central place in Javanese culture that it is viewed as sacred with Dewi Sri the goddess of rice and fertility. The senthong is a small room in the innermost part of older Javanese homes shrine to her found in older Javanese homes.

There is Varied roof shapes

[edit] Contempory Indonesian Architecture

At the end of WW-II, in August 17, 1945, Indonesia proclaimed her independence. This proclamation was not followed by a smooth hand-over of administration. Conflicts with the Dutch provincial government had direct consequences in architecture. First, with the diminishing numbers of Dutch architects, few Indonesian architects were available to take their place. Second, a shortage of building materials contributed to minimal architectural production. Third, the staff of the former Dutch department of public works was asked to take over the duties of Dutch architects. Fourth, construction companies were commissioned by the client to act as architect, which resulted in a very conservative architecture in those years. University graduates in civil engineering were also commissioned to do architectural works, but their number was quite small. Among them was Soekarno, the first President of Indonesia. The designer of a mosque in Bengkulu, he has been an important critic of building in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. His political views, including the politics of architecture, is openly nationalistic, are clearly stated in his speeches and addresses, for example: "Let us prove that we can also build the country like the Europeans and Americans do because we are equal." Ref.3 A clover leaf highway, four high rise hotels, and a broad by-pass in Jakarta, are among those projects that were approved by Soekarno to demonstrate the capability of Indonesia.

Western-style projects were purposefully built not so much as a conscious westernization, but rather to prove that modern Indonesia can do the same things the west can do. The Building for the House of Representatives, designed by Suyudi (an Indonesian who is a graduate of a German university) has a very large twin shell roof, reminiscent of Saarinen's TWA airport, and must be viewed as the utmost demonstration of this Indonesian capability. The structural engineer was also Indonesian (the late ir.Soetami). One other architect that Soekarno praised was Frederich Silaban, a former officer of the Netherlands-Indie Department of Public Works. His experience in this office is reflected in his statement: "What is Indonesian architecture? It is an architecture that emerged from utmost tropical climatic utilization. It is not a copy and imitation of indigenous form, so that we may mark our modernity."Ref.4 His Istiqlal State Mosque (the largest in South East Asia in the 1970s), and the head office of the Bank Indonesia, (Fig. 10) are the clearest demonstrations of his concepts. Not surprisingly, Le Corbusier's and Niemeyer's play of brise-soleil are distinguishing characteristics of Silaban's works.

During the 1950s, a distinctive architecture, known by Indonesians as 'jengki style' (after the word 'yankee' - the American armed forces) appeared. Johan Silas speculates that this distinctive architecture is an expression of the political spirit of freedom among the Indonesians.Ref.5 The spirit of freedom translated into an architecture that differs from what the Dutch had done. The modern cubic and strict geometric forms are transformed into more complicated volumes, such as pentagons or other irregular solids. Roofs are pitched, the surface and composition are festive. These characteristics are not commonly found elsewhere in Europe and America. More surprisingly, these distinctive forms are mostly designed by construction companies, or architecture students of Bandung Institute of Technology ( where the Department of Architecture was established in 1951). (Fig 11)

Fig. 11: A house in Jengki ('Yankee') style, Sarangan - East Java

As the copying of European and American modern architecture became the spirit of the age among newly independent nations of the third world, Indonesia saw that its architectural education was the primary vehicle to achieve it. Initially established under Dutch professors, in the mid 1950s they had to leave due to political difficulties between Indonesia and the Netherlands. For a short period some German professors managed the department, but by the end of the 1950s Americans, as well as Indonesian graduates from American universities, took over. Consequently, the graduates of ITB are most influenced by American architecture. Among those graduates who practice in Surabaya are the late Djelantik, Harjono Sigit, Johan Silas and Harry Winarno Kwari. (Fig 12) Their works represent the general stream of architectural style in the first half of the 1970s. Their designs mostly were inspired by Latin American architects and are characterized by the dominance of brise-soleil, strict geometry, and repetition of facade elements. Djelantik's administration building of the Surabaya Institute of Technology is directly comparable to the Unité d'Habitation of Le Corbusier. The first half of the1970s was clearly the heyday of the International Style. Conversations with the above mentioned architects shows that they refuse to be blamed for westernizing Indonesian architecture. "I am working in the modern spirit of architecture," is a typical reply. Here, we see that the term westernization is refused, or, is interchangeable with modernization.

Fig. 12: A Rice Mill Office, Sukorejo - East Java, designed by Harjono Sigit

Amidst the dominance of the International Style, a small number of architects attempted to redefine modern Indonesian architecture. Atelier 6, an architectural office based in Jakarta, not only designed a purely geometric abstract form for the National Hero Cemetery in Jakarta, but also designed a new vocabulary of indigenous form: a modernized indigenous form. The Governor's office of East Nusatenggara, the Indonesian pavilion for the 1970 Tokyo Exposition and the Said Naum Mosque, are examples of modernizing the indigenous. Are they inheriting the spirit of Maclaine Pont? They make no such claim. In the early 70s there was still little interest in the history of Indonesian architects like Pont, except for van Romondt, a Dutch professor of Bandung Institute of Technology (the architect's alma mater) who teaches the history of Indonesian architecture.

Toward mid-1970s the government made an important step in the debate of modern architecture in Indonesia. The first move by the government was building Taman Mini (Indonesia in Miniature) where more than twenty indigenous architectural forms were re-created. Some of them are real buildings disassembled from their original site and transported to Jakarta. Some buildings are exaggerated copies of indigenous forms. Here, every province is encouraged to boast their indigenous architectural richness, so at the end there are twenty six indigenous architectural forms representing the same number of provinces in Indonesia. The next move from the government was a call for Indonesian architects to design an Indonesian architecture, not merely to copy modern architecture in the West. Again, the government exemplified this call by adopting the design by FATA as national model. This design by FATA is a mosque for a petrochemical factory that modernizes the indigenous forms of javanese mosques (characterized by its three tiered pyramidal roof form). Hundreds of mosques, spread all over Indonesia (which is as large as the distance from Los Angeles to New York) have now become the formula of what is called "Modern Indonesian Architecture". Most public buildings financed by the government now appear with geometric forms for the body, and distinctive indigenous roof forms as their top. Unfortunately, most of them are not sensitive to composition so that the top and the body do not integrate to each other. (Fig 13) The 1980s is the era where this formula was widely practiced for public buildings.

Fig. 13: Provincial House of Representative of East Java, Surabaya. A traditional roof on top of modern style building

The beginning of the 1980s was also the beginning of a construction boom by the private sector. This private sector tends to be more sensitive than the government in dealing with architecture. To the private sector, the appearance of architecture is an integral part of the marketing strategy. The more luxurious the appearance, the more prestigious the company image is. This has become the prevailing philosophy of architecture. Competition among private companies accelerated during the previous decade, to the point where the use of a foreign architect is now becoming part of marketing strategy. (Fig 14) In the early nineties for example, it was not strange to find advertisements for an apartment that also included the photograph and name of the architect. Building 'modern' is no longer important; now the building must be designed by a foreign architect, no matter how bad their design is. Even projects that must definitely show indigenous form, such as tourist hotels in Bali, use indigenous forms but are designed by foreign architects.

The opportunity that foreign architects have to practice in Indonesia is in part due to the financing system of projects. Both in government projects and the private sector, if the financing is in part supported by foreign money, those foreign investors demand that the design be controlled by them. What makes the government project different from the private sectors is, among other things, the government project may require a partnership between foreign architects and an Indonesian architect. Expectedly, this partnership may resulted in transfer of knowledge. What is ironic is that it becomes a model for architectural practice in the nineties. Projects on the national or international level will have a foreign architect; projects at the provincial level will have 'foreign' architects, i.e. Jakarta's architects; and it goes on until at the very end, architects at the district level are unemployed. Although we may not underestimate the capacity of those foreign architects to develop a true "Indonesian" architecture, we surely believe that this task is ultimately obligatory for the Indonesians. The question is whether the situation conducive and supportive to a nation's cultural development. Indeed, the conflict between westernization and modernization in Indonesia does not simply involve architectural styles, but control over the building site, as well.

Fig 15a: Contemporary scene, Bank Pacific building, Surabaya Fig 15b: Contemporary scene, Architect's house, Jakarta REFERENCES

Ref.1: Ronald Gill (1990): `Corak Pembangunan dan Arsitektur Indo-Belanda di Indonesia' (Pattern of Indisch architecture in Indonesia); Konstruksi; vol.xiv, July 1990; p.16-22; Jakarta.

Ref.2: See Ben F.van leerdam (1995): Architect Henri Maclaine Pont: Een Speurtocht-naar-het-Wezenlijke van de Javaansche Architektuur (Architect Henri Maclaine Pont: an Intensive Search on the Essence of Javanese Architecture); dissertation; Technische Universiteit Delft.

Ref.3: For addresses and speeches during his presidency, his state addresses on August 17 each year are mostly available in cassette form. A two volume book entitled Di Bawah Bendera Revolusi (Under the Flags of Revolution) (n.d; n.p) is a collection of his writings and some of that state address.

Ref.4: Sri Astuti, et.al. (1991): Arsitek dan Karyanya: F.Silaban (Architect and his Works: F.Silaban); students' working paper; Bandung Institute of Technology; unpublished report.

Ref.5: personal discussion with Johan Silas, May 4, 1993.

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig 1: European style as seen in one of East Javanese bank Office in Surabaya (source: author's collection)

Fig 2: Grand Pavillion of Mangkunegara Palace, Surakarta. Notice the European pediment as the portico of this Pavillion (Source: Sidharta and Eko Budihardjo (1989):Konservasi Lingkungan dan Bangunan Kuno Bersejarah di Surakarta (Conservation of Historical Buildings and Environments of Surakarta); Gadjah Mada University Press; Yogyakarta)

Fig. 3: Indische Huis //(courtesy of Dr. ir.Ronald Gill M.Sc)**

Fig. 4: Mosque at Banda Aceh //(photo by Adilla; author's collection)**

Fig. 5a: Villa Isola, one exemplar of Art Deco Style of Bandung (source: Asri magazine for architecture and interior; nr. 101; aug.1991; p. 54)

Fig. 5b: Telecommunication Office, Surabaya (rendered in computer graphic by Design Priority, Despro ITS; courtesy of Despro ITS)

Fig. 6: Assembly Hall of Bandung Institute of Technology (source: Asri magazine for architecture and interior; nr. 101; aug.1991; p. 52)

Fig. 7: Mpu Tantular Museum, Surabaya (author's collection)

Fig. 8a: Javanese construction as applied for Open Pavillion. Location: Yogyakarta Palace (author's collection). //Both for Fig 8a and 8b, the outward appearance of the roof form is quite similar to Fig 3.**

Fig. 8b: European construction as applied for Open Pavillion. Location Mayor of Bandung's Residence //(photo by Sutrisno Murtiyoso, author's collection)**

Fig. 9a: Pohsarang Catholic Church, Kediri. Front elevation as photographed in the 1930s //(courtesy of Dr. ir. Ben F.van Leerdam)**

Fig. 9b: Pohsarang Catholic Church, Kediri. Perspective from the rear toward the front as photographed in the 1930s //(courtesy of Dr. ir. Ben F.van Leerdam)**

Fig. 10: Bank Indonesia Building, Jakarta (author's collection)

Fig. 11: A house in Yankee style, Sarangan - East Java (author's collection)

Fig. 12: A Rice Mill Office, Sukorejo - East Java, designed by Harjono Sigit (author's collection)

Fig. 13: Provincial House of Representative of East Java, Surabaya. A traditional roof on top of modern style building (architect: Purasuri Associates) (author's collection)

Fig. 14: Wisma Dharmala, Jakarta. Architect: Paul Rudolph (source: company's catalog)

Fig 15a: Contemporary scene, Bank Pacific building, Surabaya (author's collection)

Fig 15b: Contemporary scene, Architect's house, Jakarta (architect: Sardjono Sani). Recipient of 1993 IAI-Award (Institute of Indonesian architect) (Arsitektur Indonesia, newsletter of IAI; nr. 18; Oct-Dec 1995; p.13)