Prologue
Hundreds of year ago in Indonesia, once created ultimate
cultural and architectural creations that still be admired by the world until
now. The cultural creations are scattered throughout the Indonesia’s regions.
Some of the value have been shifted until now and may even be up to the future.
But what is actually Indonesian architecture? Is everything
that Indonesians do in architecture can be referred to as Indonesian
architecture? If so, then it can be reflected as the architectural style that
is now popular amongst the public, or is 'in trend', such as the style of
'minimalism' which in fact looks 'maximal' as a result of the insignificant
details here and there. Or is it a style of modern architecture synergyzed with
the certain traditional architectural style of Indonesia’s ethnicities which
are mostly only be attached as a building’s accessories? Or maybe it was just
the Indonesian architecture approaching of tropical climate? If so, we may need
to retrace about how many countries in the world that are in tropical climate
conditions. Actually there is nothing wrong about this, but perhaps we should
not determine it only through the approach of tropical climate, but also about
the culture as a source of inspiration for the formation of Indonesian
architectural works.
Old-Fashioned VS Modern Value Indonesian Architecture
In the midst of progress and exploitation of technology, it
may be useful if we turn away for a moment and turned back to the old values
that gave birth to many historical works in this country. Old architectural
concepts which in some common run of men has been considered old-fashioned,
slowly returned to be believed as the true concepts because they rest on the
harmony and respect for the environment.
For example, in the Indonesian ethnic architecture, there are
certain rules that must be adhered to within the roof’s distance from its
posts. When later it is reviewed, the meaning of it is to harmonize the
building with its surroundings by giving more space for the social interaction
with the neighbors which thus also aims to the house not be dusty quickly. The
rule itself accepted by the society at that time, that the will to assert
themselves in society had to be limited. A ban on cutting trees on particular
season and time may also be a reflection of a sense aware of the need to
balance the ecosystem.
But in the last dozen years development, it is very clear
that the symptoms in residential buildings and apartments in Jakarta, our
nation’s capital, seems to 'crave' for more diversity and plurality. There is
where the 'modern development' of Indonesia centralized. There is also where
almost all ethnics and cultures in Indonesia gathered. Entire cities in
Indonesia will refer their regional development to the nation's capital.
Psychologically, such behavior is normal according to
Maslow's theory about self-realization as the peak level of human basic
motivations. But in the context of human monodualism, this development shows as
if we no longer care about the environmentally-awared architecture that had
been developed by our predecessors. As quoted from Bruno Zevi "...modern
construction has been made as if it is a big party so that everyone participate
and do not care about each other anymore".
The Changing Face
Jakarta is now changing its face of architecture, being
knocked by the gust of global warming that influence the thinking and
statements of the previous ‘modern’ architecture. Green-actions are encouraged,
regulations regarding environmentally-awared building are begun to be
discussed. These symptoms are pioneered by those who are able to meet the
desire for brilliance shapes and architectural ornaments of the
what-was-called-as-‘old-fashioned’ Indonesian architecture. It is begun to feel
that humans are leaving the days, back to the past, endeavored to do the
reincarnation of their architecture. It seems like a setback that is away from
future steps but yet it has be done. Followers of these symptoms may not be aware that that-kind-of-architecture has ever been born and grown on their own land through a reasonable and proper explanations, along with the cultural background of the society. Beyond all that, we who live in this period are the continuation of the past. We have to be awared that we are currently overburdened of tasks to develop good culture of the past and to keep our nation’s personality in along with contemporary culture. [AKD]
*as written in KOMPAS newspaper on Feb 15, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment