Archisteem 27: Friendly Architecture Curation - A House = A Tree

Today's curated project: The Tree of Life

Back to housing project curation. Today, I came across this interesting house that was designed based on the concept of the tree of life according to the architect. This led me to explore further and understand what is so special about this project.

This renovation project is led by Andyrahman Architect, a local Indonesian architect and took place in Surabaya, Indonesia. The project covered an approximate 300 m² of 2 stories terrace house unit and was completed in 2017.

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The project has not much of description to understand further about the client’s background and story behind the house. However, I would like to make a curation based on my personal perception of how the space and building were designed.

In the cultural background for Javanese belief, it is said that tress is symbolized as kayoni which means a living tree or “tree of life” in Java language. The understanding that trees are like protectors to the people. With trees, civilization prospers; without trees, civilization will perish. On the other hand, a house can be a metaphoric form for a tree where it provides shade (roof) and walls with openings to allow light and air pass freely into the interior. Even in nature, some birds do live on the trees and some even made their nest by pecking into the tree trunk.

From the architect description, it is understood that the client is a heavy wood lover who collected a variety of woods for decades. Wood is a sensitive material to be used as building materials as it may react to weather, can age and prone to pests’ attack. Thus, usage of woods as building materials should be paid great attention to its sustainability so that the materials are preserved and maintained as its prime quality. It is highlighted by the architect that the usage of woods should be in a sustainable manner as trees are resources that need time to reproduce.

From the design, the mixed use of bricks, concrete and woods are stunning while the addition of plants makes it even more welcoming. Being in the tropical climate, the architect builds porous walls rather than opaque walls with concrete vent blocks to allow cross ventilation and natural daylight penetration. This reduces the energy consumption for the house and allows better indoor air quality without depending on the air conditioner (which I personally don’t fancy of using if possible).

The usage of woods is shown more in the backyard and upper floor whereby the owner and family get to enjoy the exclusive sensation brought by the materials itself. Especially the dining area and backyard which are open air and shaded by upper floor, the spaces are well decorated with different kind of wood materials on the floors, furniture and even lighting fixtures. I am amazed by all the details taken care by the architect to optimize the value of wood in this project.

Personally, I like the ambiance created by wood materials which in turn gives the residents a sense of warmth and softness in the house. Plus, the play with the toning of the woods can be another technique to create different spaces with different depth like darker woods can be used as featured walls and lighter woods can be used as wall panels. The ceiling can also use lighter colour woods to make the rooms more spacious.

Another point that I want to bring out is that some family does have housemaid to help with their daily chores. In this project, we can see that the owner does consider the need of the maid and built a room and a toilet for the convenience. As for privacy and security purpose, it is advisable to have a separate circulation and access for the maid and also family members. Thus, the segregation of maid and owner’s room is cleverly done. This will reduce the conflict between both parties.

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Source of images used and reference article. Click here

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Hope you enjoy the curation. If you have any projects that you wished to be curated, do drop a comment to me. Any critics and suggestions about my curation are welcome!

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This is an #archisteem post.

A new tag that is to curate our existing built environment and also future built environment development. Want to know more? Read here.

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Find me at @kimzwarch