THE PAST IN THE PRESENTARCHITECTURE IN INDONESIA

THE PAST IN THE PRESENT

ARCHITECTUREIN INDONESIA

Edited by Peter J.M. Nas

KONINKLIJK INSTITUUT VOOR TAAL-, LAND- EN VOLKENKUNDE

KITLV PressLeiden2007

Published, in cooperation with NAi Publishers Rotterdam, by:

KITLV Press

Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies

P.O. Box 9515

2300 RA Leiden

website: www.kitlv.nl

e-mail: kitlvpress@kitlv.nl

KITLV is an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)

ISBN 90 6718 296 6

4

5

Contents

6 Preface

Aaron Betsky

9 Introduction

Peter J.M. Nas

Edited by Peter J.M. Nas

17 Modern Indonesian

Architecture

Transplantation,

Adaptation,

Accommodation

and Hybridization

Johannes Widodo

25 The Past in the Present

The Place and Role of

Indonesian Vernacular

Architectural Traditions

and Building Styles of

the Past in the Present

Jan J.J.M. Wuisman

45 The Changing Contour

of Mosques

Kees van Dijk

67 The Chinese Diaspora’s

Urban Morphology and

Architecture in

Indonesia

Johannes Widodo

73 Seeking the Spirit of

the Age

Chinese Architecture in

Indonesia Today

Pratiwo

85 Beyond Traditional

Balinese Architecture

Hybrid Past and

Contemporary

Architectural Formation

of Penglipuran Village

Amanda Achmadi

97 Colonial Architecture

in Indonesia

References and

Developments

Cor Passchier

113 Tradition and Modernity

in the Netherlands East

Indies

Martien de Vletter

123 ‘Is There Really Nothing

We Can Do about that

Awful Mirror?’

Correspondence

between Javanese ruler

Mangkunegoro VII

(1916-1944), architect

Th. Karsten and archae-

ologist W.F. Stutterheim

Madelon Djajadiningrat

131 The Afterlife of the

Empire Style

Indische Architectuur

and Art Deco

Abidin Kusno

147 Feeling at Home,

Dealing with the Past

Indonesian and Colonial

Architecture in the

Netherlands

Peter J.M. Nas and

Maaike Boersma

Compiled by Martien de Vletter

163 Introduction to the

Catalogue

165 Office Premises

195 Villas and Housing

231 Churches

245 Schools

259 Hotels and Shops

276 Index

280 Contributors

284 Illustration credits

286 Colophon

PART 1 VARIETY ININDONESIANARCHITECTURE

ESSAYS

PART 2 MODERNITYIN THETROPICS

CATALOGUE

The contributions of the Netherlands Architecture Institute are of necessity part of a colonial project. Dutch architecture as a conscious way of building did not enter the Indonesian scene until the nineteenth century, which is also when our collections begin. This publication however, tells more stories than only the colonial one, though we have to admit that this colonial period has been of great influence, also on the thinking of Chinese, Hindu, Muslim or the Indonesian vernacular tradition. It is difficult to look colonial architecture in the face. For all its beauty, one always has the sense that it is the imposition of an alien form on a site that had little power to resist its construction. For all the ways in which good architects transformed the shapes with which they arrived in an alien and subjugated land into structures that were more appropriate to climate and geography, to local materials and ways of building, and to local culture and styles, the resulting buildings always remained as much, if not more representative of the country in which these architects were trained. Yet we have also come to realize more and more that there is no such thing as a monolithic vernacular tradition. There is no ‘authentic’ way of building that this architecture replaced. About the only true ‘vernacular’ building would be a shelter built out of

the material on the site, like a lean-to or an igloo, and even then techniques imported from other places often mark what we think of as a ‘natural’ design. In the case of Dutch architecture in Indonesia (and vice versa), we now realize that most of what we think of as the Dutch canon is in fact a collection of impor-tations from Germany, France and even farther afield, while Indonesian architecture is a similar collection of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Western elements. It is exactly the mixture, transformation, and adaptation of such importations that gives any architecture its power. Nor is the issue of power exclusive to colonial work: architecture is always the built imposition of the political, economic and social status quo, as it is the holders of power and protectors of the system who have the means to build something more than a lean-to and seek to fix their power in place through architecture. Looking at architecture can in fact allow us, if we look closely enough, to understand the nature of those power relations and perhaps to even change them through architecture. If one can then face Dutch colonial architecture in Indonesia with as few prejudices as possible, its achievements are remarkable. This is true especially in light of the fact that it was a relatively short-lived phenomenon that had its heyday during a period of

PrefaceAaron Betsky

AARON BETSKY6

7

only a few decades. What is particularly of interest to me in looking at this work is the loosening up of organizational forms in response to climate and use patterns, which appears to have brought out a kind of latent Frank Lloyd Wright tendency in Dutch architecture and allowed it to express itself in freer configurations. Similarly, the white, streamlined forms of downtown Bandung are like what Dutch architects dreamed of building after the First World War, but could not in their restricted environment. To Dutch architects, as well as Indonesian architects trained in the Netherlands, ‘our India’ was indeed the romantic, oriental other place of fantasy and freedom. It was where they could realize and impose their visions. This is true even on a town-planning level, where Dutch designers were able to map out freer and more site-responsive patterns than they could realize at home. So the function of this book is not just to docu-ment and discuss particular aspects of the history of Indonesian architecture, which of necessity must note the presence of Dutch architects there and Indonesian elements in the Netherlands, but to see what happens when the by its nature idealizing tendencies of architects confront a situation in which they have a – however morally questionable – freedom to create forms of which they could only dream in their native

territory. These drawings, models and other documents evoke those fantasies perhaps even more than the remains of what was actually built in Indonesia. They show us architecture dreaming of making a new world that was to be rational, open and clear in its structure. It is an architecture where details bring the landscape into the human-made world, and in which the architects dreamed of using technology in practice or image to transform that landscape into something productive and radically new. The Indonesian influence on Dutch architecture, meanwhile, brought out the dreamlike qualities of architecture itself, turning houses and even public buildings into small fragments of an imagined and perhaps remembered Garden of Eden sheltering in the cold climate of the Netherlands. The NAI offers these images from its collection, through this book and the exhibition, as contributions to the debate as to the relevancy or absurdity, the good and the evil, of those visions. We also hope that the beauty of these artefacts themselves can be enjoyed through these means. Finally, we hope that the debates generated by these activities will help us understand how this architecture can be preserved or reused. I, for one, believe that these old dreams still have a great deal of power to show us, in both countries, the ability and necessity of architecture to

PREFACE

8

understand its place and to transform that site into a better, more open and more beautiful space. I would like to thank Professor Peter Nas for setting up the symposium of which the essay part of this book is the result and for editing all the essays, the Teeuw Fonds for starting the whole project and Chief Curator Martien de Vletter for her indefatigable labours in setting up the exhibition and the catalogue part of this publication.

Aaron BetskyFormer director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute

AARON BETSKY

9

The concepts ‘Indonesian architecture’ and ‘architec-ture in Indonesia’ are both somewhat flawed. Archi-tecture in Indonesia is extremely multifaceted and includes influences from many important cultures, ranging from India, China and the Middle East to the countries of the West. It’s certainly fair to question whether or not a ‘real’ Indonesian architectureexists, even with regard to the country’s vernacular architecture, which is highly diversified from an ethnic perspective. In fact, the search for the creation – with some little success – of an ‘authentic Indonesian’ architecture has long been a topic of discussion among architects in Indonesia. Importantly, this architecture is not confined to the territory of the Indonesian state but has migrated – along with various Indonesian ethnic groups, such as the Javanese and the Moluccans – to other parts of the world, especially to the Netherlands and most likely to the Caribbean, although there is no certainty of the latter as yet. This collection of essays on architecture in the context of Indonesia is intended to present a picture of the diversity of contemporary Indonesian architecture, while also acknowledging that such a presentation cannot be achieved in a perceptive and fruitful way without taking history into account. It is the result of a workshop held in Leiden and Rotterdam, the

Netherlands, from 12 to 14 December 2005. The meetings were sponsored by the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), the Professor Teeuw Fund, the Research School CNWS and the International Institute of Asian Studies (IIAS). Among other things, the meetings served as preparation for an exhibition planned for January 2007 at the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) in Rotterdam and scheduled to travel to Jakarta in mid-2007. The theme of this exhibition is ‘colonial’ architecture (also called ‘mutual’ Indonesian-Dutch or Indische architecture). With this book, we hope to offer the public a general introduction to Indonesian architecture and to provide visitors to the exhibition with an intelligible description of the architectural context of the Indische architecture shown. In order to serve this double purpose the book consists of two parts. Part one consists of a series of essays on different Indonesian architectural traditions and part two presents pictures and drawings on Indische architecture from the collection of the NAI. What, then, are these main architectural traditions present in Indonesia? We have distinguished modern, ‘traditional’ or vernacular, Islamic, Chinese, Hindu, and colonial or Indische architecture. Besides these, Indonesian architectural influences in the Netherlands

IntroductionPeter J.M. Nas

INTRODUCTION

10

should not be overlooked. With these traditions and influences in mind, we planned a book that would be as compact and practical as possible and that would feature seven essays. The field and its scholars proved to be difficult to manage, however, and soon the original seven chapters were considered too few to do justice to the thematic complexities and the existing approaches to research on the subject. The end result includes four chapters on colonial architecture, two on Chinese and one on the remaining types of architecture: a total of twelve chapters. An overview of the history of Indonesian architec-ture is the most appropriate background for the topics discussed in this book. Johannes Widodo (Modern Indonesian Architecture) presents a very elaborate synopsis of his views on ‘modern’ and ‘modernization’ in architecture. He distinguishes five phases, namely the periods of pre-modern (10,000 BCE-1500 CE), proto-modern (1500-1600), early-modern (1600-1800), recent-modern (1800-1940) and present-modern archi-tecture (1940-present). The description and labelling of these historical periods show that modernization has been a permanent characteristic of architecture in Indonesia, either by way of endogenous transfor-mations within particular traditions or by way of external influences that have dominated the Indone-sian archipelago during various periods of its history. The processes set out at the beginning of Widido’s essay are transplantation, adaptation, accommodation and hybridization. Later he adds adjustment and assimilation. These concepts constitute a rather loose

and sometimes overlapping range of terms indicating the variety of endogenous and exogenous underlying processes that lead to the dynamics of architectural materializations. If ‘modern’ can be conceptualized in such an iterative manner for different historical periods, the approach must be equally valid for ‘tradition’. This is why, in his dealings with ‘traditional’ or vernacular architecture, Jan Wuisman has also pointed out the great variety of forms that appear in this materialization of architecture, which is described not only in its ethnic diversity and dynamics, but also in its historical variability, ranging from the genuine expression of local cosmological views to deterioration and disappear-ance or, in some cases, to maintenance and renewal, as well as to the (re)invention of tradition in the form of modern ‘traditional’ architectural expressions, particu-larly in cities such as Padang and Banda Aceh. The central feature of Islamic architecture is the mosque. Led by Kees van Dijk, we follow the historical development of the mosque as exemplified in various characteristics such as location, size, layout, building style, colour scheme, upper storey, roof, veranda, domes, and minarets. The nature of mosques appears to be related to many factors. Among these, van Dijk lists population (number of believers), technology, financial considerations, architectural fashion, popular taste, religious orientation, political considerations and state policy. He emphasizes that in a period of Islamic revival the changing function of the mosque should also be considered: the mosque is becoming more and more of a centre of missionary work and social activities.

PETER J.M. NAS

11

Turning to Chinese architecture, Widodo (The Chinese Diaspora’s Urban Morphology and Architecture in Indonesia) points out an additional factor which has to be taken into account, namely the distinction between the coastal towns, generally settled by Chinese from Southern China, and the mining towns – in Kalimantan, Bangka and Bilitung, for example – inhabited by the Hakka from the mountainous regions of Southern China. Originally, the coastal settlement was related to the conceptual model of the immigrants’ boat, which functioned as a basic pattern for the town. The cosmological-geometric conception of the boat was reproduced in the spatial configuration of the core settlement with a basic axis consisting of a Mazu temple and two masts at one end, which faced the harbour at the other end. The Hakka settlement is located around a temple in which mountain gods and the god of war are venerated. It has a radio-concentric, three-pronged axis pattern with guardhouses at each town entrance. The towns often had a dualistic character, with a native area and a foreign area, whose populations mingled in the marketplace. In the course of time, settlement patterns were transformed and layered by the intrusion of various new influences. The basic dwelling is grounded on the Southern Chinese courtyard plan. It is a flexible, modular type of building whose courtyard symbolically functions as the axis mundi: the place where heaven and earth meet. Chinese vernacular architecture was heavily adapted to local conditions and forms of architecture. By adopting and blending with local architectural forms,

Chinese architecture became integrated into a native architectural vocabulary that was marked by a great deal of variety. This is aptly illustrated by Pratiwo, who captures the spirit of the Chinese built environment not only by discussing it in the contexts of areas of origin and developments in history, but also by including the local variations in Java and Kalimantan and by taking account of the political conditions of the Chinese population group in Indonesia in general. Clearly emerging from this analysis is the inadequacy of the stereotypical Chinese house in present-day Indonesia. Chinese architecture does not consist of ‘a gable roof with a swallow’s tail and cat-crawling at the end of the ridge’. Moreover, Chinese architecture after the New Order period has taken on a new lease of life, exemplified by thematic architecture representing the past in the present in new ways. Besides completely new non-Chinese forms, it also includes explicit Chinese forms built in concrete. Pratiwo’s rejection of the stereotyping of Chinese architecture shares strong overtones with Amanda Achmadi’s plea for the recognition of the diversity of Hindu architecture in Bali. In this case, too, a pristine architecture is assumed – composed of the characteristic villages, temples, split gates, and mud-walled compounds – and contrasted with all sorts of modern degenerations of the ‘ideal’ in the form of new building types, materials and techniques. In an article on Denpasar,1 it was shown that the reality of the spatial division of house, desa and town in Denpasar deviates to a certain extent from the main cultural

INTRODUCTION

12

principles dividing space into two, three and four units. These are the opposition between upstream (kaja) and downstream (kelod), determining the layout of the house and the site of the house temple; the formation of three temples shaping the threefold division of the desa and the town; and the holy crossroads carving up the town into four parts for specific urban uses. But, notwithstanding these variations, the principles have not only been widely known but also generally applied, albeit in a flexible and practical way. In addition to this, and exemplified by Penglipuran, Amanda Achmadi claims that in this Balinese village the core of architectural tradition is made up by ‘the creative invention of diverse architectural images and facets . . . through which a new subject position of Penglipuran is asserted and claimed’. She emphasizes an ‘interpretation of architectural tradition that recog-nizes the role of architecture as a multifaceted and elusive field of representation – one that continues to accommodate an appropriation of identity of one community, sometimes to assert and other times to conceal the community’s position within Bali’s ever changing sociopolitical circumstance’. In contrast to Chinese and Hindu Balinese archi-tectural styles, which are still strongly supported by substantial segments of the population, colonial architecture was based mainly on the formerly domi-nant groups of Dutch and other Westerners who left Indonesia in the middle of the twentieth century. It is only by means of the concept of ‘mutual’ or Indische architecture, propagated as a substitute for the term

‘colonial architecture’, that the relationship with the Dutch and their responsibility towards this type of architecture at present is expressed and maintained. The concept of mutual architecture is not unproblem-atic, however, as its core of communality is quite skewed. In the present Indonesian situation, colonial architecture is viewed as the – often deteriorating – material expression of the former colonial power and recollections of a dark period of subjugation. Cor Passchier presents an overview of this type of architecture with emphasis on its historical formation in the early period, from 1619 onwards, including the British interregnum, and on its continuation into the nineteenth-century era of public works and into that part of the twentieth century when individual architects played an increasingly prominent role in the creation of the corpus of colonial architecture. Passchier discuss-es various types of colonial constructions, varying from fortifications and other types of military architecture to public buildings, including government buildings, private mansions and several remarkable dwellings. A prominent debate in the colonial period concerned the creation of new architectural manifestations inspired by traditional vernacular Indonesian motifs, materials and spatial configurations, as contrasted with purely traditional, purely modern and sometimes trendy forms of design. This debate on Indonesian inspiration and the Indonesian character of architec-ture is elaborately presented by Martien de Vletter, who makes ample use of works displayed at the 2007 exhibition in the NAI for illustration. The creative use of

PETER J.M. NAS

13

traditional Indonesian motifs was also prominent in late-colonial debates on the furnishing and decoration of the palace. Madelon Djajadiningrat reports on these discussions, which involved Javanese ruler Mangkune-goro VII and Dutch architect Thomas Karsten, as well as Dutch archaeologist Wim Stutterheim. Her essay is based on the research she did into the personal correspondence of this ruler. Abidin Kusno focuses on a particular form of early twentieth-century colonial architecture, namely three styles that have left indelible traces on present-day Indonesian architecture: Empire, Indische architecture and Nieuwe Bouwen. He is aware that the ‘imitation, quotation and appropriation’ of this legacy changes its original meaning in the present and raises the question: ‘How do contemporary architects use or come to terms with this part of the colonial legacy?’ Kusno concludes that the colonial architectural vocabulary is still a valuable source of creativity and that it constitutes a real reflection of the colonial legacy, albeit by the suppression of its colonial connotations. Fragments of the three aforementioned styles of architecture have been utilized in projects representing contractions in the colonial history of Indonesia. The use of these styles is very suitable in constituting the idea of ‘Indonesia’, as they are not related to one particular culture, and for this reason the modern architecture of Indonesia does not eschew these colonial styles but confronts them by means of appropriation. The colonial legacy is accepted ‘with a mix of gratitude and irony’ for use in this post-colonial

time. It constitutes Indonesian history but, as Kusno correctly emphasizes, is also subject to contemporary conditions related to power. The colonial past not only plays a role in Indonesia but has also become part and parcel of present-day Dutch architecture in a broad sense. This theme is explored by Peter Nas and Maaike Boersma, who are the first to have listed and studied the main forms of Indonesian and colonial architecture in the Netherlands. Their discussion includes examples of Minangkabau, Batak and colonial-style houses; Indische wards and street names; façade decorations; statues; monuments; and descriptions of Indonesian life as portrayed in Indonesian literature. Different segments of the population – from ordinary Dutch people to former Indonesians and Indo-Europeans – have appropriated Indonesian and colonial architecture in various ways. Feelings of power and pride, shame and honour, forgetting and longing dominate the changing ‘archiscape’ of Indonesian and colonial artefacts in the Netherlands. Neglect and decay, renaming and renovation, fantasy and creation all play a role in this reshaping of the past through preparations for the future.

INTRODUCTION

1 Peter J.M. Nas, ‘The Image of Denpasar: About Urban Symbolism between Tradition and Tourism’, in: Peter J.M. Nas (ed.), Issues in Urban Development: Case Studies from Indonesia (Leiden: Research School CNWS, 1995), 164-192.

14

PART 1 VARIETY ININDONESIANARCHITECTURE

ESSAYSEdited by Peter J.M. Nas

Johannes Widodo Toko Merah, Batavia, exterior and interior

Johannes Widodo Chinese-Dutch style plantation house in Tangerang, façade and isometric drawing

Johannes Widodo Colonial house with veranda in Batavia, façade and isometric drawing

Johannes Widodo Villa Isola, Band-ung, by C.P.W. Schoemakers, 1932

Johannes Widodo Hygienic building types

Johannes Widodo BOW mosque in Labuhan, Banten

Johannes Widodo Puhsarang Church, by Henry Maclaine Pont, 1936

Johannes Widodo Aga Khan award-winning project Kali Code, Yogyakarta, by Y.B. Mangunwijaya, 1983-1987

Johannes Widodo GANEFO stadium, Jakarta, by Russian architects, 1958

Johannes Widodo Sonobudoyo Museum, Yogyakarta, by Thomas Karsten, 1935

MODERN INDONESIAN ARCHITECTURE 17

MODERN INDONESIAN ARCHITECTURETransplantation, Adaptation, Accommodation and Hybridization

Johannes Widodo

Introduction

Asia is a vast continent with a wealth of architectural expres-

sions and an amazing mixture of cultures and lifestyles,

where the ancient and the modern, as well as the Asian

and the non-Asian, have mingled and merged for centuries.

Indonesia, because of its location and openness as an archi-

pelagic country, has long been a place for exchange and for

the cross-breeding of various cultures and civilizations.

‘Modern’ generally means up to date, trendy and new;

from the present or recent times. It is a term first recorded

in the sixteenth century, as a contrast to the word ‘ancient’

or old-fashioned. Essentially, it refers to the departure from

old traditions1 and to the creation of something new through

inventions, innovations and transformations suited to contem-

porary needs and demands.

The process of change, as seen from the structuralist

perspective, is a layering of different cultural influxes into

the vernacular culture through a continuous evolution of

transplantation, adaptation, accommodation and fusion.

Such change is manifested in the large variety and hybridity

of architectural styles and forms throughout historical periods.

Architecture and urban forms are, at the same time, the physi-

cal or material manifestations of beliefs, socioeconomic and

political conditions, the arts and culture.

Asian modernism is best viewed as process rather than

product. Modern architecture in Asia has not evolved in a

vacuum; local factors, both natural and cultural, play a very

important role in the process of becoming modern, which in-

volves the aforementioned aspects of transplantation, adapta-

tion, accommodation and fusion or hybridization. The myriad

forms of Asian architecture are the result of this process.

This chapter looks at modern architecture from an angle

unlike that of the universal, ahistorical, non-contextual defi-

nition of modern architecture, in an attempt to offer a more

realistic and grounded approach towards Asian modernity and

modern architecture by analysing the process of modernization

rather than the product.

Pre-Modern Architectural Developments

During the Late Prehistoric period (roughly from 10,000 BCE

to 200 CE), the small tribal groups that were formed in differ-

ent parts of Nusantara2 were based on animism and ances-

tral-worship cults. Under tribal leadership they elaborated

1 The word ‘tradition’ is understood as handing over values and practices from one generation to the next, without or with small changes. Within tradition, old values, practices, patterns and forms are preserved and continued.

2 Composed of the Sanskrit words nusa (islands) and antara (between), Nusantara refers to the Indonesian archipelago, which is located between two continents, two oceans and two great civilizations, China and India.

cults and rituals, domesticated crops and animals, developed

irrigation systems and started long-distance trading. Besides

ceremonial bronze axes and drums, stone bracelets and beads,

cave paintings, wooden tools and stone sculptures, people of

this period produced stone graves, terraced megalithic sites,

an early saddle-roof typology, timber building construction

and architecture adapted to climate. This period saw the

emergence of vernacular building and settlement traditions.3

Since then, the vernacular 4 architectural tradition in Indonesia

has been handed down from generation to generation.

Trading links between India and China that developed

in the Proto-Historic period (200-600 CE) influenced the

emergence of a class division between nobility and com-

moners, especially in ports of call along trading routes in

the archipelago. The earliest kingdom appeared in Java

(Tarumanagara), where the oldest Sanskrit writings and royal

edicts written in the Pallava script have been found. The earli-

est Buddha images in bronze from Sulawesi and East Java

and the earliest Vishnu images from West Java are indicators

of the rise of Hinduism and Buddhism in these areas, which

subsequently gave rise to early permanent architecture in

stone and brick.

The process of fusion between Hinduism and Buddhism

continued into the Early Classic period (600-900 CE), during

which international maritime trade intensified, giving rise to

class divisions and specializations in urban communities.

Gold and silver coins were commonly used for the exchange

that took place in periodic local markets. The translation of

Hindu and Buddhist teachings into Old Javanese is a sign of

dissemination and of the indigenization of foreign culture into

the local context. Two prominent Buddhist Srivijaya (Sumatra)

and Hindu Mataram (Java) kingdoms built monumental stone

sculptures and large stone temples and shrines, mainly in

Java (in places such as Gedong Songo, Borobudur and

Prambanan).

Early Chinese immigrants arrived during the Middle

Classic period (900-1300 CE), and Chinese currency started

to circulate in the archipelago. The power centres shifted to

eastern Java (Kadiri) and central Sumatra (Malayu), and the

institutionalization of state bureaucracy and the military can

be traced to the construction of an extensive transportation

and irrigation infrastructure and other networks, especially

in Java. Brick temples appeared in Sumatra (Padang Lawas,

Muara Takus, Muara Jambi).

During the Late Classic period (1300-1500 CE), port cities

along the northern coast of Java and the eastern coast of

Sumatra grew in prosperity, thanks to the expansion of inter-

national trading networks that included the Java Sea and the

Melaka Straits. Chinese currency became the main medium of

exchange, and Chinese-diaspora communities played a stra-

tegic role in the commercial and service sectors of cosmopoli-

tan coastal Nusantara. The Majapahit kingdom in eastern Java

rose to become a great maritime power and managed to place

Nusantara under its political and cultural rule. Metal equip-

ment and pottery were mass-produced, terracotta figurines

replaced stone and bronze statues, a paper-making industry

appeared, and new styles of stone and brick temples were

constructed on the mountain slopes in East Java and Bali.

Proto-Modern Period: Contexts for Modernization

The emergence of cosmopolitan cities and urban culture; the

rise of commercial, service, and industrial sectors; and the

development of artistic and stylistic innovations in design in

previous periods were perfect preconditions for the moderni-

zation process, which would accelerate in the following periods.

The Proto-Modern period (1500-1600 CE) saw urbaniza-

tion and specialization in modern economic relations develop

in terms of both quantity and complexity, as Islamic traders

from southern China, India, Arabia and Persia arrived in the

cosmopolitan port cities of Nusantara. International trade,

the spread of Islam and the rapid growth of port cities were

strongly propagated by the great Ming dynasty, whose

Admiral Zheng He sailed from China to Southeast Asia and

across the Indian Ocean to the eastern coast of Africa in the

first half of the fifteenth century. 5

Early Islamic power centres arose in Java (Demak), south-

ern Sumatra (Palembang), the Malay Peninsula (Melaka),

Sulawesi (Goa) and different parts of Nusantara. Various as-

pects of Islamic culture were adapted and adopted, mixed

and hybridized with pre-existing Hindu, Buddhist and Chinese

elements, as manifested in the architecture of mosques, tomb

complexes and palace gardens from this period, as well as in

hybrid Islamic literature and decorative arts in various parts of

the archipelago.

A good typological example of Proto-Modern architecture

is the adaptive planning and design of the great mosque of

Demak. Based on the cosmological principles of the Hindu

mandala, the plan of this mosque complex has three essential

3 John Miksic (ed.), Indonesian Heritage, Vol. 1 Ancient History (Singapore: Editions Didier Millet, 1996), 10-11.

4 The term ‘vernacular’ originates from the Latin word vernaculus and means ‘domestic or indigenous’; from verna: a slave born in his master’s house, or

a native.

5 Johannes Widodo, The Boat and the City: Chinese Diaspora and the Architecture of Southeast Asian Coastal Cities (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Academic, 2004), 31-19.

18 JOHANNES WIDODO

components: a clear, concentric pattern of space, which radi-

ates from four structural columns that support the main roof

(soko-guru) and features a main access point that faces east;

tri-level zones that run in an east-west direction, from the

main gate (gapura/gopuram) to the veranda hall (pendapa/

mandappa) to the main hall; and a three-tiered roof with a

crown on top. The westward orientation is not directed exactly

towards Mecca (qiblat). Contributing to the construction of the

earliest mosque were Chinese shipbuilders from Semarang, a

Chinese Hanafite Muslim community with close ties to Admiral

Zheng He. It’s thought that at least one of the main columns 6

was constructed according to methods used in Chinese ship-

building.

Early Modern Period: The Transplantation of European

Typology

The Early Modern period (1600-1800 CE) was marked by the

arrival of European (Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish and British)

traders to Nusantara. An increase in the colonial hegemony

and domination of Europe was matched, however, by the rapid

growth of the Chinese role as middleman in the commercial,

service, and manufacturing sectors.

In the early seventeenth century, Europe’s four-seasons

architectural typology and design language were transplanted

directly into the tropical landscape. The earliest structures

exemplifying this typology were trading posts, military forts

and fortified towns. Motivating the planning and design of

these architectural elements was a survivalist instinct that

placed a higher priority on security than on comfort.

The VOC (Dutch East India Company) strived to strength-

en its foothold in important port cities by building forts near

the coastline or the estuary of a river. The expansion of the

VOC, which continued to the end of the nineteenth century,

pushed the transplantation of this climatically incompatible

building typology into other parts of the archipelago, including

the hinterlands, generating health problems and uncomfort-

able living conditions. The four-seasons building typology was

transplanted (or forced) into tropical regions with high tem-

peratures, high levels of humidity and rainfall, and long hours

of glaring sunlight.

Features such as a flat façade without a veranda, large

windows, thick brick walls, small eaves, and few openings for

ventilation were unable to provide enough shade, cross venti-

lation, and protection against tropical storms and wet ground.

Glaring sunlight pierced the interior through large glass win-

dows, high humidity levels could not be reduced because of

a lack of cross ventilation, and the air inside these structures

remained above the human comfort level. Inhabitants dressed

in European-style clothing, which was suitable for temperate

regions but inappropriate for life in a hot and humid tropical

climate. Living conditions within this kind of building, not to

mention garments, were uncomfortable, hot, humid and un-

healthy.

On the other hand, forcing these alien colonial artifices into

indigenous regions enabled the VOC to exercise immediate

control over local communities. There was no time to consider

and to refine the architectural style. Basic building techniques

and methods were taken directly from the European vocabu-

lary out of practical necessity. Architectural styles and materi-

als unfamiliar to the locals were quite conspicuous amid the

vernacular morphology of such settlements. As time went on,

the superimposing European morphology expanded progres-

sively, eventually dominating and eradicating the entire urban

fabric.

The uncomfortable conditions gradually improved, how-

ever, once security ceased to be the main priority for survival.

Gradually, certain technical and design-related improvements

were applied to the construction of military structures, as well

as to dwellings, offices, churches and warehouses.

Recent Modern Period: Climatic Adaptation and Cultural

Accommodation

The Recent Modern period stretched from the early nineteenth

century, soon after the VOC went bankrupt, to the 1940s,

which ended the years of the great depression that preceded

the Second World War. During this fourteen-decades-long

episode of Dutch colonization, the Netherlands East Indies

underwent drastic transformations, among which an economic

system of forced cultivation, the implementation of the Agrarian

Law (after 1870), a number of liberalization and decentraliza-6 According to popular belief, this column was constructed by Sunan Kalijaga,

an Islamic missionary to Java (Wali Songo), using pieces of wood held together by iron plates.

MODERN INDONESIAN ARCHITECTURE 19

Toko Merah, Batavia, exterior and interior

20

tion policies (after 1901), and the emergence of early national-

ist movements (1912 to the 1930s) that eventually led to the

struggle for political independence.

Beginning in the early nineteenth century, eighteenth-cen-

tury survivalist architecture was gradually replaced by archi-

tecture adapted to the environment. Uncomfortable living con-

ditions were the main reason for this change. For the sake of

physical and environmental comfort, architects began using

local building materials and learning and reproducing vernac-

ular architectural languages.

The most significant architectural adaptations appeared

in the design of the roof and the façade, as seen in the archi-

tecture of plantation houses and country houses belonging

to Dutch and wealthy Chinese settlers. Here, a much larger

pyramid roof was able to absorb a greater amount of heat

and to prevent it from being transmitted into the interior

space. Better ventilation was the result of gaps between roof

tiles and openings separating the ceiling from the tops of the

walls. A more steeply pitched roof directed torrents of tropical

rain straight down to the ground. Eaves became wider, form-

ing large verandas that protected occupants from the glare

of the sun and wind-driven rain, while providing them with

much-needed, cool shadows on all sides of the building.

The high ceiling of the earlier European typology was retained,

a decision that kept the interior larger and cooler than a low-

ceilinged space. Openings (doors and windows) were larger

and louvred, to ensure effective cross ventilation.

These adaptations made living conditions inside the building

much more tolerable and climatically comfortable. The archi-

tectural style of the buildings was more connected to and in

harmony with the vernacular typology. The locals, therefore,

started copying and adopting this new style for their houses

and buildings, including the usage of new building materials

and the application of new building techniques. The adapta-

tion process has generated additional changes and transfor-

mations that further fuel the discourse on modernization.

Environmental adaptation continued through a process of

cultural accommodation. Europeans embraced local lifestyles,

local social norms, local cultural traditions and local spatial

concepts. The large veranda, derived from the traditional

Javanese pendopo and reinterpreted, became the most

important part of the house. The space that was originally

the central pavilion, an area located between the public zone

and private zone, became an extended veranda, which served

as a common, multipurpose meeting place for activities of a

semi-public or semi-private nature. Most of the family’s daily

activities – such as sitting, dining and entertaining guests –

took place on the large veranda. Bedrooms for family mem-

bers were located inside the main building, and servants’

rooms, along with kitchen and storage spaces, were found

in outbuildings around the main house.

Mixed marriages involving Europeans, Chinese citizens,

people of other nationalities and natives produced the Indische

culture: a mixture of Dutch and local cultures expressed in

lifestyle, fashion, food, art, craft and architecture. Many large

houses built from the eighteenth to the nineteenth centuries

became multiracial, multicultural dwellings that helped create

culturally hybrid communities.

Hybridization and the Maturity of Indonesian Architecture

Hybridization as a result of climatic adaptation and cultural

assimilation marked a new stage of architectural maturity,

when experimentation and creation of new architectural forms

were generated, prompted by cultural assimilation and socio-

ethical agendas.

Modern architectural innovation was stepped up in 1814,

when the Department of Public Works was established as part

of the Department of Finance during a brief period of British

administration (1811-1816). In 1832 the Department of Public

Chinese-Dutch style plantation house in Tangerang, façade and iso-metric drawing

Colonial house with veranda in Batavia, façade and isometric drawing

JOHANNES WIDODO

MODERN INDONESIAN ARCHITECTURE 21

Works became a branch of the Department of Waterways and

Civil Engineering (non-military functions) and employed mili-

tary engineers (Genie) from the early colonial period. In 1855

an independent Directorate of Public Works (BOW, Burgerlijke

Openbare Werken) was formed which trained civilian architects.

In 1921 the BOW became part of the Department of Traffic

and Waterways and was changed into the Building Service

Office (Landsgebouwendienst). 7

These public architects or civil architects developed the

so-called ‘BOW style’ in the cities (housing for civil servants,

government offices, post and telegraph offices, markets,

lighthouses, cemeteries, villas, hospitals and so forth).

These buildings, eclectic in style – namely the Orientalist

style or Indo-Imperialist style – combined modern design

idioms with classic architectural influences (from China,

Japan, India, Persia and Europe) and vernacular elements.

The Decentralization Act (Decentralisatiewet) was promul-

gated in 1903, followed by the proclamation of the Local

Council Ordinance (Locale Raadenordonantie) in 1905, which

was soon followed by the official declaration of autonomous

cities – the reason for the building boom enjoyed by Dutch

architects in the Netherlands East Indies.8

In the meantime, the Society for Building Sciences

(Vereeniging van Bouwkundigen) published The East Indies

Building Science Bulletin (Indische Bouwkundige Tijdschrift)

from 1897 to 1931. The decentralization policy and the forma-

tion of municipalities provided the impetus for the formation of

the Union for Local Affairs (Vereeniging voor Locale Belangen)

in 1911 as forum for communication forum among local officers,

planners and builders, and for the development of the differ-

ent regions according to their specific needs and potential.

In 1931 the IBT-Local Technical Bulletin (IBT-Locale Techniek)

was published, and in the 1930s the Examination for

Architects (‘Locale Belangen’ Architects) was used to select

the ‘Local Architects’ working for municipality governments.

The central government developed blueprints for ‘hygienic

building types’, which municipalities then used to guide design

and implementation in their respective cities, especially for

the middle and upper classes of the community. 9 Architects

were employed to develop the blueprints, not only taking into

account the hygienic and utilitarian aspects of the design,

but also incorporating aesthetic and conceptual qualities.

The Mix-Levels Housing Plan and Tropical Garden City

concept were adopted, combining low-, middle- and upper-

level dwelling units in an integrated plan within the urban

structure well-adapted to the tropical natural environment.

New typologies of modern dwelling were introduced, such

as the single-detached unit, double-unit, quadruple-unit, six-

rowed unit, and so forth.

In 1904 the first private architecture firm in Indonesia,

Technisch Bureau Biezeveld & Moojen, was established in

Bandung.10 This milestone opened up a new era of private

architecture practice in the Netherlands East Indies. In 1923

the NIAK (Nederlandsch-Indischen Architecten Kring, the

Netherlands East Indies Architects Circle) was ounded,

bringing together idealistic young Dutch architects. It was

a defining moment for the emergence of a distinctive new hy-

brid architectural style and the beginning of a more serious

academic debate on Indonesian architectural identity.

The THS (Technische Hoogeschool) or Polytechnic was

established in Bandung in 1921. This architecture school was

part of the Department of Building (Bouwkunde), and its cur-

riculum was based on that of the Technische Hoogeschool

7 Yuswadi Saliya (ed.), The Development of the Architect as a Profession and the Establishment of the Indonesian Institute of Architects (Bandung: Badan

Sistem Informasi Arsitektur IAI-JB, 1996), 12.8 Ibid., 14.

9 C.J. de Bruijn, Indische bouwhygiëne (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1927).10 Huib Akihary, Architectuur & stedebouw in Indonesië 1870-1970 (Zutphen:

De Walburg Pers, 1988), 129.

BOW mosque in Labuhan, Banten

Hygienic building types

22

in Delft, in the Netherlands, making no distinction between

professional and academic training. The debate on issues

of modernity, identity and tropicality was very intensive and

productive, not only in academic circles but spilling out into

the professional community as well. The so-called Tropisch-

Indische style evolved, incorporating the quantitative aspects

of tropicality and the qualitative nature of the local or regional

architectural typology, standing side-by-side with outright

modernist streamlined architecture and Art-Deco buildings.

It is a clear indicator of the advancement and maturity of the

modernization process in the Indonesian architectural dis-

course.

Present Modern Period: In Search of a Contemporary

Indonesian Identity

The period from the 1930s to 1950 was marked by global eco-

nomic depression, great recession, followed by war in Europe

and the Asia Pacific region, bringing an end to the building

boom, as well as the vibrant academic discourse and great

architectural experimentation that had prevailed before the

war in Indonesia. The grand plan to build a new capital in

Bandung was also shelved. The end of the Second World War

was followed by the struggle for independence and a period

of instability and insecurity, long after the declaration of inde-

pendence in 1945, all of which hampered architectural and

physical development in Indonesia.

The 1950s were a period of renaissance in architectural

education, and the rebuilding of the architectural profession

in Indonesia. In 1950 the Department of Building (Bouwkunde

Afdeling) was opened as part of the Faculty of Engineering

Sciences at the University of Indonesia in Bandung, pioneered

by Jacob Thijsse, M. Susilo, and F. Silaban.11 This first public

architecture school in independent Indonesia later became

the ITB (Bandung Institute of Technology). In 1959 the first

generation of eighteen Indonesian architectural engineers

graduated from the school. The IAI (Ikatan Arsitek Indonesia,

Indonesian Institute of Architects) in Bandung was led by

three senior architects (Friedrich Silaban, Mohammad Susilo

and Liem Bwan Tjie). In 1960 the first private architecture

school at Parahyangan Catholic University (UNPAR) opened

as part of the Faculty of Engineering.

The period between 1960 and 1965 was dominated by

Sukarno’s national-character building policy and national

mega-projects (hotels, department stores, offices, mosques,

monuments, flyover bridge, sport centre, recreation centre),

dominated by post-war International-style and Socialist-style

buildings financed by Japanese war reparations money,12 and

introduced by architects educated abroad (especially from

Eastern Europe). An ideology of modernism, functionalism

and reductionism strongly influenced architectural education,

urban planning and design, and architectural practice. There

were at least two prominent Indonesian architects, Freidrich

Silaban and Sujudi, who produced interesting architecture;

both were very responsive to the tropical climate, but the first

is functional and utilitarian while the latter is more tectonic and

poetic.

11 Saliya, The Development of the Architect as a Profession, op. cit. (note 7), 16-20.12 Masashi Nishihara, The Japanese and Soekarno’s Indonesia: Tokyo-Jakarta

Relations 1951-1966. Monographs of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1975).

Puhsarang Church, by Henry Maclaine Pont, 1936

Villa Isola, Bandung, by C.P.W. Schoemakers, 1932

Sonobudoyo Museum, Yogyakarta, by Thomas Karsten, 1935

JOHANNES WIDODO

MODERN INDONESIAN ARCHITECTURE 23

The Suharto New Order, three decades of national develop-

ment from 1966 to 1998, was characterized by a boom in oil

production and in construction, facilitated by the institutionali-

zation of five-year National Development Plans, free-market

enterprise, and ersatz capitalism. Socioeconomic divisions

between the rich and the poor and between cities and villages

grew wider and were often a source of conflict and contestation.

‘Corporate style’ high-rise architecture in concrete, steel

and glass now dominates the skyline in the Jakarta central

business district, back-to-back with the high-density, low-rise

sprawl of urban kampungs, or settlements. Beginning in the

early 1970s, large-scale urban development projects were

constructed in the capital (such as Ancol, Krekot, Senen,

Grogol), superimposing new functional blocks onto the old

urban fabric, destroying many historic buildings.

Suharto initiated the spread of the so-called ‘Pancasila

mosque’ – a modern reinterpretation based on traditional cen-

tral Javanese mosque typology – in a bid to win support from

Muslim communities across Indonesia. Local governments

adopted neo-vernacularism to express local identity – albeit

superficially – in their public buildings. This attitude was

probably inspired by the creation of the Taman Mini Indonesia

Indah (the Indonesia in Miniature Park) as a representation

of ‘Indonesian’ identity.

National efforts to provide public housing could not keep

up with the exploding demand, and the National Housing

Corporation (Perumnas) only managed to build limited num-

bers of low-cost mass housing estates (featuring basic sites

and services, core housing, walk-up apartments). To deal

with worsening environmental conditions in inner-city dwell-

ing enclaves, the government implemented the Kampung

Improvement Program (KIP), but this mainly dealt with infra-

structure improvements. Overpopulation in Java prompted the

government to build new settlements in scarcely populated

islands outside Java for migrants.

Amid the mushrooming clusters of corporate-style architecture

and private-sector developments (including speculative develop-

ments, elite gated communities, consumerist shopping malls,

and exclusive resorts), it is imperative that we pay attention to

the serious efforts of some Indonesian architects in promoting

a pro-community approach (for instance Y.B. Mangunwijaya

and Antonio Ismael), and also to the emergence of a younger

generation of architects with a fresh spirit of experimentation

(Arsitek Muda Indonesia, AMI), to regenerate healthy debate

and discourse in contemporary Indonesian architecture.

Final Remarks

Modernization does not develop in a vacuum, but in different

aspects of specific contexts – natural, environmental, social,

cultural, physical, and historical. Modernization is a structural

process in a formal, environmental and cultural sense. It is a

continuous socio-cultural process of transplantation, adjust-

ment, adaptation, accommodation, assimilation, hybridization,

and materialization – manifested in the myriad forms of archi-

tectural production and reproduction.

Diversity, variety, unpredictability – all of these are basic

elements of modern Asian architecture. In Asia – including

Indonesia – the ancient and the modern, the Asian and the

non-Asian, have mingled and merged for centuries, producing

multi-layered and rich variations of living architecture, evolving

and developing from the past into the future, in a never-ending

journey of new discoveries and self-discovery.

Faced with a vast, living archive of Asia’s modern architec-

ture, which in many cases represents its sole connection to

the past, it is necessary to undertake rigorous research, care-

ful analysis and resolute action to protect its heritage and to

place it once more at the centre of daily life. Revitalization

of the modern built environment demands the resurrection

of lost crafts and techniques and the preservation of an irre-

placeable indigenous knowledge that passes away with every

generation, in order to offer a real possibility that modern

architecture might serve as the genesis of a modern lifestyle

and ethos for the people of Asia.13

Aga Khan award-winning project Kali Code, Yogyakarta, by Y.B. Mangunwijaya, 1983-1987

GANEFO stadium, Jakarta, by Russian architects, 1958

13 See mAAN Macau Declaration (2001) and mAAN Istanbul Declaration (2005) at www.m-aan.org.

24