Prabowo House Kemang, Jakarta

Strict building regulations limiting the height of houses in this area to a single story, and the relatively spacious site, plus the laid-back nature of the owner couple, led accom- plished architect Tan Tjiang Ay to make full use of the land area in order to create a “garden house.”Throughout the long, narrow site, the built-up areas are arranged to com- plement open gardens, creating a balanced composition of positive and negative spaces.

Tan Tjiang Ay Architect

The heart of the house is the third of a series of volumes, located at the back of the house, which has direct access to a spacious open garden. The wide terrace becomes a transitional area between the outside and the inside, where the natural environment can be appreciated by relaxing on the large wooden divan. The concrete columns emphasize the simple modular geometry of the house. Entrance to the house is through large timber- framed doors, which add an overtone of warmth and intimacy to the house.

Tan’s questioning of established ways of thinking in Indonesian society. In this house, he discards the conservative and conventional progresssion of entrance, guest room, living room, and bedrooms common to most houses. Instead, he places the bedrooms at the front of the house so that visitors pass alongside them. Although the master bedroom has a full view of the gardens, the children’s bedroom and study have limited views.These rooms are designed to reflect their pri- mary function: private spaces in which to sleep or study, without distractions from outside.

The living and dining areas are contained in a single space. The simplicity of the house’s geometry is echoed in the mini- malist furniture and the unfussy materials used for the walls, doors, and floors.

The living and dining area extends out to a small patio at the back of the house. The axial character of the design is empha- sized by the corresponding doors and the flanking chairs. A door at the far end of the living and dining room leads to the kitchen.

The volumes are designed as gable-roofed boxes, open in plan.The simplicity of the spaces within is compensated by the complexity of the arrangement of spaces. Hierarchy is not created by the enlargement of elements, but rather by the way they are put together.The house is entered through a simple metal grill door sandwiched between two gable-roofed structures. 

 A different view of the living and dining room shows the rela- tively long, narrow space. The woven-backed dining chairs har- monize with the wooden lattice- work living room and patio chairs.

In line with Tan’s thinking, these accommodate very different functions, ones that are not usually placed together.The one on the left houses a double garage, while the one on the right accommodates the chil-dren’s bedrooms and study.The two structures are separated by a shallow reflecting pool.

The shallow stone-bedded reflecting pool separates the garage on the left (second volume) and the bedrooms and study  on the right (first volume). The area between the two volumes is left open to the sky. Timber-framed transparent canopies protect the connecting passages.

The modest façade of the house reflects its internal archi- tectural composition. The trans- parent entrance is flanked by two gable-roofed volumes. The gable to the left is spare, suggesting the functionality of the garage housed within its volume. In con- trast, the gable to the right is crowned with a terracotta tile roof, suggesting the more domes- tic nature of the rooms within.

Alongside the garage is a narrow corridor leading to the center of the site and a third gable-roofed structure. This third volume, also open in plan but bordered by a covered patio along its full length, houses the living and dining areas, the heart of the house.

Sharing space with the garden at the back ofthe house, the third-volume living room is also crowned with a terra- cotta tile roof, again suggesting a domestic space. The flat-roofed verandah, supported by concrete pillars, extends the full length of the living area, forming a natural transition between the buildingand its surroundings.

Also facing the vast open garden is the master bedroom on the north end of the first volume.This volume is divided into three main rooms, with bathrooms in between. Adja- cent to the master bedroom is a children’s bedroom, while a study is placed in the south end to the front of the house. The study has no openings to the front of the house.The openings of the three rooms are all arranged on the north wall, with the exception of the master bedroom which also takes advantage of the view to the open space to the north.

The floor plan of the single- story house reveals the juxta- position of built-up areas, paths, and gardens.

While the service areas of the house, including the laundry, storage, and servants’ quarters are arranged along the wall on the far left (north) of the site, the kitchen is strategically placed in the center of the site, functioning as a kind of pivot that links the three main volumes of the house together.

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