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Architects: studiokian
- Area: 300 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Ernest Theofilus
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Manufacturers: Alexindo, Bottega Artisan, Daikin, Kana Floor, Kayuasri, Mulia Glassblock, SKK, Sors Furniture, Toto
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Lead Architects: Kalvin Widjaja & Dian Indah
Text description provided by the architects. D House is a small house that is built on land of 150 sqm and located in the dense neighborhood of a relatively old complex in West Jakarta. One of the challenges when designing this house is that the road in front of the house is relatively narrow with only approx. 5 meters width, thus making it feel really close to the neighbor across, at the same time, having to meet the client’s need to maximize the building area.
The car garage, service area, and guest bedroom are located on the 1st level of this house, while the more public function rooms, such as the praying/gathering room, living room, and dining room, are located on the 2nd floor, and more private areas like bedrooms are on the 3rd floor. By distributing the rooms this way, we are able to freely open the second floor to the nature and outdoor gathering area, making an independent oasis in the middle of the dense neighborhood.
The basic principle of spatial design of this house is compress and release, whereas the entrance foyer on the 1st floor is designed to be low-ceiling, muted material, and considerably narrow. As soon as we walk up the stairs and look up, light punctures deep into the entire space from the intersected void and skylight on the 2nd and 3rd floor, and finally, we will be grandiosely welcomed by the bright open space that is the praying/gathering room. It is strategically located on the split level between the 1st and 2nd floor to get a high-ceiling feel as it will become the first room that guests encounter. This room can be fully opened to the semi-outdoor terraces, where the stair steps can be an extension of the seating spaces. After the gathering events, guests will be naturally directed into the living room and dining room through this outdoor terrace, where they will be enjoying food and drinks. After the gathering is done, dishes will be transferred down by dumbwaiter from the pantry to the kitchen below to be cleaned. This kind of flow is what we imagined in the very first step of designing this house.
The stairs from the 2nd to the 3rd floor, as well as the railings, are designed to be as light and transparent as possible to keep the house as open as possible since sites are limited. The front part of the house is well-layered, with a garden and a wall of glass blocks. The glass block material is chosen to maximize privacy on the façade of this house since the across-neighbor is very close and, at the same time, brings diffused natural light to the interior (the great room and stairs' massing). These same glass blocks are used on the ceiling in the praying room to create a more sacred feel, uplifting the sense of discovery as it is the main theme of this house.
