Sejarah Arsitektur Kontemporer Indonesia

Sejarah Arsitektur Kontemporer Indonesia

1) PENDAHULUAN

 Sebelum masa kemerdekaan dunia arsitektur di Indonesia didominasi oleh karya arsitek Belanda. Masa kolonial tersebut telah mengisi gambaran baru pada peta arsitektur Indonesia. Kesan tradisional dan vernakuler serta ragam etnik di Negeri ini diusik oleh kehadiran pendatang yang membawa arsitektur arsitektur di Indonesia Bentuk arsitektur di Indonesia “asli” kemudian dimulai dari sebuah institusi arsitektur di era setelah kemerdekaan. Selama periode tersebut sampai sekarang arsitektur berkembang melalui proses akademik dan praktek arsitektur pada sebuah arsitektur kontemporer Indonesia. Di masa penjajahan Belanda sebenarnya mata kuliah arsitektur diajarkan sebagai bagian dari pendidikan insinyur sipil. Namun, setelah Oktober 1950, sekolah arsitektur yang pertama didirikan di Institut Teknologi Bandung yang dulu bernama Bandoeng Technische Hoogeschool (1923). Disiplin ilmu arsitektur ini diawali dengan 20 mahasiswa dengan 3 pengajar berkebangsaan Belanda, yang pada dasarnya pengajar tersebut meniru system pendidikan dari tempat asalnya di Universitas Teknologi Delft di Belanda. Pendidikan arsitektur mengarah pada penguasaan keahlian merancang bangunan, dengan fikus pada parameter yang terbatas, yaitu fungsi, iklim, konstruksi, dan bahan bangunan. Semenjak konflik di Irian Barat pada tahun 1955 semua pengajar dari Belanda dipulangkan ke negaranya, kecuali V.R. van Romondt yang secara rendah hati bersikeras untuk tinggal dan memimpin sekolah arsitektur sampai tahun 1962. Selama kepemimpinannya, pendidikan arsitektur secata bertahan memperkaya dengan memberikan aspek estetika, barat ke tanah Indonesia. Sekitar awal 1910-an beberapa karya arsitek Belanda seperti Stasiun Jakarta Kota, Hotel Savoy Homan dan Villa Isola di bandung sudah memberikan pemandangan barubudaya dan sejarah ke dalam sebuah pertimbangan desain. Van Romondt berambisi menciptakan “Arsitektur Indonesia” baru, yang berakar pada prinsip tradisional dengan sentuhan modern untuk memenuhi kebutuhan masyarakat kontemporer. Dengan kata lain “Arsitektur Indonesia” adalah penerapan gagasan fungsionalisme, rasionalisme, dan kesederhanaan dari desain modern, namun sangat terinspirasi oleh prinsip-prinsip arsitektur tradisional. 

 2) KEMAJUAN, MODERNITAS, DAN MONUMENTALITAS

 Pada tahun 1958, mahasiswa arsitektur ITB sudah mencapai 500 orang, dengan 12 orang lulusan. Yang kemudian beberapanya menjadi pengajar. Pada bulan September 1959, Ikatan Arsitek Indonesia (IAI) didirikan. Sejak tahun 1961, kepemimpinan sekolah arsitektur berpindah tangan pada bangsa Indonesia dengan Sujudi sebagai ketuanya. Kemudian Sujudi mendirikan sekolah arsitektur di perguruan tinggi lainnya. Masa ini juga juga dipelopori oleh Sujudi cs. bersama teman-temannya yang menamakan diri ATAP. Awal tahun 1960-an, literature barat mulai masuk dalam diskursus pendidikan arsitektur di Indonesia. Karya dan pemikiran para arsitek terkemukan seperti Walter Gropius, Frank Lloyd Wright, dan Le Corbusier menjadi referensi normative dalam diskusi dan pelajaran. Iklim politik pada saat itu juga sangat berpengaruh terhadap pola fikir masyarakat terhadap teori dan konsep arsitektur modern. Karena di masa kepemimpinan Sukarno, “modernitas” diberikan olah kepentingan simbolis yang merujuk pada persatuan dan kekuatan nasional. Sukarno telah berhasil mempengaruhi secara mendasar karakter arsitektur yang diproduksi pada masa iai memegang kekuasaan. Modern, revolusioner, dan heroik dalam arsitektur membawa kita pada program pembangunan besar-besaran terutama untuk ibukota Jakarta. Ia berusaha mengubah citra Jakarta sebagai pusat pemerintahan kolonial menjadi ibukota Negara yang merdeka dan berdaulat yang lahir sebagai kekuatan baru di dunia. Pada akhir 1950-an Sukarno mulai membongkar bangunan-bangunan lama dan memdirikan bangunan baru, pelebaran jalan, dan pembangunan jalan bebas hambatan. Gedung pencakar langit dan teknologi bangunan modern mulai diperkenalkan di negeri ini. Dengan bantuan dana luar negeri proyek-proyek seperti Hotel Indonesia, Pertokoan Sarinah, Gelora Bung Karno, By pass, Jembatan Semanggi, Monas, Mesjid Istiqlal, Wisma Nusantara, Taman Impian Jaya Ancol, Gedung DPR&MPR dan sejumlah patung monumen. Ciri khas proyek arsitektur Sukarno adalah kemajuan, modernitas, dan monumentalitas yang sebagian besar menggunakan langgam “International Style”. Seorang arsitek yang memiliki hubungan dekat dengan Presiden Sukarno pada masa itu adalah Friedrich Silaban. Ia terlibat hampir semua proyek besari pada masa itu. Desainnya didasari oleh prinsip fungsional, kenyamanan, efisiensi, dan kesederhanaan. Pendapatnya bahwa arsitek harus memperhatikan kebutuhan fungsional suatu bangunan dan factor iklim tropis seperti temperatur, kelembaban, sirkulasi udara, dan radiasi matahari. Desainnya terekspresikan dalam solusi arsitektur seperti ventilasi silang, teritisan atap lebar, dan selasar-selasar. 

 3) KESATUAN DAN KERAGAMAN BUDAYA 

 Sejak kejatuhan Sukarno pada tahun 1965, pemerintahan Orde Baru di bawah kepemimpinan Suharto menyalurkan investasi asing ke Jakarta dan telah melaksanakan rencana modernisasi dengan tujuan pembangunan ekonomi di Indonesia. Proyek yang ditinggalkan Sukarno kemudian diselesaikan oleh Gubernur DKI Jakarta pada saat itu Ali Sadikin. Ali Sadikin juga bermaksud menjadikan Jakarta sebagai tujuan wisata bagi wisatawan dari Timur dan Barat. Sehingga pada tahun 1975, dikembangkan suatu program konservasi bagian Kota Tuan di Jakarta dan beberapa situs-situ sejarah lainnya. Program ini sedikit demi sedikit mengubah sikap masyarakat terhadap warisan arsitektur kolonial. Sejak awal 1970-an, kondisi ekonomi di Indonesia semakin membaik, yang berdampak pada kebutuhan akan jasa perencanaan dan perancangan arsitektur berkembang pesat. Maka munculla biro-biro arsitektur yang menangani proyek badan pemerintahan, BUMN, dan para “orang kaya baru”. Sayangnya para arsitek professional di Indonesia tidak siap menerima tantangan besar tersebut. Yang tidak memiliki pilihan doktrin fungsional dari arsitektur modern membelenggu pengembangan karakter unik dalam arsitektur kontemporer pada masanya. Sementara itu kalangan elit dan golongan menengah keatas mengekspresikan kekayaan dan status sosialnya melalui desain yang monumental dan eklektik dengan meminjam ornamen arsitektur Yunani, Romawi, dan Spanyol. Kekecewaan terhadap kecenderungan meniru dan eklektik ini membawa arsitek Indonesia pada suatu gagasan untuk mengembangkan karakter arsitektur Indonesia yang khas. Suharto memegang peran utama untuk membangkitkan kembali kerinduan pada kehidupan pedesaan Indonesia, melalui tema-tema arsitektur etnik. Jenis arsitektur ini kemudian dipahami sebagai langgam resmi yang dianjurkan. Ditandai juga dengan pembangunan Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII). Para arsitek muda sebagian besar juga kecewa terhadap tendensi eklektis dari arsitektur modern di dalam negeri. Yang kemudian semakin menyoroti secara simpatik pada arsitektur tradisional. Mereka menyoroti perbedaan kontras antara arsitektur modern dengan arsitektur tradisional sedemikian rupa sehingga arsitektur tradisional diasosiasikan dengan “nasional”, dan arsitektur modern dengan “asing” dan “barat”.

 4) MENCARI IDENTITAS ARSITEKTUR INDONESIA 

Pada pertengahan tahun 1970-an, masalah langgam dan identitas arsitektur nasional menjadi isu utama bagi arsitek Indonesia. Terhadap masalah langgam dan identitas arsitektur nasional pandangan arsitek Indonesia menjadi tiga kelompok yang berbeda. Kelompok pertama berpendapat bahwa arsitektur Indonesia sebenarnya sudah ada, terdiri atas berbagai jenis arsitektur tradisional dari berbagai daerah. Implikasinya adalah penerapan elemen arsitektur tradisional yang khas, seperti atap dan ornamen. Kelompok arsitek kedua bersikap skeptis terhadap segala kemungkinan untuk mencapai langgam dan identitas arsitektur nasional yang ideal. Kelompok ketiga adalah sebagian akademisi arsitektur yang secara konsisten mengikuti langkah “bapak” mereka, V.R. van Romondt. Mereka berpendapat bahwa arsitektur Indonesia masih dalam proses pembentukan, dan hasilnya bergantung pada komitmen dan penilaian kritis terhadap cita-cita budaya, selera estetis, dan perangkat teknologi yang melahirkan model dan bentuk bangunan tradisional pada masa tertentu dalam sejarah. Mereka yakin bahwa pemahaman yang lebih mendalam terhadap prinsip tersebut dapat memberikan pencerahan atau inspirasi bagi arsitek kontemporer untuk menghadapi pengaruh budaya asing dalam konteks mereka sendiri. Dalam periode 1980-1996 institusi keprofesian dan pendidikan arsitektur mengalami perkembangan pesat, Pertumbuhan sector swasta yang subur serta investasi dengan korporasi arsitektur asing mulai mengambil alih segmen pasar kelas atas di ibukota dan daerah tujuan wisata seperti Pulau Bali. Dapat dikatakan bahwa arsitektur kontemporer di Indonesia tidak menunjukkan deviasi yang radikal terhadap perkembangan arsitektur modern di dunia pada umumnya. Sebenarnya pada pertengahan 1970-an telah ada usaha untuk menciptakan suatu langgam khusus, suatu bentuk identitas “Indonesia”, tetapi hanya terbatas pada proyek arsitektur yang prestisius seperti bandara udara internasional hotel, kampus, dan gedung perkantoran. Sangat jelas bahwa proyek penciptaan langgam dan identitas arsitektur Indonesia termotivasi secara politis. 

 5) ARSITEKTUR KONTEMPORER INDONESIA

 Awal tahun 1990-an ditandai pengaruh postmodernisme pada bangunan umum dan komersil di Jakarta dan kota besar lainnya. Hadirnya kontribusi signifikan dari para arsitek muda yang berusaha menghasilkan desain yang khas dan inovatif untuk memperkaya khasanah arsitektur kontemporer di Indonesia. Di antaranya adalah mereka yang terhimpun dalam kelompok yang sering dianggap elitis, yaitu Arsitek Muda Indonesia (AMI). Dengan motto “semangat, kritis, dan keterbukaan” kiprah AMI juga didukung oleh kelompok muda arsitek lainnya seperti di Medan, SAMM di Malang, De Maya di Surabaya dan BoomArs di Manado. Untuk menciptakan iklim yang kondusif bagi usaha kreatif di kalangan arsitek praktisi, Ikatan Arsitek Indonesia (IAI) juga mulai memberikan penghargaan desain (design award) untuk berbagai kategori tipe bangunan. Karya-karya arsitektur yang memperoleh penghargaan dimaksudkan sebagai tolok ukur bagi pencapaian desain yang baik dan sebagai pengarah arus bagi apresiasi arsitektural yang lebih tinggi. Penghargaan Aga Khan Award dalam arsitektur yang diterima Y.B. Mangunwijaya pada tahun 1992 untuk proyek Kali Code, telah berhasil memotivasi arsitek-arsitek Indonesia untuk melatih kepekaan tehadap tanggung jawab sosial budaya. Krisis moneter tahun 1997 mengakibatkan jatuhnya pemerintahan Orde Baru telah melumpuhkan sector property dan jasa professional di bidang arsitektur. Diperlukan hampir lima tahun untuk kembali, namun kerusakan yang sedemikian parah mengakibatkan kemunduran pada semua program pembangunan nasional. Kini, arsitek kontemporer Indonesia dihadapkan pada situasi paradoksikal: Bagaimana melakukan modernisasi sambil tetap memelihara inti dari identitas budaya? Karya-karya kreatif dan kontemporer kini menjadi tonggak baru dalam perkembangan arsitektur Indonesia. Dengan pemikiran dan isu baru yang menjadi tantangan arsitek muda. Seiring pergerakan AMI memberikan semangat modernisme baru yang lebih sensitif terhadap isu lokalitas dan perubahan paradigma arsitektur di Indonesia.  

6) EKOLOGI, FLEKSIBILITAS, DAN TEKNOLOGI

Dunia arsitektur dewasa ini juga kini dihadapkan pada suatu isu baru. Krisis energi karena sumber daya alam yang dieksploitasi sejak era industrialisasi dunia kini terasa gejalanya. Perubahan iklim, pemanasan global, dan bencana lainnya menjadi dampak dari krisis energi dan perusakan lingkungan. Jelas sekali dunia konstruksi menjadi salah satu penyebabnya. Sepertinya pernyataan tentang isu berkelanjutan melalui konferensi internasional yang menghasilkan pernyataan: “… Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs…”(Bruntdland report, 1987) Kini menjadi keharusan karena tekanan keadaan. Fenomena ini yang kemudian memberikan pelajaran bagi arsitektur kontemporer Indonesia. Dimana modernitas, lokalitas dan faktor ekologis kita yang memiliki iklim tropis harus dikedepankan. Pencarian beralih menuju arsitektur modern tropis. Beberapa arsitek muda kini juga berlomba-lomba untuk menyelamatkan keberadaan bumi ini. Seperti Adi Purnomo yang banyak menghasilkan karya rumah tinggal yang kaya akan area hijau, Jimmy Priatman yang berhasil membuat bangunan hemat energi dan masuk nominasi Aga Khan Award, dan tokoh arsitek muda lainnya. Isu lainnya yang menjadi berkembang adalah ketersediaan lahan. Kurang berhasilnya penerapan otonomi daerah pemerintahan reformasi kita ini tetap menjadikan kota sebagai pusat perekonomian nasional. Akibatnya lahan di perkotaan semakin menipis. Membuat karya arsitektur selain ramah lingkungan kini dihadapkan pada suatu kenyataan penyempitan ruang binaan. Bangunan yang efisien dengan keadaan dan “compact” dengan segala bentuk keadaan mulai ditinjau dalam penerapan arsitektur kontemporer. Tantangan ini yang kemudian menjadi “pekerjaan rumah” (PR) para arsitek muda kita sekarang dan untuk masa akan datang. Menjaga unsur lokalitas dan arus globalitas, antara tradisi dan isu terkini harus segera dijawab dengan sebuah karya yang nyata dan berkesinambungan. acuan pustaka

Sejarah Arsitektur Kontemporer Indonesia Video :

Concept of Beauty in Contemporary Architecture

Sustainability Changes Understanding of Form & Function in Buildings

Green building concerns like energy efficiency and built-in flexibility are changing the traditional understanding and physical expression of architecture's goals.

Once upon a time, the most important attributes of a building were its aesthetic qualities, structural integrity and fitness for its intended purpose. Sustainability objectives subtly alter this triumvirate by paying more attention to the building’s “soundness” from an environmental perspective.
A building’s fitness or functionality is related to how well it accommodates the building program, or the functions to be conducted in the structure. Aesthetically pleasing design has sought to realize architecture, and by extension form, that was beautiful according to the tastes of the day. Soundness has usually been equated with structural integrity: Will the building stand up to the elements over time?
Aesthetics has often trumped fitness in architecture. Classicism was preoccupied with the articulation of architectural orders on the building façade. Modernism has been equally guilty of formal concerns, as any number of iconic glass and steel structures attest. The concept of form follows function, articulated by architects like Louis Kahn, developed in reaction to Modernism’s excesses.
Kahn’s best work ironically represents an effortless-looking marriage between function and form. The first-time viewer can hardly discern which came first: the goal of making a beautiful building or meeting the requirements of the building program. The Capital Complex in Dhaka and Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth both reveal a contemporary aesthetic in concrete with ancient formal references.
Careful detailing of the structure and a thorough grasp of building science principles are required to render a building sound. Mies van der Rohe is often credited with the dictum, “God is in the details,” a reminder that buildings only endure if properly designed, detailed and constructed.

Sustainable Considerations in Buildings

Soundness has acquired new meaning with the advent of sustainable design. Environmental considerations can shape buildings physically in several ways.
Designers of sustainable structures may incorporate solar panels to harvest energy passively. A residence clad in solar panels inevitably has a different aesthetic than a conventional suburban house. Multi-unit residential buildings that eliminate thermal bridges caused by extensive use of glazing and concrete decks do not resemble conventional glass-panelled high-rise towers.
Passive solar strategies often borrow design elements from local vernacular architecture to address harsh regional climatic conditions. In the southern US, louvers and sunshades, together with light-coloured building materials for cladding and roofing purposes, reduce heat gain. Thermal mass provided by insulated walls can reduce heat gain and heat loss, enhancing thermal comfort in all climate zones.
Sustainable design ensures that every occupant has access to views out, natural light and where possible, natural ventilation. This strategy has an effect on building floor plates, sometimes resulting in narrower floor plans or highly articulated ones that expose interior zones to two or more exposures.
Designers of green buildings are less concerned with producing iconic architecture than structures that reduce fossil fuel consumption. The design’s adaptability to changing programmatic and cultural conditions is another important factor in environmentally-conscious design.

Changing Aesthetic

The idea of beauty in architecture is gradually changing as more sustainable building occurs. Selecting local building materials in order to reduce transportation distances, and providing greater opacity in cladding materials to enhance energy performance are just two examples of design criteria that are changing how buildings look.
The designer’s challenge is to produce an ecologically sound edifice without compromising contemporary ideas of beauty. There are enough good examples of sustainable design that is sound, fit for its purpose and a delight to behold to encourage even the harshest critic of contemporary architecture.

Concept of Beauty in Contemporary Architecture Video :

Contemporary Architecture Making Up For A Harsh Environment

Contemporary Architecture Making Up For A Harsh Environment

EDDI’s House was named after the nickname of one of the architects and is said to be located in a very harsh environment. This is why this project is not about connecting the home with its exterior, but rather emphasizing on the interior. Here is more official information: “The design concept is “Go in to go out,” meaning that the house has an outside patio at the center of the house onto which each and every room looks out. Furthermore, a balcony is placed above and adjacent to the central patio overlooking it such that this combination of open spaces creates an “interface” between the outside proper and the inside that acts a filter, a buffer, or a cushion between the two zones.” The large and spacious interiors all pointing to the inner patio make up for the unfriendly environment, turning this project into an isolated but extremely elegant crib. 

Contemporary Architecture Making Up For A Harsh Environment Video :

Indonesian architecture

Indonesian architecture

Indonesian architecture reflects the diversity of cultural, historical and geographic influences that have shaped Indonesia as a whole. Invaders, colonisers, missionaries, merchants and traders brought cultural changes that had a profound effect on building styles and techniques. Traditionally, the most significant foreign influence has been Indian. However, Chinese, Arab—and since the 18th and 19th centuries—European influences have been important. Religious architecture The Prambanan temple complex.

 Although religious architecture has been widespread in Indonesia, the most significant was developed in Java. The island's long tradition of religious syncretism extended to architecture, which fostered uniquely Javanese styles of Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, and to a lesser extent, Christian architecture. A number of often large and sophisticated religious structures (known as candi in Indonesian) were built in Java during the peak of Indonesia's great Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms between the 8th and 14th centuries. The earliest surviving Hindu temples in Java are at the Dieng Plateau. Thought to have originally numbered as many as 400, only 8 remain today.

 The Dieng structures were small and relatively plain, but architecture developed substantially and just 100 years later the second Kingdom of Mataram built the Prambanan complex near Yogyakarta; considered the largest and finest example of Hindu architecture in Java. The World Heritage-listed Buddhist monument Borobudur was built by the Sailendra Dynasty between 750 and 850 AD, but it was abandoned shortly after its completion as a result of the decline of Buddhism and a shift of power to eastern Java. The monument contains a vast number of intricate carvings that tell a story as one moves through to the upper levels, metaphorically reaching enlightenment. With the decline of the Mataram Kingdom, eastern Java became the focus of religious architecture with an exuberant style reflecting Shaivist, Buddhist and Javanese influences; a fusion that was characteristic of religion throughout Java. 

 "Grand Mosque" of Yogyakarta shows javanese interpretation and took Hindu heritage of Meru stepped roofs.Although brick was used to some extent during Indonesia's classical era, it was the Majapahit builders who mastered it, using a mortar of vine sap and palm sugar. The temples of Majaphit have a strong geometrical quality with a sense of verticality achieved through the use of numerous horizontal lines often with an almost art-deco sense of streamlining and proportion. Majapahit influencess can be seen today in the enormous number of Hindu temples of varying sizes spread throughout Bali . Several significant temples can be found in every village, and shrines, even small temples found in most family homes. Although they have elements in common with global Hindu styles, they are of a style largely unique to Bali and owe much to the Majapahit era. 

 By the fifteenth century, Islam had become the dominant religion in Java and Sumatra, Indonesia's two most populous islands. As with Hinduism and Buddhism before it, the new religion, and the foreign influences that accompanied it, were absorbed and reinterpreted, with mosques given a unique Indonesian/Javanese interpretation. At the time, Javanese mosques took many design cues from Hindu, Buddhist, and even Chinese architectural influences (see image of "Grand Mosque" in Yogyakarta). They lacked, for example, the ubiquitous Islamic dome which did not appear in Indonesia until the 19th century, but had tall timber, multi-level roofs not that dissimilar to the pagodas of Balinese Hindu temples still common today. 

A number of significant early mosques survive, particularly along the north coast of Java. These include the Mesjid Agung in Demak, built in 1474, and the Al-Manar Mosque in Kudus (1549) whose menara ("minaret") is thought to be the watch tower of an earlier Hindu temple. Particularly during the decades since Indonesian independence, mosques have tended to be built in styles more consistent with global Islamic styles, which mirrors the trend in Indonesia towards more orthodox practice of Islam. Traditional vernacular architecture An avenue of houses in a Torajan village. Rumah adat are the distinctive style of traditional housing unique to each ethnic group in Indonesia. Despite this the diversity of styles, built by peoples with a common Austronesian ancestry, traditional homes of Indonesia share a number of characteristics such as timber construction, varied and elaborate roof structures, and pile and beam construction that take the load straight to the ground. 

These houses are at the centre of a web of customs, social relations, traditional laws, taboos, myths and religions that bind the villagers together. The house provides the main focus for the family and its community, and is the point of departure for many activities of its residents. Traditional Indonesian homes are not architect designed, rather villagers build their own homes, or a community will pool their resources for a structure built under the direction of a master builder and/or a carpenter. Traditional house in Nias; its post, beam and lintel construction with flexible nail-less joints, and non-load bearing walls are typical of rumah adat. The norm is for a post, beam and lintel structural system with either wooden or bamboo walls that are non-load bearing. Traditionally, rather than nails, mortis and tenon joints and wooden pegs are used. Natural materials - timber, bamboo, thatch and fibre - make up rumah adat. Hardwood is generally used for piles and a combination of soft and hard wood is used for the house's upper non-load bearing walls, and are often made of lighter wood or thatch. The thatch material can be coconut and sugar palm leaves, alang alang grass and rice straw.

 Traditional dwellings have developed to respond to natural environmental conditions, particularly Indonesia's hot and wet monsoonal climate. As is common throughout South East Asia and the South West Pacific, Indonesian traditional vernacular homes are built on stilts (with the notable exceptions of Java and Bali). A raised floor serves a number of purposes: it allows breeze to moderate the hot tropical temperatures; it elevates the dwelling above stormwater runoff and mud; allows houses to be built on rivers and wetland margins; keeps people, goods and food from dampness and moisture; lifts living quarters above malaria-carrying mosquitos; and the house is much less affected by dry rot and termites. A traditional Batak house in North Sumatra. A fishing village of pile houses in the Riau archipelago. Many forms of rumah adat have walls that are dwarfed in size by large roof—often of saddle shape—which are supported independently by sturdy piles. 

Over all traditional styles, sharply inclined allowing tropical rain downpours to quickly sheet off, and large overhanging eaves keep water out of the house and provide shade in the heat. The houses of the Batak people in Sumatra and the Toraja people in Sulawesi (tongkonan houses) are noted for their stilted boat-shapes with great upsweeping ridge ends. In hot and humid low-lying coastal regions, homes can have many windows providing good cross-ventilation, whereas in cooler mountainous interior areas, homes often have a vast roof and few windows. Some of the more significant and distinctive rumah adat include: 

 * Batak architecture (North Sumatra) includes the boat-shaped jabu homes of the Toba Batak people, with dominating carved gables and dramatic oversized roof, and are based on an ancient Dong-Son model. 

* The Minangkabau of West Sumatra build the rumah gadang, distinctive for their multiple gables with dramatically upsweeping ridge ends. 

* The homes of Nias peoples include the omo sebua chiefs' houses built on massive ironwood pillars with towering roofs. Not only are they almost impregnable to attack in former tribal warfare, but flexible nail-less construction provide proven earthquake durability. 

* The Riau region is characterised by villages built on stilts over waterways. 

* Unlike most South East Asian vernacular homes, Javanese rumah adat are not built on piles, and have become the Indonesian vernacular style most influenced by European architectural elements. 

* The Bubungan Tinggi, with their steeply pitched roofs, are the large homes of Banjarese royalty and aristocrats in South Kalimantan. 

* Traditional Balinese homes are a collection of individual, largely open structures (including separate structures for the kitchen, sleeping areas, bathing areas and shrine) within a high-walled garden compound. 

* The Sasak people of Lombok build lumbung, pile-built bonnet-roofed rice barns, that are often more distinctive and elaborate than their houses. 

* Dayak people traditionally live in communal longhouses that are built on piles. The houses can exceed 300 m in length, in some cases forming a whole village. 

* The Toraja of the Sulawesi highlands are renowned for their tongkonan, houses built on piles and dwarfed by massive exaggerated-pitch saddle roofs. 

* Rumah adat on Sumba have distinctive thatched "high hat" roofs and are wrapped with sheltered verandahs. 

* The Dani of Papua live in small family compounds composed of several circular huts known as honay with thatched dome roofs. 

 Palace architecture 

Sultan palace in Yogyakarta. Istana (or "palace") architecture of the various kingdoms and realms of Indonesia, is more often than not based on the vernacular adat domestic styles of the area. Royal courts, however, were able to develop much grander and elaborate versions of this traditional architecture. In the Javanese Kraton, for example, large penodopos of the joglo roof form with tumpang sari ornamentation are elaborate but based on common Javanese forms, while the omo sebua ("chief's house") in Bawomataluo, Nias is an enlarged version of the homes in the village, the palaces of the Balinese such as the Puri Agung in Gianyar use the traditional bale form, and the Pagaruyung Palace is a 3-storey version of the Minangkabau Rumah Gadang.

 Similar to trends in domestic architecture, the last two centuries have seen the use of European elements in combination with traditional elements, albeit at a far more sophisticated and opulent level compared to domestic homes. In the Javanese palaces the pendopo is the tallest and largest hall within a complex. As the place where the ruler sits, it is the focus of ceremonial occasions, and usually has prohibitions on access to this space. 

 Colonial architecture 

Javanese and neo-classical Indo-European hybrid villa. Note the Javanese roof form and general similarities with the Javanese cottage (pictured in gallery). The 16th and 17th centuries saw the arrival of European powers in Indonesia who used masonry for much of their construction. Previously timber and its by-products had been almost exclusively used in Indonesia, with the exception of some major religious and palace architecture. One of the first major Dutch settlements was Batavia (later Jakarta) which in the 17th and 18th centuries was a fortified brick and masonry city. For almost two centuries, the colonialists did little to adapt their European architectural habits to the tropical climate. In Batavia, for example, they constructed canals through its low-lying terrain, which were fronted by small-windowed and poorly ventilated row houses, mostly in a Chinese-Dutch hybrid style. The canals became dumping grounds for noxious waste and sewage and an ideal breeding ground for the anopheles mosquitos, with malaria and dysentery becoming rife throughout the Dutch East Indies colonial capital. Ceremonial Hall, Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung, by architect Henri Maclaine-Pont Although row houses, canals and enclosed solid walls were first thought as protection against tropical diseases coming from tropical air, years later the Dutch learnt to adapt their architectural style with local building features (long eaves, verandahs, porticos, large windows and ventilation openings).

The Indo-European hybrid villas of the 19th century would be among the first colonial buildings to incorporate Indonesian architectural elements and attempt adapting to the climate. The basic form, such as the longitudinal organisation of spaces and use of joglo and limasan roof structures, was Javanese, but it incorporated European decorative elements such as neo-classical columns around deep verandahs. Whereas the Indo-European homes were essentially Indonesian houses with European trim, by the early 20th century, the trend was for modernist influences—such as art-deco—being expressed in essentially European buildings with Indonesian trim (such as the pictured home's high-pitched roofs with Javan ridge details). Practical measures carried over from the earlier Indo-European hybrids, which responded to the Indonesian climate, included overhanging eaves, larger windows and ventilation in the walls. This pre-war Bandung home is an example of 20th century Indonesian Dutch Colonial styles 

 .At the end of the 19th century, great changes were happening across much of colonial Indonesia, particularly Java. Significant improvements to technology, communications and transportation had brought new wealth to Java's cities and private enterprise was reaching the countryside.[2] Modernistic buildings required for such development appeared in great numbers, and were heavily influenced by international styles. These new buildings included train stations, business hotels, factories and office blocks, hospitals and education institutions. The largest stock of colonial era buildings are in the large cities of Java, such as Bandung, Jakarta, Semarang, and Surabaya. 

Bandung is of particular note with one of the largest remaining collections of 1920s Art-Deco buildings in the world,[3] with the notable work of several Dutch architects and planners, including Albert Aalbers, Thomas Karsten, Henri Maclaine-Pont, J Gerber and C.P.W. Schoemaker. Colonial rule was never as extensive on the island of Bali as it was on Java— it was only in 1906, for example, that the Dutch gained full control of the island—and consequently the island only has a limited stock of colonial architecture. Singaraja, the island's former colonial capital and port, has a number of art-deco kantor style homes, tree-lined streets and dilapidated warehouses. 

The hill town of Munduk, a town amongst plantations established by the Dutch, is Bali's only other significant group of colonial architecture; a number of mini mansions in the Balinese-Dutch style still survive. The lack of development due to the Great Depression, the turmoil of the Second World War and Indonesia's independence struggle of the 1940s, and economic stagnation during the politically turbulent 1950s and 60s, meant that much colonial architecture has been preserved through to recent decades. Although colonial homes were almost always the preserve of the wealthy Dutch, Indonesian and Chinese elites, and colonial buildings in general are unavoidably linked with the human suffering of colonialism, the styles were often rich and creative combinations of two cultures, so much so that the homes remain sought after into 21st century. Native architecture was arguably more influenced by the new European ideas than colonial architecture was influenced by Indonesian styles; and these Western elements continue to be a dominant influence on Indonesia's built environment today.

  Post independence architecture 

National Monument (Monas) at Merdeka square,Jakarta. Early twentieth century modernisms are still very evident across much of Indonesia, again mostly in Java. The 1930s world depression was devastating to Java, and was followed by another decade of war, revolution and struggle, which restricted the development of the built environment. Further, the Javanese art-deco style from the 1920s became the root for the first Indonesian national style in the 1950s. The politically turbulent 1950s meant that the new but bruised Indonesia was neither able to afford or focussed to follow the new international movements such as modernist brutalism. Continuity from the 1920s and 30s through to the 1950s was further supported Indonesian planners who had been colleagues of the Dutch Karsten, and they continued many of his principles.

  "Let us prove that we can also build the country like the Europeans and Americans do because we are equal" — Sukarno Istiqlal Mosque, the national mosque of Indonesia.

 Despite the new country's economic woes, government-funded major projects were undertaken in the modernist style, particularly in the capital Jakarta. Reflecting President Sukarno's political views, the architecture is openly nationalistic and strives to show the new nation’s pride in itself. Projects approved by Sukarno, himself a civil engineer who had acted as an architect, include: * A clover-leaf highway. * A broad by-pass in Jakarta (Jalan Sudirman). * Four high-rise hotels including the famous Hotel Indonesia. * A new parliament building. * The 127 000-seat Bung Karno Stadium. * Numerous monuments including The National Monument. * Istiqlal Mosque the largest mosque in Southeast Asia. The 1970s, 1980s and 1990s saw foreign investment and economic growth; large construction booms brought major changes to Indonesian cities, including the replacement of the early twentieth styles with late modern and postmodern styles.