Not A Total Square
How can the design of a public space be used as a catalyst for order in a severely cluttered urban area? SHAU Indonesia redefines a typology with a hybrid public place that delights and stimulates curiosity while it sensitively addresses the issues of the
Cicendo is a busy district in Bandung, Indonesia, a stone’s throw from both the city’s train station and airport. One of its streets,
Jalan Aruna, is lined with small blacksmith workshops – humble and often-informal establishments offering a variety of services ranging from metalwork to auto parts repair and procurement. A plot of government-owned land sat idle at the centre of this congregation of workshops. Over the years, more shops invaded the periphery of the site while its interior became their temporary storage and/or dumping ground. Today it is Alun-alun Cicendo.
Alun-alun is an established term in Indonesia’s planning lexicon that is equivalent to ‘public square’. It used to specifically refer to the large open space in front of the Javanese kraton (Sultan’s palace), which traditionally served as the venue for all manner of pre-internet public entertainment, from festivals and ceremonies to duels and executions. The term has since expanded to include government public squares. A modern-day alun-alun is a ceremonial space, mostly deserted except on holidays that call for mass prayers or a flag-raising ceremony. Designed by SHAU Indonesia, Alun-alun Cicendo is a lively, multifunctional public space that aims to redefine this typology.
Bandung’s then-Mayor Ridwan Kamil approached SHAU in 2017 to design Alun-alun Cicendo. A registered and practising architect before he started his career in politics, Kamil was elected in 2013 and was known for his relatively successful campaign to rejuvenate and build quality public spaces in the scenic but congested city. Alunalun Cicendo marked his sixth project in collaboration with SHAU.
Kamil sketched the brief for Alun-alun Cicendo during a brainstorming session. “We relooked at the meaning of an alunalun beyond its ceremonial function,” says Florian Heinzelmann, a Germany-registered architect who co-founded SHAU with Indonesian architect Daliana Suryawinata and fellow German architect Tobias Hofmann in 2009.
The site’s program is ambitious. In addition to its central square, Alun-alun Cicendo also includes a sports court, art kiosks, Zen garden, sculpture garden, water feature and spaces of the original blacksmith workshops that occupied the site. And rather than clearly demarcated zones, SHAU opted for a gradual blending of zones using steel ribbons.
Twice treated with acid and coated to achieve its rusty look, these steel ribbons were produced by the workshops in the neighbourhood.
They define the site’s topography, articulating its stepped hills, directing the flow of visitors and serving as platforms for six steel sculptures spread across the site. They are both a tribute to the neighbourhood’s heritage and a way to engage local talents and cultivate a sense of ownership.
A shelter, a viewing platform, a speech podium, an art installation and a bleacher all rolled into one, the sculptural pavilion is the site’s focal object. Its angular form stands in contrast with the topography’s curving steel ribbons. Its pointy summit naturally parts the flow of incoming visitors, distributing them to the rest of the site.
The rear part of the site is split into two levels. The lower level houses neat rows of kiosks for the site’s original blacksmith workshops, as well as other tenants, while the upper level is a large viewing deck overlooking the whole alun-alun. Strips of steel grating on the deck serve as skylights for the workshops below and provide openings for trees to pierce through, visually connecting the two levels and offering shade for the deck.
Growing up in Bandung, I am pleasantly surprised to see that Alun-alun Cicendo’s ambition works well as a catalyst to organise a severely cluttered part of the city, with a relocation issue (for the illegal workshops) to boot. I am also not surprised to see that, after 18 months in operation, the project has aged much faster than it should have – that the rigour to maintain the top form of the alun-alun has fallen short of the ambition of its design. The trees are thriving, the shaded areas are generous and there are always people taking photos. But the art kiosks have remained without tenants, the water feature has been drained pending maintenance, and the rubber strings installed in the pavilion have been vandalised.
But as Heinzelmann shares, Alun-alun Cicendo has been a successful case study of a hybridisation of park and public square that Kamil, now the governor of West Java, has used to initiate similar and hopefully even better public squares in other cities in the province. SHAU will complete one in Cirebon very soon, with more in development. I take comfort in knowing that, and in the fact that Alun-alun Cicendo remains a pleasant and stimulating public place. It’s not a total square.