A Good Romance
Indonesian architect Andra Matin channels the nostalgia and romance of olden-day Bandung into a cinematic spatial experience within this holiday home in the city’s scenic Dago Pakar area.
The city of Bandung in Indonesia is a special place for the local and international architecture and design communities. The city of
2.5 million, which was designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Design in 2015 (at the same time as Singapore), is home to many of the country’s most beautifully preserved Dutch colonial buildings of the distinct tropical art deco style dubbed the New Indies Style, which sees Dutch architecture adopting vernacular elements.
The city played a pivotal role in architect Andra Matin’s formative years. “I was born and educated in Bandung. The city was the backdrop of some of my fondest memories,” Matin recalls. Situated in a river basin surrounded by mountains 700 metres above the sea level, Bandung is blessed with a cooler climate that borders on subtropical. Matin’s memories of the city include listening to the sound of wood crackling in the fireplace, and chipping in with a group of university friends for a night at the suite of one of the city’s most expensive resorts to gain architectural insights.
These memories provided the inspiration for the EH Residence, andramatin studio’s latest completed landed house project in the city’s northern hilly area of Dago Pakar. A long-time client of Matin who also studied in Bandung, the owner wanted a holiday home in the city. “She recognised our shared fondness for Bandung and graciously let me run free with her brief,” says Matin. The brief was simple: a three-bedroom villa with ample rooms to host large family gatherings.
At first glance, the postcard-worthy aerial view of the completed site curiously looks like a Western import thanks to the abundance of pine trees and the house’s chimney and prominent roof. The sprawling 1,800-square-metre site is elevated 1.5 metres from the main street to the north and gently slopes down toward the view of the city to the south. The carport, service kitchen and helpers’ quarters are placed nearer to the street while the two-storey house itself is set back near the rear slope and opens up to the view. The layering works as a buffer between the house and the street.
Matin’s signature cinematic spatial experience starts from a narrow passage that opens up to a shaded courtyard. Here, the house’s facade consists of more roof than wall. The lower part of the roof slope, placed at a 90-degree angle, is further articulated with a series of narrow openings, through which the inhabitants can spy the street.
The main entrance is inconspicuous. The lower floor is sunken – 60 centimetres below ground level on the north side and 1.2 metres on the south side. It houses the foyer and two bedrooms. This intimate set up is a precursor to a grand reveal of the bright, double-height upper floor.
The upper floor can be perceived as one large open space. The master bedroom and master bathroom are encased in a timber-clad ‘box’ while a fireplace and a powder room demarcate the living and dining areas. Fully glazed doors on the south side can slide open to extend the communal areas to the outdoor terrace. Those seeking a more intimate space can climb the master bedroom ‘box’ to discover a cosy reading room.
Wood and concrete dominate the material palette. Inside, the pine oak used for the ceiling, floor and wall casts a golden glow that balances out the concrete’s ‘coldness’. Outside, custom-ordered ironwood shingles recreate the image of a New Indies house. Matin shares that the inspiration for the roof came from the houses with mansard roofs popular during the 1940s in Bandung’s Ciumbuleuit area – a similarly hilly part of the city where he attended university. A few of those houses still stand today.
“Although I recently realised that because of the proportion, the house looks like it doesn’t really have a body,” he says, referring to the classic Dutch building anatomy of head (roof), body (wall) and feet (foundations). “So maybe it’s more accurate to say that it resembles the traditional Sasak lumbung (rice barn) more,” he quips. One thing is for sure: in the case of the EH Residence, the architect and owner’s nostalgia certainly makes for a good spatial romance.