Thursday 16 June 2011

Faculty of Medicine Palangka Raya University

Design on Sustainable Architecture was applied at the faculty of medicine in Palangka Raya University started from the design of low energy to water resources to the construction method.

Wednesday 20 January 2010

Reinventing the Future


Future is a long process of activity from the past to the present, constituting daily life and event. It has already been directed when the past has been born and the present is conditioned. No one could avoid from the future as a direct consequence of the past and the destiny of present. We were guided by the past to the existing future where we live in a situation that is conditioned. For a planner, the guidance to the future is predicted from the past, the more the number of years in the past are included in the prediction the closer the prediction to the reality. The diachronic of the past is the figure of the syncronic future. For Roberto Goizueta, a US bussiness executive, the sensitivity of the past is extremely important to show the proper respect of the future. For Nelson Mandela, the past is a rich resource on which we can draw in order to make decisions for the future, but it does not dictate our choices. We should look back at the past and select what is good, and leave behind what is bad (Encarta 2003). Learning form the past is a good idea to invent the future.

The end of the 20th century has experienced a great change in the overall system of technology that would be continued in the 21st century. From the revolution of information technology that makes the whole world become one village, the mass rapid transportation, modern banking, fast food, frenchise vendor that make life easier. Could central Kalimantan enter this great changing world? All of this change has thouch central Kalimantan although not in every aspect of life. It is mainly to the big city, we saw that the internet technology give an influence to the young people life. Besides that we also recognize that cellular phone has develop very fast until it reach small town both provider mentari and telcomsel compete one to another to get their costumer. But technology that is related to mass rapid transportation has not develop yet. There is no train connecting one place to another place, the only thing that connect to places is angkutan kota that may stop to anywhere withouth any rule.


As the future is approaching, this paper would like to bring the trend of urban development in the Province of Central Kalimantan for the 21st century to the surface. Our discussion will be limited to the province as it is the youngest province among other provinces on the island and the area has never been touched by development in the colonial era. Even the capital of the province Palangka Raya was established in 1957 and most of the urban idea reflects the idea of the founding fathers of the nation.

Thursday 3 December 2009

The Amusement Center

DISORIENTATION OF CITIES

A city is as a human being that develops very fast, either becoming larger or smaller closed to the state of dying. This kind of development could happen to the whole city or part of the city. A city will never stop to evolve because it has a dynamic activity of human being who lives in it. Even a death city where no one lives in it any more, become an archeological research subject to know how people use to subsist in it in the past. In a good city mankind orients their activity to a certain point so that their live is directed with dynamism. In a city that lost their orientation, or we call it disorientation, people live uncomfortably. There are more people stress, suicide, and other social pathology in a disoriented city.

The cities in different country a different typology that could be seen from social economics that ends into different urban form. Although the city in the same continent, it has different level of attitude to the old urban center. They have different kind of management toward this historic part. Hence, there is different kind of impact in social, economic, cultural, politic, and environment.

The ideal orientation of the city is toward the old city. It is the orientation of urban activity in the city. Old city is the activity center that cannot be separated from human life. There may be a new part as the new center, but the old center is still the most important part of the city. The old center is the center of urban dwellers’s memory and reminiscence of their city. It cannot be erased from the urban environment and replaced by new buildings as Le Corbusier wanted to wipe away the center of Paris and replaced it with new and modern housing as the new business center, known as Plan Voisin proposal for paris in 1925 (Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture a Critical History 1994: 155). The neglected old urban center will haunt the new center that lack of memory and history of human kind. Orientation makes life in the city in order. When it lost its orientation all becomes disorder and the use of space is not in order, hence there are a lot of crimes.

The old city center always be either the place of social problem, a dying down town, or a nice place to live, to have leisure and center of urban activity. Each country will have different plan on the city center based on the actual condition they have, with different problem on it. Any how it is a complex topic to be discussed.

Several cities especially in Europe are successful to deal with old city. They are fruitfully in revitalizing their old city and protecting it from destruction because of the World War II. Now this old centers become the center of urban activity and even the center of tourism activity. The old city in Europe always has a city center where the old church is located. It is the center of communication, social and cultural life among city dwellers. The success to use the space in the old inner city can be seen in Amsterdam that was in 1990 the red light area in the city center was very large. However, in 2000s there are many houses used to be bordellos are changed to be offices. The phenomena of city center in Europe are useful to be applied in third world. In Europe the orientation is still the old urban center the organized the whole activity in the city. Berlin during the cold war was divided into West and East Berlin. The old urban center is located at East Berlin and west Berlin form a new center at Zoologische garten. People need a center as their orientation.

The cities always have its orientation; whether it is an important building as a center or an open space that occasionally uses to be a market. The old city in Asia also has the center such as the Forbidden City as the center of Beijing. The old city of Jakarta has the old harbor as the center too. In the ancient time, these old centers were important place it term of Politic, Social and economics. However, at present there are more cities, especially in the third world neglect the old center and leave it with social problem, environment degradation that makes it a horror for the city inhabitant.

The problem is that new centers emerged without any pattern as it is only based on economics consideration. It became larger and larger without anyone can control it. The city is hence disoriented from its natural center and developed without any orientation. The city is hence not oriented to any center. It is fragmented without any center. The lost of orientation neglect the old center that tends to be left by its inhabitant so that economically, socially, culturally become worse.

In Indonesia the disorientation happened to all cities because of the uncontrolled development that reduces public space and open space that creates a lot of environmental problem. The population growth gives a great impact on the use of space that makes the city became larger and larger and brings problems in social-economics, culture and finally its estuary in sustainable development. This uncontrolled development that sprawled everywhere makes the city lost its orientation. The expansion of the city creates the emergence of new centers at the urban periphery and neglected the old city center.

Indonesia, like any countries in the third world, has a considerable problem on sustainable development. For instance, lately the government is planning to build a toll road all over Java, the most populous island in the country, because of traffic congestion (Kompas 17 November, Toll Road will cause conversion of rice field). This toll road is predicted to encourage the extension of cities in Java and makes the island became an urban area with uncountable new urban center. This new centers will push the cities disoriented and lost the orientation to the old city center.

With the development of toll road, there will be land use change along the new road from farming land area to be housing or industry area. This land use change has already happened along the existing road connecting the cities. There almost no open space between cities because of uncontrolled urban enlargement. The planned toll road is another route connecting the cities. At this moment the area that will be taken for toll road are still farming area. There will be no border between cities because of urban expansion taking the open spaces. In this case there is a huge contraction of rice field on the island that was the most prosperous island in the past. As the new urban center emerged, the old urban center diminished. It is deteriorated, untidy, along with the emergence of social problem. The cities are hence oriented not to a single point the old urban center, but to several points. In the context of our research, these cities are disoriented very fast. Such phenomena happened everywhere in the third world countries where urban sprawl cannot be controlled any more.

Now there are large of cities that has already lost its orientation to the old city and disoriented. When the toll road has been built there will be more cities of which old urban center will be left by its inhabitant, and become a social, economic and environmental problem. There will be more degradation of inhabitant in the old urban center, more house hold move from the old inner city to the new housing estate at the periphery. The city lost its orientation as a symbol that becomes the identity of urban area. This is due to the rapid growth that tends to be uncontrolled.


There are many legal and non-legal housing appeared at the riverbank that should be used for the green belt. This development invited many social, economic, politic and environmental problems in the city that make it unsustainable. Cities sprawl to every direction with shop-houses. Meanwhile there is no place for pedestrian to walk so that people prefer to use car although in a much closed distance. In large city like Jakarta, urban sprawl creates traffic jam that gives problem of social, economic, and environment. It makes the environmental degradation that invite flood, unhealthy environment and uncomfortable life.

The alteration of orientation of urban activity that previously toward the old city center now they are on their back to this center influences the whole aspect of urban life. People tend to remove their working and living place to the new center that is glamorous and healthy. The ecological damage and environmental deterioration makes the old city center a place that is avoided by the urban dweller. This glorious place in the past is now lack of drinking water, a bad sewerage, and awful drainage that cause flood. The old center now suffered inundated and many environmental problem. In Semarang, the capital of central Java province, gradually people left the city center as there is flood when the sea level rose. As the opposite, the new center that was built recently became a new magnet and it is the orientation urban activity. Hence, a research to know how people live and stay in the old city center is very important.

If the old center is the center of community in the city, where leisure, social and outdoor activity are located, the lost of orientation of the city give an impact that people lost for their communication one to another. Children lost their place to play together. Young people lost their place to chat and old people lost their place to sit and talk. It means the lost of orientation makes stress for the people so that there are more suicide. In a giant city, one only has a few friends. Hence the orientation is important in social life the lost of orientation makes the urban life is not socially sustainable. The need of urban center for social and cultural activity cannot be denied. As there is no old urban center as part of their social and cultural life, people taking a walk in the mall as an artificial city center.
The relation to the topic of this call for proposal can be seen from the direct impact of disorientation, or lost its orientation, of the city to its old center. As the city centers are left by the urban activity, it changed the land uses dramatically. The land uses change give an impact on social, economic, culture, politic and environment. It changes the urban form that gives a result on social life. It changes the land use and the pattern of living that the old center is not anymore the center of urban life. On the other hand day by day the other part city becomes larger and larger without any control. Slum area emerged at the city center as poor people try to find a place that is cheap. Disorientation makes the city lost its orientation to the old center and left the old center dilapidated while the new part has grown up rapidly. The old centre that dilapidated became hollow, problem, in the fast growing urban.

Thursday 9 October 2008

Company's statement

Habicon is an abbreviation of Habitat and Constructive or constructive habitat. It is a concept of thinking that a place to live and work, called habitat, can constructively form the attitude human being that is specific, unique, and with special characteristic. We learn from modern movement in architecture that new buildings can generate a new life of people who live in it. Habitat is a place that can be designed with a certain character to structure the inhabitant life.

A city with so many high rise buildings creates different kind of dweller with the city that consists of one or two storey buildings. People who live in apartments and the environment of high rise building will have different attitude to the people who live in a single house and horizontal development. The place that is design correctly could have a good inhabitant. Hence habitat can be planed and design.

At first this concept was developed when we had a research in 1986 on Semarang River that is located in Semarang down town. By that time there was a large project at national scale to widen and to deepen the river and to build two inspection roads at both side of the river. Before the project was finished the houses were oriented to back the river. But after the project was executed the houses that was before backed the river changed its orientation to face the river that flanked by two inspection roads. This changing, despite destroyed many old building, changed that attitude of the dweller who than many of them opened shops and stalls. Hence I believed that habitat could construct the attitude, social culture of the people and finally have rise the value of the land.

Based on this concept, we established Habicon International Center. We see recently that the cities (all cities in Indonesia) have lost its orientation and a nice place to live. Everywhere is for commercial use as far as money could be invited. Hence in such a giant country with more than 200 million populations the cities sprawl everywhere and living place become farther from the working place. In big cities of Indonesia we found traffic jam everywhere and they were not a nice place to live. The place as a nice habitat of being has been replaced by the cars. We can hardly found a pedestrian in the whole country. In Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia the only pedestrian is 500 meters long at Pasar Baru area. Hence the city become unsustainable as there are more and more vehicles in the city. The city as habitat has lost its function as a communication place. A place is a social environment and social memory. We believe that urban planning is a social course. We believe that city planning without a social concept will not answer the social problems on the city. Solving the social problem and bringing welfare is the main purpose of city planning. Thus our concept will engage to the problem of social, economics, culture and environment. This is the focus of Habicon international Center.

A city that becomes a constructive habitat will be more productive. It makes the inhabitant more productive. To create such a place we need a research that can guide it. Such a good place we believe is not simple because it consists of memory and complexity. However constructive habitat is not beautifully designed by architects or planners. A constructive place radically points toward a better life as it is also a problem of preservation and tourism. Hence Habicon cannot be separated from the fact of social, economics, politic, and history as a memory. Research on habicon means down to up. It is not the value that determined by the planners. The function of planners is to direct the habitat becomes a good place to live.

Based on the statement above our institution concentrates on the problem of city sustainable development. The sustainable development will give a good quality of live that is not only needed by urban dweller but also develop tourism, preserving the heritage. In this case there is orientation in the urban development that is sustainable. We are dealing with policy research concerning the environment and Socio-economic science and the humanities.

Mr Pratiwo's publication and presentation

Our director Mr Pratiwo has many publication and presentation. Below are the list:

2007
Seeking the Spirit of the Age dalam The Present in the Past NAi Publisher.

2006
Rumah Gedong: Euro-Asian Transcultural Indies Architecture in the Indonesian Archipelago in Correa, Antonio Bonnet “Endanger” Asian Europe Foundation

“The Ship of Memory” dalam Sejarah dan Dialogue Kebudayaan, Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, Jakarta

2005
“The City Planning of Semarang” dalam Free Colombijn (eds) Kota Lama Kota Baru Sejarah Kota-Kota di Indonesia, Penerbit Ombak, Yogyakarta

Flooding in Jakarta Towards a Blue City with Improved Water Management (Joint writer with Peter J.M Nas and Mark Caljouw) dalam BKI 161-4

“Jakarta Conflicting Direction” bersama Peter JM Nas dalam Peter JM Nas, Director of Change in Asia Roudletge, New York

2004
Perumahan dan Permukiman Aplikatif bagi Palangka Raya, dalam Kalteng Pos (Aplicative Housing and Settlement in Palamgka Raya) 10 Januari 2004

2003
Rumah Gedong as Euro-Asian Transcultural Architecture in Indonesian Archipelago, in Journal for Architecture and Building Sciences, Japan Institute for Architect

“Java and De Groote Postweg, La Grande Route, The Great Mail Road, Jalan Raya Pos” (Joint writer with Peter J.M Nas) dalam On The Road, The Social Impact of New Road in Southeast Asia Freek Colombijn (ed) BKI

“Street of Jakarta Fear, Trust and Amnesia in Urban Development” (Joint writer with Peter J.M Nas) dalam Framing Indonesian Realities, Peter J.M. Nas, Gerard A Persoon, and Rivke Jaffe, KITLV Press, Leiden

“Refungsionalisasi Kawasan Eks Kebakaran Depan PU Mau Dibawa Kemana”, Kalteng Pos 10 Juni 2003

Han Awal dan Arsitektur Fungsionalis (Han Awal and the Functionalist Architecture) in the anniversary for Dipl Han Awal, Published by Depertment of Architecture Universitas Indonesia 2003

2002
“The Chinese Town Lasem” dalam The Indonesian Town Revisited, Peter J.M. Nas (ed) Lit Verlag, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

2001
“ The streets of Jakarta Fear, Trust and Amnesia in Urban Development” A book for the commemoration of the retirement of Prof Reimar Schefold, a joint authorship with Prof. Dr. Peter JM Nas, Faculty of social sciences, the university of Leiden.

“THE UNPREDICTABLE SPACE IN BETWEEN A Paradox Toward Informatic City” Proceeding of the seminar on Unbanization in the Information Age: New Perspective on the Transformationof Fast Growing Cities in Pacific Rim, Universitas Indonesia 22 – 23 August 2001

2000

“On the Chinese Temple of Semarang” in Dialogue (Taipei – Taiwan), January 2000

“The Future of Tradisional Street Market” Dalam Jurnal Universitas Pelita Harapan Vol III No 5 Agustus 2000

1999
Jalan di Pecinan Semarang dan Kebudayaan Cina, Lembaran Sejarah, Jurusan Sejarah Fakultas Sastra Universitas Gajah Mada, Volume 2 No 1 1999

The Chinese Architecture in A Javanese Town: A Case study of Cross cultural Transformation in Lasem, Asia Culture N0 23, National University of Singapore June 1999

The Koloniale Tentoonstelling in Semarang, Dialogue No 27, July 1999, Taipei

1998
„Dissension in the Jungle of Kalimantan“, in Journal for Southeast Asian Architecture, NUS,

“Pasar Tiban di Ruang Cyber”, dalam Tesa Arsitektur, Jurnal Catur Wulan Vol II No 3. Mei-Agustus 1999

“Street as a Representation of the Chinese Cultural Change in Semarang, „Folk Culture and Social Changes“ in the Fifth International Seminar on the Humanities, Gajah Mada University, December 8 – 9, 1998.

„Penang: Pluralisme Sebuah Kota (Penang: A city of Pluralism)“, Paper presented in national Seminar in the Indonesian Institute of architect 14 August 1998.

„The Cosmic Travel of Sam Po“ Dialogue No 21, December 1998, Taipei

Fengshui dalam Urban Desain dalam Geomancy sebagai Pedekatan Arsitektur, Tesa Aesitektur, Jurnal Catur Wulan Vol 1 No 1 April-Juli 1998


“Penang a City of Pluralism” dalam Penag Heritage Trust News Letter Agustur 1998


Presentation
2006 (Agustus 1) “Reinventing the Future” dalan seminar Borneo Research Council, Kucing
2005 (December 12-14) “Seeking the Spirit of the Age, Chinese Architecture in Contemporary Indonesia” in Workshop on Indonesian Architecture, KITLV, Leiden
2004 (August 23-25) “ The City Planning of Semarang 1900- 1970 in the International Conference on Urban History
“Flooding in Jakarta” a joint paper with Peter JM NAS and Mark Caljauw, paper presented in the International Conference on Urban History
2004 (14 Februari) Pengembangan Kawasan pantai kalimantan Tengah, pada pertemuan KAGAMA di Palangka Raya
Oktober 2003 “Arsitektur Dayak Kini dan Masa yang Akan Datang” Dayak Architecture now and the future) in workshop of river bank settlement development and traditional architecture in Kalimantan
2001 (21 April) : Urban Development Aspect Relevant to Economics Growth, paper presented in the seminar of World University Service Komite Indonesia, Bogor.
2001 (12-16 March): Pricing and Financing Urban Infrastructure, paper presented in the seminar on Sustainable Resource Development
2001 (February 16-17): Manifesto of the Murder of architectural Theory. Seminar on Theory of Architecture, Indonesia University
2001 (January 25-27) co- Chairman in the workshop on enhancing the Livability of Old town Jakarta.
2001 (January 16-18): Street of Jakarta after May 1998 Riot, paper presented in the seminar on Great Asian street Symposium (national University of Singapore
2000 (December 6-8): The Chinese Town Lasem, paper presented in the seminar on Indonesian Town Revisited, University of Leiden
2000 (23 September) The chairman of the seminar on Building on the ruin, the case of potsdamer platz, Gother institute, Jakarta
2000 (21-22 July) :The Future of Traditional Street Market In the Urban of Java, Paper presented in the workshop on Southeast Asian Urban Futures, National University of Singapore.
2000 (March) : Chairman and presenter on Seminar on The Planning of New town and Retructuring Urban Center“ Universitas Pelita Harapan and a joint with University of Stuttgart, Tangerang.
1999 (sept) : “Proportion in Chinese Architecture” Paper presented in the seminar on Menjelajah naskah arsitektur Nusantara (exploring the script on Indonesian architecture), Institute Teknologi Surabaya
1998 (Dec) : “Street as a representation of the Chinese cultural change in Semarang” paper presented in the seminar on “Folk Culture and Social Changes“ in the Fifth International Seminar on the Humanities, Gajah Mada University.
1998 (August) : Penang Pluralism of a City in a seminar held by Indonesian Institute of Architects, Semarang 14 August 1998
1998 (July) : „20 Century Urban Planning Experience“ 8th International Planning History Conference, University of New South Wales, Sydney.
1998 (April) : „International Symposium on Heritage and habitat“, Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, in Penang.
1997 : „Geomancy as an Architectural Approach“, Soegijapranata Catholic University.
1991 : "City In Various Dimension", Soegijapranata Catholic University.
1988 : "Normalization of Semarang River", Soegijapranata Catholic University.
"Human Settlement Ecology", Soegijapranata Catholic University.

Company's Experience

Our experience are:
  1. Research on Traditional Chinese Architecture and Settlement, a comparative study between Java and China
  2. Tourism Masterplan in Central Kalimantan Province
  3. Planning the Growth pole of Sukamara Regency
  4. Master Plan Study for Industrial development in Sukamara Regency
  5. Feasibility Study of railway transportation in Central Kalimantan Province
  6. Planning Middle Term Development in Sukamara Regency
  7. Town Planning of Kuala Kapuas
  8. Cities Development Studies in Central Kalimantan Province
  9. Regional Planning of Kapuas Regency
  10. Planning Long Term Development in Sukamara Regency
  11. Planning the Growth Pole in Murung Raya Regency
  12. Detail Town Planning of Puruk Cahu in Murung Raya Regency
  13. Master Plan Studies of Tourism in Kotawaringin Barat Regency
  14. Action Plan for Revitalisation of Traditional settlement in Kotawaringin Barat Regency
  15. Town Planning of Puruk Cahu in Murung raya Regency