My House

text by Ivan Priatman and Sunthy Sunowo photos Courtesy of Archimetric

project Spiral House architect Ivan Priatman-Archimetric location Surabaya, Indonesia

All White walls are not keeping this house looks flat. A rich texture, solid-void, and a play of mass has bring up the strong character of the house in the corner with two fasade.

the owner’s lifestyle. But some houses also reflect the owner and the designer’s appreciation of the process through a sequence of spaces suited to the owner’s family activities. This is what happens at a rectangular 464-square-meter site located in a new residential development in the west of Surabaya, in a situation best described as semi-urban, where the houses are grouped in clusters and share a party wall with each other.

The modern approach apparently does not diminish the wise attitude that responds to the tropical climate and a specific microclimatic problem commonly suffered by buildings in Surabaya. Here, the hot weather with its high humidity requires a certain action to counter and create microclimatic comfort in every room of the house. This concern is in line with the initial brief. Ivan Priatman, the architect and also the owner of the house, decided to call for a courtyard house and indooroutdoor living.

The house for Priatman and his family with two children comprises a series of spaces that allow one continuous sequence to gain an experience of all of the rooms. This starts from the main entrance as the most public area and moves gradually towards the master bedroom as the most private part of the house. The program and massing of the house is designed upon the concept of spatial continuity. This architectural concept unfortunately mandates a

A simple landscape of weed and frangipani trees grow wildly as a contrast to the simple and clean line design of the house. These combination turn out to bring a fresh ambience. Meanwhile, the oppening and windows are located in the right place for daylight, ventilation, and also bring the outside in.

thin and long mass that would not fit a site that is relatively square in shape. As a solution, which becomes the model of the house, this elongated mass is folded several times to create an angular, yet continuous spiral that also defines the central courtyard. This is antithetical to the typical middle-upper-class house where a void is usually placed indoors above the living room to make the house appear grander. The void in this house is outside in the form of the courtyard to signify a recent paradigm shift that places nature in a more central role in residential family living.

The living area of the house is located on the east side at ground level to take advantage of the prevailing wind, which for the majority of the year comes from the east. The floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors around the house’s primary living area blur the boundary between the indoors and the outdoors, bringing the natural environment inside and creating indoor-outdoor living. When we open the doors, the side yard, the living area, and the courtyard become a connected, indoor-outdoor, naturally ventilated space. Meanwhile, the courtyard and the swimming pool become an extension of the living room. The tropical climate is embraced by this house as a realization of the essence of indoor-outdoor living in the tropical climate where a deep overhang is desired to shelter spaces from the weather.

Tropical landscaping also demands a great deal of attention from the architect. Positioned in the side yard and also the courtyard, this

not only creates privacy and spatial separation from the street but also creates a microclimate so that the air surrounding the house is cooler and thus the prevailing east wind is cooled before it ventilates the house. The partlyshaded swimming pool provides an additional psychological cooling effect to the indoor environment while also creating a feeling of serenity around the living and dining area.

While the first floor is mainly rectangular to maximize space, the second floor is at an angle. The end of the house points due south to frame the view of the green space and to avoid facing other houses, leaving the thin massing with operable openings on opposing sides to allow for cross ventilation. By using natural ventilation, and due to the orientation of the house, the use of air-conditioning – which has become a mandate for all living spaces in Surabaya’s hot and humid weather – is significantly minimized. The thin floor plan also allows for ample natural light and further energy savings.

The colors of white still dominate the interior as the big opening for daylight and vegetation brings the freshness of outside landscape in. A warm notion in the interior of this house are coming from the parquet floor and protuding red chair.

The house uses a reinforced concrete structure with Autoclaved Aerated Concrete brick walls. While reinforced concrete structures are a common building tradition in Indonesia, the use of aerated concrete walls for private houses is not. Brick walls are the most commonly-used materials due to the cheap cost and greater availability. Nevertheless, aerated concrete walls are used in this house to provide greater insulation against heat and sound, and also are helpful in reducing the structural load of the building. The constrained palette of white walls and clear glass as exterior finishes make the house stand out in stark contrast with the surrounding neighborhood of custom-designed, eclectic houses. Solid wood floors are used throughout the interior of the house.

With predominately white colors, this house finally becomes a reflection of the deepest thoughts and ideas of Priatman as an architect who designs for his own family. The wise decision to stay on the ground and embrace the tropical climate is not a simple step, but it often takes a complexity of ideas to attain perfection. Functions are neatly designed to create an ambience, a connection, and also an experience for the family and their visitors – a clean modern house, which spirally opens up to the wind and the sunlight.

A Pattern of opening along the stairscase walls has created an interesting space where the lights and shadow cntribute the ambience.The interior choose a certain elements of contrast like chairs or having a aerial view of the city on one hall of the home office.