JARDIN ATLAS
DIRECTION
SOUTH-EAST ASIA - INDONESIA
JARDIN ATLAS
Hotel Art Direction - Concept Design
FOR BUSINESS
GARDEN SEMARANG FUEGO BAR & RESTAURANT
Java Sea
Indian Ocean
Java Island
Semarang
Semarang: an Old Harbor Town with a multicultural history. In the 15th century, the envoy of the Chinese Emperor, Zheng He, better known as Admiral Cheng Ho, set foot in Java. From the 17th century onwards, Semarang became a trading center for spices, as well as a busy port for trade and passengers’ activity, when most travels were done by sea. The city of Semarang, the capital city of Central Java, is located right in the middle of the fertile and densely populated northern coast of the island of Java.
Thanks to its strategic position, Semarang has become a melting pot of Chinese, Indian, Arabic, and European cultures. When touring Chinatown and the Dutch trading district, cultural influences are visible everywhere. On the older side of the city near the harbor called the Old Town, or Oudstadt, the rows of historic buildings that were once the European commercial district are also interesting to explore.
Jl. Sultan Agung No. 86, Semarang, Central Java, INDONESIA General
Semarang is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today. The city has been named as the cleanest tourist destination in Southeast Asia by the ASEAN Clean Tourist City Standard (ACTCS) for 2020–2022.
The 3 popular landmarks nearby :
1. Simpang Lima, 3.1 km
2. Lawang Sewu , 4.1 km
3. Kota Lama , 7.1 km
Access
10.5 km from Ahmad Yani International Airport 7.3 km from Train Station
INTRODUCTION
Living in Bali, picturing that Indonesia has other ways to manage landscapes, architecture, and construction is somewhat of a challenge. You tend to expect all cities, whatever their size, to be as chaotic as Denpasar or Jakarta. Semarang then comes as a very welcome surprise, with urbanism, city planning, landscaping. You get the distinctive feeling of well-organized modern “Indonesia 2.0”, in terms of development and lifestyle.
Semarang is to us typical of this Javanese nouvelle-vague. With a unique way to inhabit a city, where luxury, arts, culture, and lifestyle hold a special place, especially in Candi Baru.
Padma’s location on the top of Jalan Sultan Agung offers a throve of true outdoors living occasions not limited to what the other high-end hotels are offering: classic “check the box” outdoors features. Tthanks to the indoorsoutdoors opportunities can realistically become a new landmark destination. Outdoors and lifestyle experiences in Hotel Seamrang will not be mere required accessories to a hotel stay.
Local and international visitors, whether they travel for business or pleasure, rarely spend all their time in their bedrooms or conference rooms. They are always on the lookout for some lifestyle experiences especially in attractive areas like South-East Asia.
The brand, strong of its Kuta and Ubud resort experiences and its hillside Bandung site, has the opportunity here to connect its Semarang Hotel to the other locations making Semarang its flagship establishment with enhanced outdoors features coming as additions to the planned and existing building and landscaped parts. This new outdoor development will become an essential component providing maximum appeal to the 3 main functions of the Hotel: for Business / Resort / Community. The design mix is an original blend of Asian and Moorish influences, visual and aesthetics.
Because a great hotel is always more than a place to sleep at for a few nights, Hotel Semarang will offer 3 unique South-East Asian experiences designed and curated to put Hotel and Semarang in the center of the map.
HOTEL FOR BUSINESS
For all visitors, access to the property is the first direct visual contact with the Hotel. The first surprise happens here. The feeling will be of arriving in an estate, not a city hotel, it will be a matchless place where visitors are expected and welcome to spend whatever amount of time they desire. The busy roads and traffic from the airport will be a distant memory as the visitor is immersed in a unique universe with already all the codes of the Padma Semarang: water works (among which a 200 m long reflecting pool), exceptional trees, art, straight lines, Klein Blue…
The Drop-off is the first direct contact : oversized potted plants, more waterworks, all manners of greenery will again surprise the guests as a finishing touch to a strong and exclusive arrival experience.
The lobby will be a life space as such. Not a vast empty space with an impersonal “hallway” feel. In the lobby guests and visitors will be able to check-in, meet, enjoy a drink, a snack socialize, already enjoying a Padma moment. These functions are important to create a connection between the people and the place.
Another crucial element to generate interest and commitment is that the gaze, the eye, is guided. The lobby will open to a perspective on a patio, an ornamental water-piece, and a terrace, enticing visitors to go and discover what lays beyond the lobby and keeping them interested.
All the rooms have outdoors views, being on the top of a hill provides mesmerizing open views. Some rooms will have balconies. The canopy of the trees planted on the ground floor will reach the balcony level for a tree-top view. The rooms with direct lagoon-access will obviously enjoy a special connection to the outdoors.
Spaces traditionally “reserved” for leisure will also offer business related functions, the set-up of the swimming pool decks, the rooftop and the lobby will allow outdoor comfortable business or social talks that will not feel out of place or interfering with the holidaymakers’ use of the spaces and their privacy. The variety of food and beverage venues will ensure that travelers staying longer than 1 or 2 days and Semarang guests all enjoy a
JARDIN ATLAS RESORT
The Hotel will offer all the usual high-end resort services and facilities to guests looking for an exclusive luxury Semarang Experience. The swimming pool will have a children area with a waterslide, the adult swimming pool will provide cabanas, sun chairs, an outdoor café, all immersed in a uniquely curated vegetation avoiding the usual planters or jungle options favored by other city hotels. From the property “estate style” access to the rooftop, the visual narrative will be coherent and tell a story to the guests. A very specific color scheme (Klein Blue), revegetation of the existing hard floors, pure lines and waterworks will convey a true garden or park feeling allowing visitors to forget the very concrete slabs that they stand on.
15 meters high trees will thrive in 4m x 4m x 5m pots, they will be labeled in the fashion of a Botanical Garden, and why not become one since the vegetation will indeed be spectacular, with Gardenia arches providing a fragrant signature in the evening, giant Monstera towering over people, unique Palm Trees… all assembled in a unique structured scenery, very far from a messy jungle or over-manicured lawn.
The Hotel building itself is a solid concrete rectilinear construction. The opened balcony added to the 3 smoking floors - providing an outdoor access for the smoking guests - will be used to showcase and project Padma’s strong vegetal and outdoor identity as it will be visible from outside the property.
Instead of the expected planters, pots, and Lee Kwan Yew curtains we will use 6m tall, suspended ferns that will give the impression of a floating forest and be an evocation of the Padma Hotel Group logo.
The Rooftop will attract Hotel guests and outside guests due to its unconventional blend of outdoors-indoors, with a private penthouse feeling and an amazing view that will be capitalized upon. It will not be a classic indoors space with a terrace at the back.
Indoors and outdoors will be merged instead of split into 2 separate spaces. The color and vegetal codes will be in harmony and coherence with all the other life spaces on the property. This venue will be evening and adults only for a refined food and beverage offer, from pre-dinner cocktails to late-night drinks with a limited seating signature restaurant. This will become Hotel’s signature social place.
HOTEL CULTURE & COMMUNITY
In order to establish itself and be recognized as a permanent, unmissable flagship and landmark, the Padma Hotel has to transcend its hospitality purpose and give back to the community by being opened. By welcoming visitors, along with business travelers, holidaymakers, wedding and other social events guests, life stories and experiences will be created, shared and treasured. The outdoor spaces (front garden, ballroom terrasse, lobby and patio lounge) will be designed and set-up to host Art Exhibits. Art is already a strong value in Padma Group and offering a place to view professionally curated art works, displays and exhibitions to the general local public (schools, art patrons, refined Semarang inhabitants, tourists…) will provide an incomparable appeal.
The Lobby will be a place for discerning shoppers looking for unique flower compositions (from Hotel Flower Stand), gourmet treats and pastries (from Padma Gourmet Shop) and a meeting point to enjoy afternoon tea or afterwork drinks (from Hotel Lounge café).
The Ballroom will include the first floor terrasse (at the swimming pool level), where a music kiosk will be a great addition to the Ballroom services and facilities for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and other local celebrations.
Padma Day passes can be made available for purchase (daily, monthly, yearly) by Semarang families looking for a Country Club experience, giving them access to the swimming pools, events, and restaurants.
JARDINATLAS GARDEN SEMARANG
Beauty, creativity, discoveries happen in many places and take many shapes, and Padma Semarang has been redesigned to share with the community though experiences:
in NATURE. Semarang Botanical Experience will be a place to marvel at the diversity and splendor of the species present in the park and gardens.
in ART. Semarang Contemporary Art Garden, a collaboration between Xavier Loup and TONYRAKA art gallery will showcase 4 major masterpieces by 2 young contemporary Indonesian artists to the widest audience possible. And another collaboration between Xavier LOUP with Internationally recognized, French mix-media Artist, Yaz: a masterpiece of modern artwork collage displayed in the lagoon pool. A 3D artwork carved in almost 8 m long lava stone and patched with custom handmade 12,000 colorful resin pieces and a special ‘Blue Klein’ finishing paint representing “The World of PADMA” story, sharing the beauty of Indonesia archipelago’s nature where all PADMA hotels are located.
in LIGHT. Light, whether natural, changing from dawn till dusk and with the different seasons, or man-made plays a very important part in human perceptions and physiology. That’s why we always put special care in designing and planning lighting for our projects.
in GASTRONOMY. Fuego & Arthur. Located in Padma Hotel Rooftop this restaurant and bar will be a destination by itself, with Fuego “the” place to dine & wine in Semarang and Arthur, an exclusive speakeasy, that will soon be the talk of the town.
The entrance to the hotel area will be through a hanging plant hallway designed as a gate to a forest, to a different universe. Rows of blue pots floating in a pond will host large, crowned, plants.
Avisit to Hotel Semarang will take you on a journey. A journey to different locations like Africa and Amazonia, a journey through the mind and senses too with Art and various experiences.
The entrance to the property is conceived as a gateway to a separate world, a passageway into another dimension. Visitors will cool down, leave the city noise and vibes behind, and instantly notice a change of atmosphere.
A ‘patio’, with plaza dimensions, will be the first place of interaction (drop-off function), visual rhythm will be provided by columns and series of oversized pots and plants reminiscent of strict, organized, groomed French gardens. In the middle of the plaza, 3 very large African bottle trees will be placed on top of a scenelike elevated platform, combined with Art to welcome travelers into the property as wanted by the owner, the tale of a friendly, playful yet powerful dragon. The sense of joy is reinforced by using soft pastel colors.
This scenography will give a human-scale to the property plus the feeling of being welcomed in a unique space, with its own codes and vocabulary.
The sculptures created for Padma Hotel Semarang merge art, architecture, landscape, and nature. They are designed to give viewers an inimitable immersive experience. Intimacy and mystery play a big part here. Our sculptures are a show, an epic scale provocation. We are interested not only in making things and placing them, but also in creating dramatic spaces and orchestrating interactive environments. We compose space. We create journeys in which every element of our sculptures – the material, the form, the colour, the philosophy,
The lobby is viewed a lively carrefour, very different from the usual “boring” almost “administrative” space just for check-in and check-out. This area will be evocative of a greenhouse with flowers for a fresh ambiance.
This opens to a long perspective on an eye-catching artwork located in the breakfast restaurant: a huge metal cloud shedding tears (of laughter) in the pond. A very graphic (both trunks and foliages) arrangement of Brazilian fern trees and other fragrant plants gives a feeling of being sheltered under a multilayered canopy.
Along the side of the road leading to the lobby, a Philodendron bipinnatifidum in a human-size pot will be spinning as if welcoming visitors, and an Eucalyptus deglupta will for sure try to steal the show with its rainbow-colored trunk.
Upstairs is the main level, with the swimming pool, large pots of scented bushes with a powerful fresh and soothing perfume are welcoming the guests to the garden area. The volumes will allow guests to get an intuitive understanding of the functions and areas. Through a 12 Moringa trees forest guests will feel transported to Africa and led to a masterpiece of contemporary art, an 8 meters high pagoda-like structure that people can enter.
To the left 30 or 40 palm trees - a special species, with delicate, feminine characteristics - suggest a lagoon for the main pool. A repetition of large stones will be composing a waterfall and the sounds will be very different from what people usually hear in a city hotel swimming pool.
Bathers will swim by a big (7 meter long with a chimney) artistic creation, revisiting iconic Indonesian natural locations.
Palms and lush shrubs around the swimming pool will create a tropical scenery and guests will instantly feel the change of atmosphere. The green mosaic tiles will further transport the visitors inviting them to enjoy the pool with the impression of swimming in a lagoon.
©️ 2022 XAVIER LOUP STUDIO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
FIRST FLOOR AREA
MAIN POOL & BALCONY
On the opposite direction is a smaller, shallower pool, also with a waterfall and with a slide. Children will enjoy and fondly remember this amazing feeling of sliding in the jungle while staying at a city hotel. This place will nonetheless remain enjoyable for the whole family. A pavilion will also be implanted in the garden.
The large leaves in the water areas will reinforce the tropical feeling. Outside of the water areas will be a more modern, more European garden, composed of trimmed bushes with delicate flowers. This is unusual in Indonesia and will be the perfect yin counterpart to the yang of the tropical side. Another artwork, expressing togetherness and playfulness will be a great addition to this leisure life space.
Timeless, functional, and expressive outdoors furniture, by Kettal®, will provide for exceptional aesthetics around the pool and cabanas area, offering comfort, privacy in connection with nature. The lines and materials are perfect to integrate both a natural and an artful environment such as the World of Padma by international French artist, Yaz, artworks presented beside the main pool, composed of images crafted on lava rock with touches of colorful resin as a mosaic.
“Ambang Embang”, by Kadek Agus Ardika is a truly gigantic colored metal construction measuring 600 cm x 1200 cm x 500 cm, addressing spatial and spiritual concepts of intention, emptiness, and existence.
TECHNICAL DRAWING PRESENTATION
SCULPTURE AMBANG EMBANG 1 AT THE DROPOFF 3D & DRAWING BY RAMDANIANSYAH AT GVSDAN STUDIO (RENON, DENPASAR, BALI)
“Archeology of The Soul”, by I Wayan Upadana is a tall (450 cm x 300 cm x 800 cm) a metallic tower-like installation. Viewers can enter inside the artwork and gaze at the sky from inside amid light reflected by an infinity mirror. This is the artist’s rendition of the soul and the self.
“Cinta dan Logika” (Love & Logic), by Kadek Agus Ardika symbolizes a long conversation with various aspects on balance in life.
“Teduh”, by I Wayan Upadana is a tall 400 cm x 300 cm x 600 cm stainless steel, cloud shaped sculpture evoking Indonesia, the everchanging skies and the timeless beauty of the skies. One can also view it as
A collaboration between Xavier LOUP STUDIO with Internationally recognized, French mix-media Artist, Yaz: a masterpiece of modern artwork collage displayed in the lagoon pool. A 3D artwork carved in lava stone, almost 8 m long, and patched with custom handmade 12,000 colorful resin pieces and a special ‘Blue Klein’ finishing paint representing “The World of PADMA” story, sharing the beauty of Indonesia archipelago’s nature where all PADMA hotels are located.
LIGHT SHOWS AND DISPLAYS
The primary concept is to use light as a holistic medium to bring out an architecture that is not a shield, but rather a bridge to the surrounding ecosystem, revealing and translating into light the “spatial pulses” of the location. As night falls, lighting will sublimate Nature’s presence into the resort landscape, the hotel façade. A landscape appearing like a glowing beacon of light amid the night. A nature revealed, exalted, and elevated from the ground up. A mirror which would reflect the changing colors of the passing seasons and the hours of the day.
Nuances ranging from a wide spectrum of warm and brighter whites to shades of blue and Emerald green… multicolor chromatic hues of the area’s surrounding natural environment and the sky above. Light will add musicality to the space.
Lively, vibrant brushstrokes of light beams piercing through a trembling foliage, zigzag reflections on the walls and water. A symphony of colors in the sap-filled lush and fragrant nature.
Through both additive and subtractive color-mixing techniques, building up luminescent colors in layers upon layers of brilliant hues, often contrasted with a complementary color, allowing light to be either subdued or intensified, ablaze.
Afacade as an artistic exploration and allegory of the multi-sensorial and emotional understandings of architectural representations through points, straight lines, vectors, parallels, angles, crosssections, and their dynamic interactions. An understanding of their spatial, cultural, and temporal implications in the way human beings become conscious of their constructed environment.
Playing with sequential timing, speed and multichromatic variations, like waves sweeping on a shoreline to deconstruct the existing architecture and turn it into a form of breathing and kinetic entity, majestically punctuated by dots of light resembling a cluster of stars at night. A lighting display as a reflection of the night sky above, as a kind of vertical astronomical observatory and celestial map.
Our Outdoor-Indoor concept is here reaching out by capillarity to all the premises. Akin to the mythological Ariadne’s thread connecting the exterior to the building’s facade.
To create unity, connection and interaction, dots and lines of light will be like threads made of silk, evoking astronomical elements such as the magical glow of stars and constellations while creating visually appealing orientation points. Lines will connect and define the living spaces.
We will link and embrace all spaces through a single thread, illuminating the path across the property site, guiding the guests’ footsteps at night, and subtly revealing the surrounding nature. A guide, a celestial compass to all
FUEGO
BAR & RESTAURANT
In many countries, food and drinks are sublimated into a true art form. We have always included culinary experiences in the Art of Living that we create for our clients. At night, indoors, Padma Semarang rooftop will also host a different kind of masterpiece than the one composing the Art Garden.
Fuego, the bar and restaurant, will not be a hotel restaurant. Even in-house guests will have to book, and it stands to become a primary destination for discerning gourmets from Semarang, Indonesia, and South-East Asia.
Exclusivity and surprises are the main ingredients of this experience. Access through a dedicated lift and a lighted path evoking an x-ray machine will make it clear to customers that they are about to live a special moment, separated from their daily lives.
The view on the city illuminated at night will remind guests of iconic bars and restaurants in Tokyo, Hong-Kong, New-York and Bangkok. There are very few rooftop experiences in Indonesia, and Fuego will provide for this distinctive feeling of floating above a city, dominating it.
First time visitors will be surprised by the unusual approach to luxury and fine dining of FUEGO + ARTHUR, the set-up, lighting, material and colors will all work together to make it an almost coarse, rough and edgy space. By contrast with the “masculine” esthetics of the bar and restaurant, the restrooms will provide a “feminine” boudoir ambiance (marble, fine fabrics and colors, scented candles, soft organic lighting etc.)
The bar area will transport people in yet another exotic location thanks to the bar shaped like a boulder set on a beach, with holes allowing lights to shine from inside, as if moonlight was passing through the rock, and to the Midnight Blue ceiling. Bleu Klein artwork hanging from the ceiling with spotlights shining randomly will give the effect of a misty night studded with stars. Midnight Blue is a smooth, rich, blend of blue and black, considered to be beneficial for the mind and body. It slows down human metabolism and produces a calming effect.
Pivoting bar stools will allow views on stunning sunsets with Mount Ungaran in the background. A DJ set will add tempo to this “cocktail with a view” experience. The drinks will be exclusive blends of alcohol mixed with pure vegetal extracts obtained with Buchi Rotavapor® technology. The flavors extracted through rotary evaporation will also be used for crafting amazingly tasty dishes in the attending restaurant.
Fuego (fire in Spanish) menu is inspired and influenced by Japanese cuisine, where people eating together share food and order for the whole table (not 1 by 1). To that effect the presentation of the food (served in generous dishes to be shared, not served in individual plates) and the tableware are of special importance, it contributes to enhance the diner’s experience.
We chose to work with Gaya Ceramic and Design in Ubud (Bali). Gaya ceramics are the perfect design element to break the traditional codes of gourmet restaurants set up. The tableware (individual plates and bowls of all sizes, long serving trays and platters) we selected are all declinations of blue from light to very dark, with organic, irregular shapes and an almost rough texture.
It will be visually and to the touch very different from the usual white smooth porcelain and china that people usually associate with fine dining. In FUEGO there will be strong mix of sizes, shapes, textures, and colors to bring an extra visual dimension to an already unique food experience.
The river stone tabletop will be pleasing to the touch specially associated and contrasted with the plush Jim Thompson velvet fabric of the sofas, and the smooth ceramic from Gaya.
The food will be served to diners sitting in circular alcovestyle dining sofas where they will feel like they are in a theatre. Each dining table (in natural river stone) will be a stage where the lights are shining, and the food is the guest star every night. Eating while facing the window will offer a view on the city of Semarang from the 9th floor, a vibrant setting for a full experience.
Depending on the time the atmosphere will be different, and music, scents and lighting will be used to guide and accompany guests from a pre-dinner cocktails chill mood around sunset time towards a more vibrant clubbing mood after 10 pm, with dinner mood in the middle.
ARTHUR SPEAKEASY
Arthur. Inspired by the speakeasy culture, this experience will be by invitation (members + selected guests) only and will have a strict set of rules (no pictures, dress code etc.) to maximize privacy and be truly exclusive and astonishing.
The passage (secret door, candle lights…) will instantly indicate a radical change of scenery and atmosphere from Fuego’s bar. The guests will be greeted in person and the rules explained to first time guests who will only be granted access if they agree to abide by them.
The exit will also provide for an unusual experience (through maintenance areas and down to the building basement through a service lift). The happy few will be led into an artsy private library where old world meets modern art.
The inspiration here is Arthur Rimbaud, one of the most famous 19th century French poets, with everlasting influences on arts and literature around the world. Arthur, as its namesake, will be surrealist and transgressive.
The setting will be a very classic library taken over by a new generation mixed media artist, also French, YAZ, whose colorful and passionate work is now recognized on the international art scene. The floor and ceiling will be reflecting light, like the inside of a jewelry box…
The space will feature an 8 - meter long (10 seats) massive bar and will be surrounded by mirrors. Members will also be able to book one of Arthur’s 5 private tables.
The drinks will be cocktails available on tap, favoring taste over alcoholic content. Arthur will serve the best local distilled rice alcohol mixed with the purest fresh fruits, citrus, aromatic flavors obtained with Rotavapor®. The global alcoholic content will not be higher than 10%, as we want tastes and moments to be inebriating not the alcohol.
A DJ will be performing on a raised booth, and the city down below (to be reminded of the privileged status and location) will be visible, as if framed, through a window behind the DJ.
CONCLUSION
Today’s travelers have new expectations and desires; They want to experience destinations not just go places. Since Covid-19 changed the world, the way people want to live, and travel, was affected too.
Actors of the hospitality sector need to adapt to this new mindset by switching from a paradigm where quality and exclusivity are no longer found in size but in moments.
We believe that the potential of travel in Indonesia does no longer reside in big hotels but rather in feeling connections with nature, in comfort and luxury, through unique activities that together will create experiences.
For our collective, Xavier Loup Studio established 5 criteria that are paramount to any project: an architecture in tune with nature, a human-scale project, singular sleeping experiences, life experiences and a strong F&B identity.
By a specific planning, design, and implementation of the outdoors spaces, turning them into true art of living spaces, all the functions of Padma Semarang Hotel will result in a coherent and unique blend with the potential to become both a city landmark and a group flagship.
Life is a sum of experiences; this Semarang City experience will be a one stop destination for connecting to Nature & Art (Semarang Contemporary Art & Garden) and Food (Fuego and Arthur).
Guests staying for Business or Leisure, people living in Semarang or passing by, travelers to South-East Asia will all be drawn to what is set to become the New Face of Padma and will be the first of the PADMA VISA on the map of world travel. With our original VISA offer, Padma Hotels will no longer be “just” hotels to sleep at, they will be able to federate a community around life experiences lived in diverse life spaces. Each location will offer different experiences that guests will feel privileged to have obtained a visa from!
A family is a group of people sharing experiences. Memories built through experiences are remembered forever. Humans are a group of beings sharing a planet; sensitivity and integration to our shared environment, being conscious enough to protect it and preserve it for the future generations makes a lot of sense.
PADMA will then have its own community - or tribe, travelling to VISA destinations to stay, sleep, eat, do, learn, give in one word to EXPERIENCE.
ART DIRECTOR STUDIO
XAVIER LOUP STUDIO
OUTDOOR LUXURY PTE . LTD
ADDRESS: 138 CECIL STREET CECIL COURT, 18TH FLOOR
SINGAPORE 069538, UEN NO. 201736576H PRESENTED BY
IN COLLABORATION WITH X
