Boarding School
Project: Boarding School
Client: Sekolah Generasi Baru Indonesia
Category: Education
Date: 2012
We were privileged to have been commissioned to design an orphanage and school on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia.
Keen to avoid any hint of a know-it-all attitude usually attributed to architects, our design director was dispatched to the site. There he found a makeshift school, some fruit bearing trees, working fishponds and no shortage of sincere efforts. There for most of Ramadan, he was able to experience the context and culture and hold ongoing consultations with all the stakeholders.
We completed a concept design where the brief called for a school, boarding accommodation, multi-purpose hall, musalla (prayer space) and caretaker’s accommodation.
After completing the permaculture qualification, we were intent on retaining a holistic educational approach; one that integrates academic and life skills education by tapping into the agricultural and entrepreneurial opportunities afforded on site. In particular, we explored aspects pond fishing and value adding as an integral part of the curriculum.
Our aim was that even the architectural language reflected a modern expression of traditional forms and construction methods that build upon heritage rather than be dismissive of it.