Indonesian architecture firms shortlisted in World Architecture Festival 2021
World Architecture Festival 2021 recently published its shortlists consisting of 200 candidates selected from 700 applicants worldwide. Indonesia-based firms RAD+ar and SHAU are among the shortlists. RAD+ar is listed under the Office category with its Micro Tropicality building in Jakarta and the Religion category with its Bioclimatic Community Mosque of Pamulang in Tangerang. Meanwhile, SHAU’s latest completed design, Microlibrary Warak Kayu, is listed under two categories: Civic & Community and Culture.
World Architecture Festival (WAF) is an annual festival and awards ceremony as well as one of the most prestigious events dedicated to the architecture and development industry. This year, the festival carries Resetting the City: Greening, Health and Urbanism as its theme. The shortlists celebrate completed buildings and landscapes around the world between 2019 and 2021.
RAD+ar, the abbreviation for Research Artistic Design + architecture, is a group of Indonesian-based architects and designers which focuses on the field of architecture, urbanism, research and development. Its general concept is to approach architecture with the most provocative and research-based utopian way to tackle urban challenges.
The Micro Tropicality building is RAD+ar’s explorative response to the local climate and human experience. Functioning as its headquarters, the building challenges various “basic codes” in tropical building design, such as installing the facade facing East-West instead of North-South to manipulate internal temperature while retaining rainwater via its roof while minimising the usage of artificial lights at the same time.
RAD+ar’s Bioclimatic Community Mosque, Masjid Darul Ulum Pamulang, embraces the concept that a mosque is more than just a place of worship, but also a communal space. The building utilises the sun’s direct heat for solar energy and 12 hours of indirect natural lighting. The company also chose to build partition walls using roster blocks instead of bricks to enable optimum air circulation and natural light. Instead of the iconic Islamic dome, it uses an active green roof for temperature control throughout the building.
SHAU is a multinational architecture firm based in the Netherlands, Germany and Indonesia. The firm was built by experienced architects Florian Heinzelmann, Daliana Suryawinata and Tobias Hoffman. For WAF 2021, SHAU submitted its latest design: Microlibrary Warak Kayu in Semarang which is commissioned by Arkatama Isvara Foundation.
As described in SHAU’s website, the building is elevated like a traditional rumah panggung to add value to the building, not only to function as a library, but also as a community centre. The diamond-patterned brise-soleils (sunlight deflector) resemble the scaly skin of a local mythical creature called Warak Ngendog. This building embodies SHAU’s interest that leans more towards providing design solutions embedded with societal and environmental values.
The shortlists will compete at the FIL exhibition centre, Lisbon on 1-3 December 2021. The event will be held along with INSIDE, a festival that celebrates the world’s most refined interior designs.