The Kayu Aga house is a joyous eclectic celebratory dwelling.

The sensuous curve of the main living/dining accommodation.

Yoka Sara is a Balinese architect who studied at the Architecture Department of Udayana University in Denpasar from 1983 to 1990. He credits Nyoman Gelebet, who taught in the school at that time, with giving him an understanding of the traditional architecture of Bali. At the same time, he says, “At that formative stage in my life, the book Architecture: Form, Space & Order by Francis D. K. Ching opened my eyes.”¹ In 1989, he and two fellow students were commissioned to design the Balisani Hotel at Legian. The project launched his career and he curtailed his formal studies. They followed this up with the Balisani Suite at Batubelig, and in 1990 set up in practice as Kori D’Arch, a name that was changed two years later to PT Bale Legend.

The work of the practice expanded rapidly, and after participating in the design of Sekilak Island Resort, a private island at Batam (1992), and the Nikko Hotel at Sawangan (1994), the partners in the practice decided to expand into Design and Build. This venture into construction led to “a decline in the quality of our design and to a certain amount of repetition in our work,” so in 1998 Yoka Sara decided to refocus on his original calling—to be a full-time design practice. The first commission of the rejuvenated practice was a house in Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur, followed by the Waka Gangga Resort (1999–2007) in collaboration with I Ketut Siandana, and further commissions that took the practice to Nagoya and Tokyo.

Yoka Sara’s artistic flair is immediately apparent in the Kayu Aga House designed for Italian businessman Alberto Agazzi. The reasoning behind the plan form of the house is initially elusive. The compound essentially consists of a carport and three orthogonal sleeping pavilions located in the four corners of the site. Occupying the center is a two-story pavilion containing the principal living/dining facilities, with an elevated studio at first floor and a verdant roof garden. The central pavilion has a delightful oval staircase with bamboo balustrade rising from an elliptical pond. Each of the sleeping pavilions has a private garden court with a terrace and an outdoor bathroom, and the routes to the center are differently choreographed.

There appears to be an underlying rationale derived from a traditional Balinese compound, where family activities are assigned to different pavilions, but any resemblance to the traditional form is subverted by what at first seems a random arrangement of sinuous curved walls that serve to unify the various elements but simultaneously to separate the activities.

Yoka Sara’s conceptual sketches provide insight into the design process and clarify the purpose of the walls. The site is divided into four layers from west to east, expressed as slightly radiused lines, the first layer being a physical barrier to the noise from the road that runs along the western boundary. The barrier takes the form of a high wall and the service functions of the house tucked into the northeast corner of the site. The second layer is the “west lawn,” that distances the main pavilion at the center of the plan from the noise source. The third layer is the linear structure of the central pavilion, with its elevated studio and roof garden, and the final layer, the “east lawn,” between the central pavilion and the swimming pool. Notes in the margin of the architect’s sketches dispel the notion that the layering is random for there is a distinct hierarchy of privacy and formal zoning of uses.

A sculptural staircase constructed from concrete, steel, timber and bamboo.

The east-facing façade of the house viewed from the swimming pool pavilion.

Overlaid upon the west-to-east layers are more pronounced and flowing transverse curves that are expressed as free-standing walls. The walls diverge to frame views to the east over paddy fields and acknowledge the rising sun at dawn of each new day. These walls have a pattern of gray and green vertical stripes that is repeated on the entrance gate.

Finally, superimposed upon the system of lines is another system—one of movement. A processional route leads from the arrival court, in the southwest corner, in a northerly direction beneath a pergola to a point immediately west of the central pavilion, where a sharp turn to the east directs attention to a patio between the living and dining rooms, and thence to the east lawn. Notes in the margins of the architect’s sketches describe this “journey” as a process of rejuvenation and discovery. Natural light is an important consideration in the genesis of the form, and some views are temporarily withheld by bamboo screens to arouse curiosity. The processional route extends to the 25-meter swimming pool with a gazebo, and beyond are tranquil views of rural life. A light wind blowing off the paddy fields stirs chiming bells.

The architectural language is totally modern and the design process is explained in terms of rational responses to site and climate, but ultimately the house is a visually delightful place with a myriad different moods and emotions. What more might one require of a home?

The living area flows out to the east lawn.

The processional route to the house beneath a cool shaded pergola.

A sleek kitchen/dining room is at the heart of the house.

Lines of sculptural columns unify the disparate elements of the plan.

Ground floor plan.

The roof garden and studio overlook the west lawn.

The oval staircase with bamboo balusters punches through the curved roof of the central pavilion.

The east lawn.

A pergola above the access route to a peripheral sleeping pavilion.

Footnote

1  Yoka Sara in e-mail correspondence with the author, February 2, 2010.