The home of one of Indonesia’s top fashion designers is entered through a transparent glass box.

Section drawing.

Gregorius Supie Yolodi was born in Jakarta in 1974 and studied architecture at the Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung. Upon graduation in 1998, he found employment in a variety of roles and in a number of architectural firms, including Grahacipta Hadiprana, prior to forming his own practice, d-associates, in 2000. His Km19 Project, the first gas station and rest area on a toll road in Indonesia, won an Isatan Arsitek Indonesia Award in 2009. His business partner, Maria Rosantina, is also a 1998 graduate of Parahyangan Catholic University, who joined d-associates in 2002 after working with several firms, including PT Rekamatra.

Asked to name designers who have influenced his work, Yolodi expresses admiration for the work of Le Corbusier and also, at a much smaller scale, for the sensitive projects of the Yogyakarta-based architect Eko Agus Prawoto. He admits Louis Kahn also influenced his approach to design, and he also admires the work of Geoffrey Bawa, which he saw on a visit to Sri Lanka in 2009.

This appreciation of designs at opposite ends of the architectural spectrum is reflected in the Ampera House, that is both a home and a gallery for a client who works in the fashion industry and whose gorgeously elegant creations have been a mainstay on the Indonesian social scene for the past two decades.

“Notwithstanding his highly publicized life in the fashion world, the owner is a very private man when not at work. The house is consequently hidden behind a screen of mature trees, and semi-mature trees were planted at the rear of the plot two years ago to insure privacy,” says Yolodi.¹ “The emphasis is on quietness, silence and retreat from the city. Nothing was to be visible from the outside as the client wished to separate his private life from his public persona.”

A processional route gently ascends from the arrival court to the entrance lobby in a series of axial shifts, via a ramp and through a gap in a screen wall, to a guest reception pavilion in the form of a glass box, and thence to a lobby leading to an art gallery. A large sliding door separates the arrival court and an inner courtyard. The client has a passionate interest in modern Indonesian painting, and the gallery is designed to showcase his collection, which includes large paintings by Waka, Made Jirna and Harris Purnomo. One wall of the gallery opens out to a landscaped courtyard with a “green wall,” separating what Louis Kahn defined as the “served” and “servant” spaces in a dwelling.

The processional route from the entrance via the lobby.

The reception room/gallery opens out to a secluded courtyard.

But the most significant feature of the Ampera House is the voluminous living/dining area. The client required a large space “framing” the enclosed garden and swimming pool beyond. In sharp contrast to this spacious light-filled double-height rectangular volume is a long gentle staircase compressed between two vertical planes beneath a continuous roof light, that facilitates access from the ground floor living area to the first floor rooms.

The living room and art gallery occupy the center of the plan, effectively linking two wings, one accommodating private activities, including bedrooms, bathrooms and a gym; the other essentially housing the back-of-house activities of the dwelling: kitchens, garage, maid’s rooms, storage, plant room and laundry.

The house owner has a large extended family who visit frequently, and thus the five bedrooms are each fitted with an en suite bathroom. The owner also has a number of dogs that are, he says, “like family to me.” They are housed in a separate annex in a corner of the rear garden.

Yolodi manipulates space with great dexterity, juxtaposing large light-filled volumes with narrow compressed routes, and in the process creates a series of stimulating and pleasurable spatial experiences.

Tall glazed doors facing the rear courtyard open to permit natural ventilation and create scintillating shadows.

View from the first-floor gallery to the dining/living room and the pool beyond.

The living/dining room is an awesome space.

The compressed space of the principal staircase sharply contrasts with the openness of the living/dining area.

The first-floor access corridor.

An upper gallery gives access to the principal bedrooms.

The expansive scale of the house is apparent from the swimming pool courtyard.

Ground floor plan.

The dining area viewed from the gallery.

Detail of the stairwell.

Footnote

1   Gregorius Supie Yolodi in conversation with the author, February 12, 2010.