Sitting on a generous 3,500-square-metre land plot, House68 is a private residence that tries to integrate its surrounding natural feature seamlessly. The architecture firm, Design Collective Architects (DCA) takes a bold viewpoint of how a building in the tropics should be, “Tropical architecture is not to shield and protect the users from the elements but to enhance the experience and bridge the relationship between them.”

With its location being in Ubud, Bali, Titik Dua Ubud Hotel has the potential to position itself as a destination hotel. What is more interesting is that this hotel’s location is adjacent to an art gallery, which the architect, andramatin, tries not to interfere. As the main land plot of the hotel is behind the gallery, the architect decided to elevate the entrance and create a 45-metre bridge that sits right above the gallery for the guests to reach the main building.

Just before the Covid-19 outbreak, the development of office space had reached the point of being an open, feature-rich, flexible, and comfortable space that was believed to increase the productivity of the present-day work. Many companies providing this kind of office was deemed a perfect model of today’s corporate environment, especially when it is compared to the appalling “cubicle farm” office that thrives some decades ago.

From the outside, Bioclimatic Community Mosque of Pamulang does not display any common features of a typical Indonesian mosque. Instead of a minaret or a dome, this building is distinguished by the two-coloured stacked porous façade, topped with a massive vessel-shaped roof. This mosque is located within a university complex, serving as a place of worship and a community centre for the campus’ communities and the surrounding neighbourhoods.

With the potential of being a supporting node of a popular destination, SHAU shapes Microlibrary Warak Kayu to reflect the local narrative. As its name suggests, warak is derived from warak ngedong—a local dragon-like mythical creature, which happens to be represented by the diamond-patterned timber façade. Furthermore, the use of stilt structure and mostly timber material embody the character of many traditional houses in Indonesia. This contextualised building brings affinity and appeal to the neighbourhoods and the visitors.

Among its typical neighbouring houses, 73M Jalan Senang that stands on a corner land plot appears unique with its monolithic look. Designed by ipli Architects, the house is a resemblance of the simple, ubiquitous gabled-roof house icon. Instead of defining the each part of the house differently, the building displays a unified look from the bottom to the top as if the shape is carved from a massive rectangular block. From its voluminous exterior, multiple randomly placed square openings create a slight giveaway of a light and porous interior.

Recently, the trend of incorporating an edible garden in one’s living quarter has grown significantly. Be it in a kitchen’s corner with plenty of natural lighting or on the whole rooftop area, edible home garden is regarded as one of the easiest and most effective way to introduce sustainable living to the masses.

Aaksen Responsible Aarchitecture has recently finished a residential project in Jakarta named Vinyasa House. This dwelling is located at a housing precinct that borders Jakarta with its satellite city, Depok. A typical suburban house in this neighbourhood has rectangular structures and a pitched roof, so among such uniform facades, Vinyasa House stands out with its towering geometric mass.

In Bandung, Indonesia, it is not rare to see a well-preserved building dating back to more than half a century. While a number of prominent heritage buildings are still operating as they were originally, some have seen changes in their functions, and others are left abandoned completely. Hotel Dago, built in 1954, one of the abandoned old buildings, has recently been transformed into a café.

Located in suburban area of South Jakarta, Rumah Sisik Batu—translated as a house with stone scale (or skin)—is a recently finished renovation project by ArMS. Prominent use of basalt as the building envelope is evident even at the house’s parking space and a security post located at the front. Muhammad Sagitha of ArMS pointed out that the inspiration behind the project’s name was from the angled and layered arrangement of basalt pieces that resembles animal scales.