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.

How does one design a well-featured and spacious hotel room in a 12.5 square metre space? While there are various approaches in designing for compact spaces to function well and still feel expansive, Yotel Singapore chooses to draw the inspiration from a plane cabin design, hence the guestrooms are referred to as the “cabins”.

Normally, within an apartment unit or a house, there should be at least an enclosed room with a door separated from the rest of the unit’s interior. In a project named after the sole owner, Alex, Spacedge Designs challenges the need of a door, even the need of a separated room in the first place. “In a space for one, there is technically no need for doors within the flat,” says William Chan of Spacedge Designs.

It is well understood that the development of prefabrication technology has boosted construction efficiency. One fine example of a project that makes use of prefab is AAND Sayana. As a prototype of micro house developed by Aaksen Responsible Aarchitecture, AAND Sayana is designed to be fully assembled within three weeks.

As one of the prominent brands of local coffee in Indonesia, Titik Temu has opened its most recent branch in Ubud. Being the second branch on the island, the shop is designed with a similar approach yet resulted in a distinctive character compared to the original branch in Seminyak.