Our Insightful Articles

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.

For years of history in Indonesia, a weaving technique has been utilised in numerous forms and purposes. Dated back to even before the colonial era, local people in different islands of Nusantara had shared similar weaving products in traditional clothing, ornaments, as well as parts of their vernacular architecture. Gedek, or woven bamboo sheets, for example, was an essential element to many traditional houses—enveloping of the houses’ interior.

While many residential designs are competing on coming up with unique shapes for houses, Adit Haus by Office S A stands out with its simple shape. Located on the outskirts of Bandung, this house has a common appearance—a façade with a combination of rectangular and triangular shapes.

Lyf Funan Singapore is a response to the growing trend of co-living, lifestyle, and travel habits among millennials. The hotel/co-living space was designed with young people’s social life in mind so there are plenty of spaces to mingle and to take pictures for social media.

When talking about accommodation in a holiday destination like Bali, the spotlights are typically on the luxury, the eco-friendliness, or the cultural elements. On the other end however, more hostels and similar accommodation catering adventurers and budget travellers are getting better than just a place to sleep. Moreover, in the era of experiential travel, budget and space limitations are no longer an excuse for hospitality businesses not to provide immersive and local vibes that many travellers seek today.

Around the world countries are grappling with the COVID-19 outbreak, and in Asia, local governments have put measures in place to curb the spread. Hong Kong was impacted early on and issued a quarantine order on 8 February 2020. Singapore was quick in detecting and responding to the cases and has been thorough in regulating its spatial use since then. Malaysia has issued a Movement Control Order since March 2020. Indonesia has recently followed suit with its Government Regulation Number 21 Year 2020 about Large-Scale Social Distancing to regulate localised movement.

Bukan Ruang is a multifunctional cafe that is designed to be flexible and compact. Occupying a space formerly used as a gym, this café accommodates events and artworks, aside from operating as a coffeeshop.

In Singapore, it is not unusual to see rows of heritage shophouses transformed into boutique hotels, be it for backpackers or luxury travellers. Most of these hotels, however, were renovated with the approach to restore or uplift the shophouses’ original exterior as well as the interior, resulting in the ubiquitous, predictable impression when staying at one of these properties.