This Tropical Garden Home Hides A Stunning Amphitheater-like Swimming Pool | Indonesia

We are inspired mostly by how nature can create rich spaces and shades under the rows of trees, constellations of stones and hills, panoramic views from mountains, and even wild shrubs can shape boundaries. We feel that it can be more than just filling up a blank space. We reimagined this house to be part of nature itself, growing and aging along with the family through time with this man-made nature. My name is Rawaduna. And I am Kusneri Prasetyani, and we are the principal architect of Studior. In the beginning, we were looking for a suitable space to build a house for the family, so we went around with them and found a spot right in the corner of the street that has a higher ground level than the surrounding neighborhood. This gave us the possibility of getting unblocked views and natural light almost from every direction. We planted specific trees on certain parts of the house that are dense enough to maintain privacy, yet clear enough to allow sunlight to pass through. The trees were the first thing we discussed with the family before we started designing the house. Not only for the privacy, it is also a passive cooling measure to have natural ventilation throughout different parts of the house. The house is designed to have a four-level house to appear as one single floating house on top of a hill. For the visitors, the entrance is located on the second floor, and while waiting, they can enjoy the long stretch of fish pond with a water fountain under the frangipani tree. This idea is to give a sense of calmness, like walking in the park, and also a welcoming feeling. The living room is placed on the second floor behind the exposed concrete wall. It's also where the entrance is. The owners needed a place for their fish, so we built this pond that extended out from the living and the terrace area. It can also be enjoyed from different areas of the home, even for the guests waiting outside. The spaces are arranged and connected to allow the family to interact freely from the kitchen, dining, or the adjacent terrace. As everything comes together, it becomes big. The common area is on the second floor, but we wanted to make it feel like we were on the ground floor, so we placed those planter boxes with shrubs around them, side by side with large openings to create a ground-level impression while also having it as a barrier for privacy. The kitchen area is the heart of the house, where the family gathers frequently for conversations while preparing meals. Here, they can also interact freely with guests in the living or dining area. When the food is ready, this island functions like a buffet area. We placed the dining room in an area that has three different viewpoints. Each has a large opening to interact. One of the openings has direct access to the terrace, so whenever the owner calls a bunch of family and friends, they can expand out to the area. The opposite is where the owner can enjoy looking down at the pool when the family or friends are swimming. The idea of this hall is a space wide enough to connect the front yard and back yard with flexibility to accommodate different functions, such as a garage, gym, and indoor gathering space. The cool, fresh air is produced by surrounding lush trees, plants, and the pool. Through the large breathable garage door and backyard window, it flows in vertically to the stairs like a chimney and to all the spaces above. At first, the owners wished to have a pool, but it wasn't possible with the land area. However, they managed to obtain the land behind the house in the middle of the constructions. The ground level was about four meters apart from the main building. To cut costs by not filling it up, we used the leftover earth we got earlier while building the house to deliberately increase the surface of the pool level to about two meters with a crossing bridge to the shower cabin. We didn't want the pool surface to be too low for a better connection and experience, having different activities and interactions to happen. We also added a large timber deck with seats for the owner to host big gatherings, which not only looks like an amphitheater, but also function as one. With the large tropical backyard, this space has become a close hidden retreat for the family to spend time together or wind down and relax after a long day. The stairs are one of the important features of this house. It's designed with hanging perforated metal to have a chimney effect, allowing natural airflow and sunlight to flow vertically throughout different spaces with cross ventilation on each level. When people are walking on the stairs, we can hear the light footsteps and see the soft shadow created between the perforation and the steel hangers. The softly diffused satellite highlights the textures and creates shadows that keep changing direction throughout the day as sun sets. As if nature creates a theatrical light and shadow. The bedrooms are all located on the third floor, while the master bedroom faces the eastern and northern parts of the house and some to the south. It has a beautiful sunrise that bounces to the bed and is like a morning wake up call for the owners. With nice unblocked views, the planted shrubs and towering trees from the back are used as privacy barrier while allowing plenty of sunlight in. The bathroom is designed with a dark soft warm mood. Even though it is not too spacious, having a large window with a planter box full of greenery adjacent to the bathtub gives more relaxing space. We see the rooftop as the most potential area to enjoy the wide open surroundings and also the best place to enjoy the evening skies. The garden is best to enjoy in the evening when the main city of Jakarta's light sparkles at the distance. Another consideration is that the harsh wind, lower humidity, and higher temperature of the rooftop require more demanding treatment to the plants. So we choose to go with cactus, agaves, stones, grasses, and olive trees as the main for dry garden. By responding to the environmental issues, this house contributes to green recoveries. Most of the electricity is generated through solar panels and with the natural airflow and sunlight flowing throughout the house, it helps to reduce energy usage quite significantly. The most fulfilling thing for us as an architect is actually when we watch how the owners grow together with the architecture and nature itself after these few years. It's also nice to watch how they manage to maintain their home, how they enjoy every corner of their house, and sometimes share with us some videos or pictures of their happy moments happening in their home. That is the time that we knew that the architecture design works well and makes them happy.