Description

Located in a narrow [ 4 x 25 ] sqm site in a dense commercial area of Surabaya where most of our neighbors were maximizing their land with massive buildings consists of 2 to 3 storey levels with zero setback so that they can occupy more tenants and more customers. This site is so narrow that we thought creating the same '2-to-3-storey' building would be an unnecessary effort for this project, because the budget probably will be inflated higher, and who wants to visit an indoor commercial area in the middle of pandemics anyway?. Thus, we're proposing our design by shifting our focus from creating more massing to creating more open space so that it can let our site become the only oasis of calm in the busy noisy area of our neighborhood. The following challenge is, how to make this super-narrow-and-tiny-site accessible and recognizable to the potential consumers since this is a commercial project after all. After numerous design iterations, the most favorable design concept was the one with whole program requirements being distributed into two tiny masses. The first one is for services purposes; storage, praying area, and restroom, while the other is for food and beverages tenants. The heart of this project relied on the whole open-space itself where most of the activities take place. We keep the open space uninterrupted by particular programs so that it can be dedicated as an accessible inviting entrance. We are trying not to dictate specific programs at the project’s heart, so we chopped them into specific activities and manifested them into architectural elements to trigger the activities like a multipurpose bench for parking, table, and at the same time a bench. This project was designed during the first wave of covid-19 pandemics in Indonesia, in which design standards for covid – 19 haven’t been found yet. In common similar typologies, the spatial configuration is generally dominated by massing with inner-courtyard. Therefore, to be a bit more adaptive with the situation, we wanted this project to be dominated with a courtyard with inner-massing for specific programs that make it looks more like a garden with ‘program storage’ consists of programs than a mass with ‘void landscape’. Gratefully, since we’re situated in a tropical context of Indonesia, this kind of configuration is easily be implemented without worrying about the extreme winter or hot season. By the end of the day, this project is about the celebrations of tropicality and our small effort to get along with the pandemic. No specific building details, nor material explorations, just a simple conscience in redefining program configuration and reprioritizing what’s important. An alternate way of living by cheering more open-air activity in a plot of land we called, Alley 36.    

Located in a narrow [ 4 x 25 ] sqm site in a dense commercial area of Surabaya where most of our neighbors were maximizing their land with massive buildings consists of 2 to 3 storey levels with zero setback so that they can occupy more tenants and more customers. This site is so narrow that we thought creating the same '2-to-3-storey' building would be an unnecessary effort for this project, because the budget probably wil...