In highchool we did this live-in, it wasn’t a fun, goin to uncles house live-in, like in

standard schools. We were told to not bring anything but plastic bags and clothes for change.
No cash, no phones and no IDs except that of a student. I was sent to east jakarta to live among
water spinach farmers. They didn’t have any toilets, they didn’t have proper storage, they didnt
even have a house. This experience changed my life. the environmental disparity between them
and me were showing, and it was the spark that made me choose to be an architect.
After I graduated university, I decided to work under reknown architect Eko Prawoto.
Eko is architect famous for his works which encouraged sustainability through collaborations
with multidisciplinary experts ranging from villagers to the government. It’s been four years
since I joined Eko Prawoto Architecture Workshop, and in that time, while I was working as a
junior architectural designer, I have always contemplated the future. Eko now has passed away
and just before he passed away I shared my struggles to develop more as an architect and as a
human being. Our discussion made me come to the conclusion that I have to learn more.
Architects have a very narrow view of sustainability. Even legendary architect Le
Corbusier failed in keeping the city of Chandigarh, which he designed, alive. According to the
United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals there are 17 points that must be done for
a nation to head to a more sustainable future, but architects can only help achieve around 5
points. Looking into it more, the data by SDGs shows that here in Indonesia, we still need major
solutions to problems such as zero hunger, Good health and wellbeing, affordable and clean
energy, all arent directly related to architecture. But as architects we have the basics of
designing. Design is key because it is the capability of solving problems by looking at context. In
sustainability, Its important to note that improvement in one sector could lead to improvement
of the other. So I came to realize that a more holistic approach of designing is mandatory in
hopes to create a sustainable Indonesia.
Sustainablity is a huge field, So Why urban design? Ive experienced working as an
architect and I can conclude that architecture tends to cover a small plot of land, while
landscape/urban design covers big areas. Looking at how small architectures scope is, it is
meaningless to give an impact on hunger, energy and wellbeing to affect a large number of
people if only a minority of people is doing it. Urban design incorporates other fields such as
economy, social studies and cultural studies. With a more holistic approach to urban designing I
believe we could solve more sustainability problems. Im even optimistic that even cities as huge
as Jakarta can make be better steps towards sustainability by together cooperating to become a
more sustainable community.
Also I’m feeling optimistic about the direction our government is going for, I recently did
a design for the new wing for an Art Center with the Ministry of Public works and Public
housing of The Republic of Indonesia (PUPR). I have come to realize that throughout the
process of designing, it’s not that the Ministry doesn’t want to push the limits of the design, but
the man power and experience of the designing team which isn’t sufficient enough except for a
few big projects and individuals. From personal experience I could say that as a
designer/architect I had clashes with the design team but can actually see eye to eye with the
experts that PUPR provided for our team. Their concern about sustainabity has been pretty
clear through out the project and this gave me hope to eventually be able to work hand in hand
with PUPR in designing buildings, landscape or cities that would encourage and realize a form of
real sustainability here in Indonesia.
Of course I would need the title of an Architect to be able to build here in Indonesia
which I’m planning to get aswell. There is actually an alternative to this, as I believe in the
power of collaboration, I am tempted to get my title somewhere other than in Indonesia. For
example if I’m to study at Milan there is a chance to join The Architects Council of Europe, this
will not provide me with license to design here in Indonesia but it will help build a network of
cooperation between architects in Europe and in Indonesia. For projects here in Indonesia I
would still be eligible if I were to work with a local architects. This is all in-line with IAI’s
(Indonesian Architects Assosciation) rules for active architects that work here in Indonesia.
With that in mind, after I finish my studies and getting a license, I imagine starting over
again from building smaller buildings/houses which are designed to tackle micro sustainability.
From there I would love to take on public buildings especially in smaller regions because like it
or not, smaller and more isolated places have a bigger chance to be self sustainable than that of
a city. The long-term contribution I can give will realize itself when I get the chance to do
designs in collaboration with PUPR. Imagine an Indonesia that doesn’t import but exports rice,
an indonesia where people can eat nutritious food everyday, an Indonesia which is not
polluted, an Indonesia which is culturally diverse yet able to live in harmony. These are all
achieveable by working together with the government. But to get to those dreams first I would
be needing knowledge of attempting to manage a huge number of aspects of sustainablity and
how to apply it to a greater scale such as a city (urban design).
This takes us to the specific reasons on why I chose the universities. Primarily is because
there is potential of learning by seeing the environment and not just to learn the theories. This
means outside of the university there will be a lot to analyze and to learn. Take the city of Milan
for example, mix-use typology is being utilized in a way to support food security throughout the
city giving milan a chance to one day be able to support itself which then helps the city become
more self dependant. We can find the same case in Singapore, some of the artists/designers I
know are trying to embrace the posibility of urban farming and foraging in whats left of the
forest they have and find a way to affect the policy of Singapore. The government in Singapore
needs to realize that trees don’t only create shade but can be productive for Singapore if they
are truly going to create a sustainable garden city. Food security is in line with United Nations’s
SGDS and could come in handy in a pandemic situation if it ever happens again. So my
conclusion is that the cities I chose to go to has brilliantly executed the ideas for a more
sustainable city, so learning first-hand from a system that have been built and realized, I feel, is
the best thing to do since I believe that theories become useless without proper execution.
 From what I understand, the fastest way towards self-development is through
experience, comparison and reflection. Thus, to gain these things, the need arises for me to
study in a new environment in the near future for me to able to grow. The need to study
abroad also comes from the realization that humans go through routines for the most part of
their lives, and most of the time, they eventually becomes engulfed by the routine, this could
mean that an individual could potentially stop noticing their surroundings becoming less and
less aware of problems that are happening. This is what I felt happen to me. How am I
supposed to help people of I can’t even see the problem, and worse, without the knowledge
necessary to solve the problem when I find one. The solution to this is to give myself a gap
between me and my routine, which means that I need to experience new things. Experiencing
something new things means going out of our comfort zone, gaining new knowledge, and giving
myself a chance to reconstruct my minds and hopefully later on find problems and the solutions
to them.
After talks with Eko Prawoto, studying domestically was not an option. Going abroad, to
a more advance country or even just to countries which have different cultures, allows us to
quickly gain these experiences but also compare the situation to our own nation, especially
when it’s a whole different one. I just came back from Singapore last January and noticed that
there is a huge gap between their country and ours in various sectors. This gap though doesn’t
mean that Indonesia is behind Singapore. What Singapore doesn’t have, we have. But from an
architect/designer’s point of view one thing is for sure, the vision and the commitment towards
a sustainable environment, which is one of the integral values for nations to be sustainable, of
Singapore far surpasses that of our own. Whats ironic is that we have the sources, but we lack
the knowledge of how to execute the plans well. This process of analyzing and comparing
creates a window for finding out what is missing in our country and an opportunity opens for
me to potentially give a solution towards our problems.
In the end I believe that we are in need of a better environment, be it small or big.
Humans thrive in great environments and sustainability is built on great environments. So the
need of people who understand how to manage factors that come in play and design
environments become a necessity of building towards a sustainable. As Jeremy Till once wrote,
“we must take consideration of everything physical and non-physical.”