WOW! What a trip! This was one of those life-changing experiences.
Upon arrival into Sydney, from my Indonesian building trip, I have comeback with such an enriching experience.
Living, breathing and being completely involved in the building process has enriched my thoughts of the power of shelter, in its most economic and simplest form which has a positive impact on its inhabitants. I worked, I sweated, I built up a serious set of toned arms, I interacted with the village community, and by the end of the program together we had built a space that we can be proud to say we were physically involved in.
The needs and requirements for the new build became clearer from the Habitat team at our first briefing session in Solo. The build formed part of a larger relocation program in the village community of Gempolan, approximately 15 minutes drive from the centre of Solo, Indonesia. The village is bounded by two rivers, the Bengawan Solo river and the Kalianyar river which streams from Mount Merapi. Both rivers flood periodically over 6 meters above its lowest water level. The villagers basically squatted there and built their illegal makeshift shelters knowing the risks and implications of living on flood prone land. However, it became quickly apparent to the Indonesian local government that it was not a sustainable solution to build and rebuild their houses nearby the river. The local government, alongside Habitat for Humanity arranged a relocation program for 300 families in Solo. The land is granted by the government and the house and building costs provided by Habitat on a loans basis. This program teaches the recipient that whilst some money is provided as a grant, they still have to repay their loan and labour for their house. In addition, the house is constructed from solid masonry, predominantly brick and concrete, with tiled roofs, as opposed to the previous semi-permanent bamboo woven structures built the by the river.
The program provides lessons in self-sufficiency, re-use of materials and relocation for a long-term solution.
After the first build day it became very apparent that I completely underestimated how physically exhausting building would be. Especially under the humid Indonesian climate, wheel-barrowing roof tiles appeared easy but were actually fairly taxing on the body. It took the second day to acclimatise to the heat and the physical strength required to the tasks at hand, not to mention any fears of deadly scorpions, snakes and cockroaches. By the third I was addicted to mixing and pouring concrete and building brick walls!
The design process completely relies on the personal, social and cultural use of its inhabitants. The Indonesian affiliate, Lia, tells me that the process of design and allotment of the blocks is designed to be as fair and non-hierarchical as possible. Basic local government regulations of clearance setbacks, maximum heights are adhered to with the design of the individual houses using modulated, repetitive design along with user input. Within the allotment I was involved in, the site was divided into six parts with two external toilets and a well designed to be shared by the six families. Each of the modulated houses are slight permutations of a repetitive layout consisting of two bedrooms, one living space and one kitchen space. All had a semi-outdoor porch area that I saw in the village to be the most utilised space. Due to the intense humidity and heat in Indonesia, internal spaces were fairly dark with high roof spaces in order to reduce the amount of internal heat gain but allow for purging of the heat through high level wall openings. Comparatively the space of greatest human comfort was the semi-outdoor space that all houses had, providing high levels of social interaction required that culturally come with living in the community village environment. This space provides a myriad of use: from cooking, washing clothes, drying clothes, a shopfront for the sale of goods, sleeping, storage, children’s play zone, the uses are endless and are to the liberty of the user/s. The strong connection with the outdoors enforces the sense of community within the village. This makes me wonder how we in the western society have lost our sense of community and yet still strive to establish new connections. Is it the architecture? Or is it the people that generate the high levels of social interaction…or a combination of both?
Another point of interest is the incredible way in which they reuse their building materials. Everything is reused. There is nothing that is left to waste and there is an element of creativity and ingenuity in the way certain items are used. Cleaning old brick, breaking down rubble to use as compacted flooring, roof tiles reused and transported, sourcing worn timber planks for concrete formwork, and an old pipe split in half to use as a funnel for the concrete column pour means that nothing is left to waste and everything can be used many times in its lifecycle. Sustainability is not a catch phrase, its just cheaper and necessary.
Midway through the program we had the opportunity to see a completed village built about five minutes from the one we were working on. I would have to say on a personal note that this was definitely an emotional moment for me. To see a working, functioning village with clean water, proper drainage and most importantly happy, healthy villagers living there really illustrated the positive impact of such work to real people.
By the end of the build, we could visually see the result of our hard work. The brick walls, which were originally strip footings when we arrived, are at about ¾ complete. The internal spaces are starting to feel like rooms, the doors and windows are framed up, columns have been partially poured and are set with reinforcement bars sticking out of them. A significant proportion of old materials from the original building site have been transported to the build site and I’m told it will be another couple of days until the roof framing goes up. We said our farewells to our fellow construction workers, the families and Warino – the home owner, by ceremoniously handing over a framed photograph of the team in front of the partially constructed house.
I feel amazing. This is definitely not going to be the only such trip for me. I’m keen to experience more, perhaps within Australia indigenous context or throughout the world.
“Today, socially responsible architects must serve as a bridge across borders,to develop architecture that responsibly serves people and their community…an architecture that understands real human needs…” Teddy Cruz, architect, keynote speech at University of Detriot, 26/02/03
