Telling stories, performing operations as a design method

Exploration of stories in architectural discourse has yet to generate a structured discussion in the methods of its operations as part of a design endeavour. This issue of ARSNET presents a collection of articles that demonstrates a variety of everyday stories emerging from the experience of space and objects, and outlines the methodologies of their corresponding spatial operations. Through the stories of occupying, manoeuvring, navigating, dispersing, and sensing, this issue highlights various methods of spatial operations. With operations ranging from tracing as a way of revealing space, reduction as manoeuvring strategy, connecting the virtual and the real as a way of finding new meaning and use of space, and creating a spatial atmosphere based on trajectories of senses; the issue expands the discussion of stories-driven architectural design methods.

Going minimal: An exploration of reduction as a design method

The purpose of this paper is to reflectively explore minimalist architecture as an architecture that is driven by the reduction-based design method. The discussion aims to reframe the design processes and methods of minimalist architecture as informed by field observation. The phenomenon of applying a minimalist architectural approach has become a trend in small-scale housing in Indonesia lately. In the country, the small-scale residential design processes take place in different contexts and are faced with various limitations, from resources, budgets, land size, materials, and so on. The study will frame this discussion around exploring the reductive design method as a way of responding to these limitations. Informed by design strategies from the modern architecture movement, the study was conducted by observing reduction strategies in eight small-scale domestic design which was published and well-narrated in various media. The study findings demonstrate that the reduction does not only exist in the visual aspect of the design and construction process. It also exist in numerous other design elements, such as materials, forms, spaces, and ornamentation, as a strategic response towards the limitations of various resources.

Coffee story: Unveiling indigenous delicacy through sensorial transaction

This paper explores the potential of spatial atmosphere as the basis of a coffee stall design, creating an intimate understanding of the possible sensory transactions that occurred throughout the coffee-brewing process. In this reflective piece, a coffee stall design process is presented and dissected to unveil the programmatic basis of the design. A closer look at multi-sensory experiences that include sight, smell, and sound in the process of brewing is considered essential. They hold a significant role in perceiving the surrounding atmosphere and how it impacts our design process. A series of equipment and ingredient tracing is conducted to identify the optimal barista's workflow and the production of a multi-sensory experience, rethinking the purpose of the surrounding objects from two different perspectives. Such a process positioned the atmosphere exploration as a focus in achieving a unique programme where the objects within the coffee-making process generate the space through materiality and immateriality.

Play, space, and the magic circle: Reinventing the game

In 2020, Dolanan, a collaborative practice exploring the architectural possibilities of play embedded in Indonesian traditional games, launched its pilot project titled Makan Kerupuk, which experimented on the spatial aspect of the crackers eating game often played during the Independence Day of Indonesia. Driven both by Johan Huizinga’s conceptualisation of the magic circle and the global pandemic, which prevented people from gathering in public space, this project probed into the limit of conventional play-arena by distributing the sites of play into multiple domesticities. Utilising both real and virtual means, Dolanan enacted a version of the game in which participants could engage with the physical experience of playing by employing a dispersal strategy, without dismissing the sense of publicness that marked the national holiday. Images produced by the participants are further analysed in this paper to reflect on the state of the magic circle as conveyed and experienced through this project.

Ruang daring bercerita: Sebuah narasi tentang rute, navigasi, dan batas dalam arsitektur

Kondisi pandemi yang membatasi pola pergerakan manusia atas ruang, di satu sisi menyebabkan manusia kehilangan makna dan rasa atas kehadiran ruang fisik, tapi di sisi lain memberikan peluang bagaimana cara memaknai ruang dengan cara yang berbeda. Instalasi Kisah Antah-berantah karya Citra Sasmita yang diinisiasi oleh Ruang Seni Anak Komisi UOB Museum MACAN, Jakarta ini berkisah tentang cerita fabel mitologis untuk anak-anak yang diinspirasi dari lukisan kamasan dan karakter cerita rakyat Tantri di Bali. Mempergunakan teknologi web-based augmented reality, Kisah Antah-berantah merupakan perpaduan objek seni dan ruang secara fisik dengan teknologi dunia maya, yang bisa dinikmati secara daring dan luring. Pengamatan karya instalasi Kisah Antah-berantah ini bertujuan untuk memperkaya gagasan atas keterlibatan rute, tur dan bagaimana memaknai batas pada ruang maya. Pengamatan “mengalami ruang” secara daring oleh penulis dijelaskan melalui 2 cara yaitu mode operasi pasif 360˚ dan mode operasi aktif manual. Mode operasi pasif 360˚ menunjukkan bahwa dengan rute yang statis dan terukur, pengalaman memaknai ruang daring bercerita bisa tercapai, meskipun tidak memberikan pemahaman akan batas ruang yang baru. Sebaliknya dengan mode operasi manual aktif, dengan kebebasan rute yang dipilih dan diciptakan sendiri, pengunjung mampu menciptakan batas dan pemaknaan ruang baru yang berbeda. Dari kedua mode operasi ini, tanda (landmark) berupa titik kode optik hadir melampaui objek fisiknya sebagai bagian dari navigasi dalam ruang maya. The pandemic condition that limits human movement over space has consequences that humans lose their meaning and sense of the presence of physical space, otherwise, it provides opportunities to interpret space differently. The installation Kisah Antah-berantah by Citra Sasmita, which was held during a pandemic and initiated by the Ruang Seni Anak Komisi UOB Museum MACAN, Jakarta tells the story of mythological fables for children inspired by kamasan paintings and Tantri folklore characters in Bali, Indonesia. Implementing web-based augmented reality technology, this installation has an equal collaboration of art objects and physical space which can be enjoyed virtually and in a real-time exhibition mode. Kisah Antah-berantah investigates ideas on the involvement of routes, tours, and how to define boundaries in architecture and virtual space. The "experiencing space" will be explained in 2 ways, namely passive 360˚ operation mode and manual active operation mode. The 360˚ passive mode of operation shows that with a static and measurable route, the visitor interprets the virtual space of storytelling completely, although it does not provide a new understanding of spatial boundaries. In manual active of operation mode, visitors potentially create new boundaries and different meanings of space, by creating their routes. In these two modes of operations, an optical code point is presented as a landmark, as an important part of navigation in virtual space.

Tracing London's urban living room

Responding to the rapid development of indoor public interiors motored by commercial activities, this paper argues that an alternative form that is more inclusive is needed to foster healthier and more socially equitable interactions in the city. It frames urban living room, a micro-scale outdoor interior development that aims to inject domestic experiences into the existing urban environment, as the antithesis of the exclusive indoor public interiors. Utilising tracing as a mode of inquiry to look at two case studies of the urban living room in London, UK, this paper aims to reveal the spatial mechanism that makes this public interior provide the much needed intimate experiences that make the city habitable. The finding of this study suggests that the interior mechanisms used by urban living room provide scalar confrontation and heighten sensual experience that fosters intimate social interactions and inclusivity for all urban dwellers.

Expanding agency: The mapping of architectural design discourse in Indonesia's academic publications

Architectural academic publications are essentials elements in defining and establishing the architecture academic discourses in institutional context. A critical, retrospective reading of past and present architectural publications could reveal the current development of the field and provide an empirical basis for future actions. This paper digitally maps the notion of ‘design’ within the published articles in Indonesian architectural journals from the past decade to understand the current situation and present the country’s challenges in developing the architectural design discourse. Through consideration of architectural academic journals’ role in establishing the field’s boundary, a bibliometric mapping was performed on a corpus of 1031 abstracts collected from prominent Indonesian architectural journals. This paper reflects on the extracted key terms from the corpus through different mapping strategies using bibliometric analysis methods. From the mapping findings, and by extending the notion of design as a transformative agency in architecture, this paper retrospectively suggests a more diverse, creative, and provocative development of design discourse in Indonesian architectural academic scholarship.

Weaving theory and practice: Design discourses, exchanges, and processes

Theory and practice are often seen in opposition with one another in some architectural dialogues, despite their significant transformative capabilities. The first issue of ARSNET aims to dissolve such opposing relation by exploring how theory and practice weave and intersect in various architectural design inquiries. The articles in this issue investigate how the entanglements of theory and practice enable a precise reading of the contours of design knowledge, expand the interpretation of architectural spatialities, and drive a reflective awareness towards the progression of design processes.

Articulating tectonic: From iteration to nexus

This paper explores the articulation of tectonic as a potential basis for developing and understanding architectural programme in the context of architectural education. The piece delivers a reflective discussion that puts tectonic beyond the art of joining. Instead, tectonic, which informs the way material performs, insinuates a capacity in supporting the students to generate the spatial programme and atmospheric quality for the development of their architecture project. In particular, the study suggests the importance of tectonic articulation in generating the above spatialities. The study investigates such tectonic articulation by reflecting through a second-year design studio project in Universitas Indonesia, which focuses on developing dwellings designs driven by tectonic-based architectural design method. Through reflecting the students' projects this paper put forward three aspects of tectonic articulation, each of which explores the formal iteration, the tectonic-programme relationship, and the tectonic-atmosphere relationship. The study demonstrates contribution in understanding how tectonic is explored throughout the design process, informing multiple stages of design.

Catalogue drawing: A framing device for design thinking

This paper discusses the role of catalogue drawing as a framing device to aid design thinking in the architectural design process. Catalogue drawing has been largely understood as a representation of the finished and curated design output. However, it is argued that catalogue drawing enables designers to handle, arrange, and process information, assisting them to frame this information for different needs of design discovery. This paper analyses the catalogue drawings produced by first-year Bachelor of Architecture Programme students in Universitas Indonesia in doing their first creative making project. The study highlights four categories of catalogue drawings with various roles, from catalogue drawing intended to capture the relevant information, investigate the particularities, create a bigger picture of the design condition, and outline the design proposition. The study found that each catalogue drawings were often repeated in loops throughout the design process, enabling the students to incrementally generate original design works. This study underlines the role of catalogue drawing in revealing the progression of design thinking that is often hidden throughout the architectural design process.