Bali By Design. Kim Inglis
air-con consumption and increase the cooling effect below. And because the house was three kilometers away from the nearest electricity source, she designed a power system based on a combination of solar panels and batteries supported by a generator. “Cutting air-con is a priority,” Valentina states firmly.
Johnny Kember of KplusK Associates, a practice in Hong Kong, states that it is every architect’s responsibility to explore sustainable and environmentally friendly building methods. After doing some research, he has been amazed at how many ways there are to produce low-carbon footprint buildings—and he has included a few in his iconic design on the Bukit (see pages 96–103). He sees many buildings that are almost entirely self sustaining in terms of their energy and water usage—and believes that this is the way forward for the future.
Designed by Balinese architect Yoka Sara, this home combines traditional materials with the ultra modern. This sculptural oval staircase rising up from a reflecting pool is a case in point: Made from concrete and steel with timber treads, it features a curving bamboo balustrade.
Naturally, this is not the norm. In Bali, there are few building restrictions and the onus is on clients and architects to try to do the “right thing”. Ross Peat of Seriously Designed laments the over-crowding and the lack of infrastructure planning, as well as the difficulty of acquiring electricity and water, but notes: “All that being said, there are some amazing buildings being designed and built in Bali.” Nevertheless, he goes on to add: “It is clear that the building regulations are far from conducive to people’s privacy as you do see structures being built too close to their boundaries and often overlooking other properties.”
As such, Ross often turns houses in on themselves, replacing external viewpoints with internal courts and secluded gardens. “You can’t count on the view for ever,” he maintains, “so in most cases I design to have the view internally. I also try to have generous open spaces both in and outdoor, giving a feeling of a seamless transition between the outdoor and indoor areas.” See his own home on pages 138–143, a fine example of easeful tropical living.
This idea of blurring boundaries between indoor and outdoor harks back to earlier pavilion-style living in wall-less or semi-walled structures, a type of style that we have come to term “Bali-style”. In fact, this type of structure should really be named “resort-style” or something to that effect, as it was pioneered by early resort architects such as Peter Muller at the Kayu Aya Hotel (now the Oberoi) and Amandari. He, in turn, was influenced by tropical maestro, Geoffrey Bawa. The style bears little relation to indigenous Balinese building traditions—with the exception perhaps of the open-sided wantilan and balé.
Large entertaining spaces were a specific request from the owner of this spacious home. Ross Peat of Seriously Designed also made sure that only the highest quality materials were used, as evidenced by this Statuario marble show kitchen.
Today’s villas have eschewed the dark wood and pitched roofs for something very different to these earlier prototypes: The new wave of architecture is more lightweight, open-plan, more streamlined, definitely more Western in form. There may be a sense of place, an interpretation of Balinese courtyard living, but visually these new residences are nothing like their older counterparts. Balinese architect Yoka Sara says there may be some reference to Balinese roots and culture in house design, but you have to really look to see the parallels. The days of having a rice granary or lumbung as a spare room are well and truly over, he believes.
Instead, he tends to immerse himself in the landscape to try to “improve and emphasize natural elements and surroundings” within a modern architectural vocabulary. Only by imagining the movement and sequence of spaces on a site, can he “build up the emotion and set the living spaces”. As with Gary Fell and Johnny Kember, he uses the natural contours of the land, the way that the breeze blows, the direction of natural light to articulate the spaces—and these elements usually result in a reduction in air-con and power. One of his recent designs, Kayu Aga (see pages 74–79) is a case in point.
Another reason that architects are looking inward is that plots are becoming smaller. What were once small settlements or villages are turning into towns and areas of rice field are being erased. For example, in Seminyak land is very expensive nowadays, so architects are increasingly looking for innovative ways to counteract the limitations. In one of Gary Fell’s new projects, he “effectively stands the villa on its head” placing the utilities and bedrooms at the front of the house, ie on the lower levels, and putting the living areas and pool on the roof to access views.
In another project, Swiss designer Renato Guillermo de Pola incorporates a central atrium, complete with glass pyramid roof and internal plantings, in the center of his house. For all practical purposes, this is his “garden”, with open-plan spaces clustering around (see pages 50–55). Built along the lines of a New York loft with semi-industrial materials and an urban aesthetic, it is the exact opposite of the trad Bali villa with rice field view.
Nevertheless, we do showcase plenty of homes in remote, rural areas where the houses work consciously with their tropical environment, be they overtly modern or vernacular in inspiration. The use of water features (often nowadays found on roofs), the melding of timber and stone, and the idea of bringing the landscape to bear on the interior are all perfected in different ways. Many of the houses sport clean lines, sculpted shapes and are modernist in style, but there is some conservation and re-use of existing architecture and materials, mostly observed in the recycling of wood and the use of entire wooden structures. The residence featured on pages 56–65, comprising a number of joglos and gladags, traditional wooden tructures from Java, as well as a Sumatran house, counters vernacular architecture with fashion-forward interiors that would not be out of place in a chic Parisian apartment or a London townhouse.
A New Wave of Interior Design
Bali has long been renowned as a center of creativity, with a profound artistic tradition that has inspired a proliferation of cottage industries all over the island. Every village has an artist, a sculptor, a carver—often scores of them. As such, it has long been a magnet for talented creatives from abroad.
Yet the last few years has seen a change in emphasis and scale. The small ateliers and individual artists of the 20th century have burgeoned into 21st-century export-driven factories with large showrooms and expansive designer collections. Yesterday’s hippies have either grown up and grown out, or have been superseded by younger, hungrier replacements. The main difference in the items produced today with those from even a decade ago is in the quality.
Now any number of conglomerates design, manufacture and export any number of high-end furniture pieces, fabrics, lighting products, and accessories. When mixed with recycled panels in carved wood, old dyeing vats, birdcages transformed into sexy lights, masks and canvases, you have the perfect East meets West combo. It’s no wonder that many people specifically visit Bali with a view to furnishing their new apartment back home. Recent years have seen a proliferation of businesses that specifically source art, furniture, fabrics and artifacts on a buyer’s behalf.
One area that reflects this eclectic theatricality is to be found in some of south Bali’s newer commercial outlets—restaurants, cafés, clubs and hotels that are making design waves quite out of proportion to their size or standing. Take a look at the outstanding lighting design in Café Bali, for example, or the pared-down post-modernity at The Junction (see pages 207, 211 and 219). Potato Head Beach Club’s futuristic façade, composed of over 1,000 vintage wooden shutters salvaged from across the archipelago, is both a lesson in sustainable material