so look greyish and faded. An early 20th-century Minangkabau rice barn from Sumatra acts as a splendid poolside pavilion.
A huge collection of wayang golek puppets resembles a “marching crowd” on a table in the living room.
Set amidst the curvilinear rice fields of Umalas in the Kerobokan area, this house, designed by a French couple, was built as “a tribute to Indonesian art and architecture”. The idea was to produce something that is so particular to the locale that it couldn’t possibly have been constructed anywhere else; it is also the repository of a vast collection of puppets, masks, primitive objects and folk art pieces collected by the couple over the past 20 years.
Comprising a variety of buildings dotted around a spacious 4,300-square-metre (5,140 sq-yard) plot, the architecture is vernacular in style. In addition to the main house, there is a Sumatran barn that doubles up as a poolside pavilion, a Javanese joglo that serves as a kitchen/dining area, a Balinese balé gede that is used as a relaxation unit, and an entire merchant’s house from Aceh that is at least 150 years old. It now comprises spacious and spectacular guest quarters. All were bought, dismantled, shipped to the site and painstakingly reconstructed—along with a variety of doors, wooden panels and other salvaged architectural elements.
If this sounds somewhat anchored in the past—it isn’t. All are set within a gently undulating expanse of lawn, and all have been reassembled with modern convenience in mind. Twenty-first century components include a curvy swimming pool, whirlpool, a modern kitchen with decent plumbing, a modish paint palette and some unusual materials. In addition, the art collections aren’t displayed in glass cases; rather, they are placed in key strategic positions so as best to show off their unique characteristics.
“We did not intend to build a museum,” assert the owners, “instead we wished that these beloved objects of ours would look alive and appealing in today’s life.” Careful space and décor planning sees a contemporary console matched with antique masks, a single carved door taking centre stage in a room, and colours combined in unusual and interesting ways. An example of this is a bathroom decorated specifically with green stone mosaic to match a pair of antique doors.
Elsewhere, the joglo’ s white-washed and brown painted soaring roof results in a contemporary-style geometric pattern, while the colour palette of white, brown and green tones forms a delicate backdrop for a few key artworks.
Although many people have built ethnic-style homes in Bali’s rice fields, not many have managed to produce estates with such panache. This one is simultaneously an enduring acknowledgement of Indonesia’s peoples and heritage—and a wonderful family home.
The interior of the antique joglo, a central Javanese structure, acts as the kitchen and dining room. Here the modern and the antique work well together: a country-style teak dining table and old Javanese bench sit comfortably with a contemporary side table housing an antique bird and masks from Java. Above is a soaring carved bird, also from Java; probably about 50 years old, it is a typical “folk art” piece. The side table was designed by Amir, a Sumatran antique dealer and craftsman, from an old block of teak wood. The Matisse-inspired painting follows the general colour scheme of taupe and olive.
The master bedroom is a symphony of red and gold in Chinese Indonesian style. Rouge tones on the floor and walls were selected to match the antique Javanese bed. A variety of Sumatran, Chinese, Thai and Javanese trunks, tables and boxes form the furniture, while decorative items include a gold Burmese Buddha attendant, a lacquered red-and-gold wooden Buddha statue, a betel box (tempat siri), Javanese figurines and a mask from Java. In the corner, above an antique Javanese chair painted white, hangs a Burmese marionette. The overall effect with the soaring timber-and-thatch ceiling is overtly opulent.
A wicked-looking Javanese mask sits between a pair of Javanese figurines, all carved from wood.
Three traditional Balinese masks used in the topeng dance drama flank a mask from Cirebon (second from left); the latter would have been used in the oldest form of West Javanese dance that originated from the north coast.
Called Villa Artis, the main building is a simple, two-storey rectangular villa with an extended, protected verandah at ground level.
Bali has become famous for its open-air bathing options, so this Jacuzzi tub set in a deck of old teak boards from a hotel in Java with attendant lily pond is not such an unusual sight. What sets this one apart, however, is the attention to detail in the décor. On right sits a carved set of doors from Java, decorated with wayang figures; on left is a painting in the style of Matisse. The wooden figures by the tub are a pair of Javanese loro blonyo ; protective figures, they are traditionally placed at the entrance of homes both as guardians and to welcome guests.
Exterior view of the merchant’s house from Aceh. It has a bedroom on the first floor and an open-air living area at ground level. Beautiful carved latticework and restored shutters ensure the upper level is well ventilated, while sturdy eaves protect the ground floor from sun and rain.
The “front” of the main triangular building somewhat resembles a ship’s prow. With a small garden and lily pond around, it is clad in grey paras stone to support the beautiful curved “flying” roof.
following the
lay of the land
Built in 2004 as guest quarters for the home featured on pages 136–147, the form of this two bedroom home is dictated almost entirely by the shape of the land within which it snuggles. Sandwiched on one side by an access road and on another by a steep gorge, the house is almost in-built into the land. “The challenge was to make the house disappear from the driveway while totally integrating it into the tropical scenario,” explains a spokesperson for GM Architects. This is fully realized, as it is only the singular shape of its two roofs that alerts passers-by of its existence.
The brief was for something “cute and different”, and the architects accomplished this mainly through the two curved roofs that resemble the upside-down keel of a boat. The larger one is 22 metres (72 feet) long and both were constructed, pre-assembled at a workshop elsewhere in Bali, then cut into sections and reassembled on site. This was achieved by Tropical Buildings, a company that specializes in building stand-alone structures that can be packed and re-assembled in a different location at a different date.
The house comprises two buildings, a smaller one with a single bedroom and bathroom, and a larger main one, with living/dining quarters and one further bedroom. They are interconnected by a sequence of curved surfaces—walls, pools, decks, paths—that follow the natural contours of the land as it drops dramatically down to the river. These also help to fully integrate the home into the surrounding landscape and vegetation.
Needless
