andyrahman + cipta hadi front indonesian boarding house with interwoven bricks

‘Keputih Boarding House’ by andyrahman architect + cipta hadi

Dedicated to exploring new patterns in red brick architecture, Andyrahman shares yet another unique facade design, this time fronting the ‘Keputih Boarding House’ in Surabaya, Indonesia. Completed in 2019 with architect Cipta Hadi, the project takes cues from the Nusantara Architecture movement inspired by nature, spirituality, geometries, and vernacular material. 

The boarding house’s facade sees every brick layer organized perpendicularly to the one above and below it as if penetrating and weaving into each other. The resulting motif echoes the Nusantara principle of blurring boundaries between opposites: up/down, solid/void, inside/outside, etc. This ambiguity ultimately finds its way across each space within the building. 

all images © Mansyur Hasan

breaking boundaries, celebrating ambiguity 

Exemplifying such spatial ambiguity in the ‘Keputih Boarding House’ is the communal rooms where users can be alone together. Specifically, Andyrahman (see more here) and Hadi fitted these shared areas with seating and table arrangements that break privacy barriers without compromising individual comfort. 

Another illustration of the boundary blur shows up in the use of material, namely for flooring. Traditional Nusantara stilt houses feature wooden boards with slight gaps in-between; from these gaps, air and light can penetrate the house. The architects repurposed that technique by replacing wood with steel grills and widening the gaps for greater light and air circulation, as well as visibility between each floor. This sense of porosity further concretizes the principle of ambiguity in spatial boundaries. 

Andyrahman worked closely with local craftsmen on-site to test out prototypes of his brick arrangement for the facade. Concluding the process, he reveals a final boundary blur that helped him carry out the design: ‘this project breaks the boundaries between the architect and the craftsmen. They keep on learning from one another.’

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project info:

name: Keputih Boarding House Volume 6

location: Surabaya, Indonesia 

building area: 300 sqm 
architecture: Andryrahman Architect | @andryrahman.architect, Cipta Hadi
photography: Mansyur Hasan

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lea zeitoun | designboom