Redefine Role

It took years to redefine the role and responsibility of people in the studio Realrich Architecture Workshop. Below, I have written 4 roles to simplify how we work as a team and my responsibility as principal. These 4 roles are 4 different worlds, the associate designer is a world of techne, a world of architecture methodology grammar. That is the world of a design methodology. The second world is administration which is the world of matters, currency, and reality. It consists of archives and a way to survive. On the other hand, The Librarian and researcher in the world of episteme. It involves theorizing reality and fantasy. And, the last one in the world of phronesis is practical knowledge, which is called the craftsmen world. Below are the pictures of the dream team – Best Office in the World.

Principal Architect

As a principal, I am responsible for designing the vision and implementing the studio’s mission, making initial sketches, or discussing our experiments with the design team and clients. Our studio can develop from detail, materiality, and context understanding because the design is a collaborative process. This is possible in direct coordination with the design team, the associate designers, therefore.

The process of appointing us as an architectural firm is not easy to require. The relative compatibility is shown through a shared vision, a common goal, or simply a common approach. Once the client entrusts the results and process to us, it is the most valuable thing in the world of architecture.

From details to design concepts, the whole work shows how consistent we are with the richness of a multi-perspective, multi-disciplinary, multi-interest architectural approach. The entire procedure is evaluated in the form of architectural theory and is widely published.
It aims to jointly support the appreciation of architecture and the architectural profession in Indonesia. I believe that architecture, when thought out, is a powerful force that can improve the lives of many people.

Associate Designer

Associate designers at RAW Architecture have 1 year to 5 years of experience. The designers will be trained to reach the level of becoming a registered architects. They are connected in a studio where practical case studies are discussed to become a comprehensive grammar studio. In general, in some studios, the associate designer is called a junior architect or architectural assistant part 2 for ARB (Architect Registration Board) standardization. The name about this is related to habits and the meaning you want to aim for. I think there is a fundamental concept that is our studio culture about interpersonal relationships. I answered it with the idea of associate or associated with a collaborative, personal, and multi-personal design process. The associate is a concept that connects people’s social relationships with one another. A designer is someone who tries to solve design problems.

The learning process to become an associate designer at our studio has two paths. The first path is learning at the conceptual stage, then understanding how to draw technically well. The second path is to learn directly in the field, know the construction details, and then dismantle the knowledge of architectural concepts. Associate designers are people who have creative and critical power in answering architectural problems. The architectural design process faced by associate designers starts from reading the situation and context, dialogue with the principal for formulating design steps, managing project management, and carrying out forensic engineering with the integration of multi-disciplinary knowledge.

The association’s conception experiences a shift in meaning and reality every time due to the complexity of ethics, capabilities, and professional facts that the Indonesian Architects Association constantly updates.

Administration

The people in the administration department are responsible for documenting project archives, studios, libraries, including keeping the discipline of the large team as simple as possible regarding the neatness of bookkeeping related to taxes, accounting, finance, taxes, public relations, and personnel. Administrative tasks are carried out by recording chronologically according to job categories with an integrated system. The administration team led by Drg. Laurensia Yudith maintains client relations and reports with the principal to maintain the studio’s accountability and credibility.

Librarians and Researchers

The people involved in this division work in the Omah library. They are librarians who catalog and archive books. Librarians also have duties as researchers who carry out writing and production of knowledge through architectural literacy. Furthermore, the activity at Omah Library is to dialogue about relevant thought discourses with individuals who have critical thinking about everyday problems. At Omah Library, librarians and researchers also help develop architectural theory and archive case studies to form the basis for further architectural discourse. Librarians and researchers generally have 1 – 5 years of experience with multi-perspective thinking and comprehensive literacy skills. There are times when I invite them to develop architectural theories that are useful for our practice.

Craft Leader

The Craft Leader here means the leader of the builder who dedicates his time to the art, passion, and ability to not only build but make building art with taste and become a focus for subordinates indirect work or provide direction. The educational process to become a craftsman leader starts from the assitant, 1/2 craftsman, craftsman, executive craftsman, master craftsman. They are people who have 25-35 years of experience starting from before our studio was founded, during the time of my grandfather and parents. They have 10-25 years of practical experience who have had at least 3 built projects. In the next stage, the chief craftsman transforms into an advisor of art in building. They have worked from Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, to Sulawesi.

Epilogue

Documentation of how we work, my interpretation of the ecosystem. The practical craftsmanship of RAW Architecture in Indonesia is being compiled in a manuscript on the philosophy of thinking about the roots of our craft school as a small, mutually supportive ecosystem.