Guha Boboto

This is one of RAW Architecture’s low-cost housing projects that later evolved into OMAH Library. The project is located in Jakarta and consists of two design streams: bioclimatic architecture and poetic space.

Bioclimatic Architecture:

1. By integrating a boarding house and a public library, the project replaces the conventional 3+1 housing typology and accommodates 15 compact rooms and a library. The existing structure became the backbone for a two-storey renovation, organized around three staircases—one serving the library and two serving the residential areas—which define three primary zones: the boarding house, the craftsman’s family home, and the public library.

2. Bioclimatic strategies are applied to maintain an indoor temperature of approximately 27°C, while pockets of gardens introduce daylight and natural ventilation deep into the interior.

3. Material strategies respond to economic and spatial constraints. Its architectural language is shaped by the composition of recycled, polished, and angular bricks combined with plywood surfaces, creating a rhythmic interplay of solids and voids.

Poetic Space:

4. The design experience is conceptualised as a layered sequence reminiscent of narrow alleys, labyrinths, and small walkways commonly found in kampoong neighborhoods, where calm lighting and the layering of old and new structures allow the architecture to function as both shelter and narrative.

Guha Boboto articulates its entrance through textured concrete surfaces cast using bamboo molds, while the door is shaped to resemble the silhouette of an Indonesian man, summarizing bricolage as a design method. The project is deeply inspired by masters such as Mangunwijaya, Laurie Baker, and Samuel Mockbee, as well as Indonesian vernacular architecture, all of which share a sensitivity toward connecting plural senses within low-cost architecture.

@guhaboboto @omahlibrary

Photo by:

1,10–13: @luil_mn

2–9: @aryophramudhito

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