Formative Years

Greetings, Dear Readers

Young architect and Restless Spirits,

I have been writing and designing since 2005. I started in this blog to share my journey as a freshman and continued even after I become Architect. Since then, I got inspired by some stories from books, short articles, video clips, or even just a simple note from serendipity. I reshare some of the stories hoping that those stories can help you walk your life as they do to me. The tales start with a professor who taught their students about priorities in life. It begins from My Mayonaisse Jar. This writing is a way to contemplate, a way to respect, and a way to transform. I learn about the priority of life in his story. Family, Friends, Work.

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, this space is a way to gathering my spirit. And when 24 hours in a day is not enough, I always remember this story about the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.” It’s a way for me to remind myself that I can encounter the problem by telling myself everything will be ok, start control and leave the things I can’t control. And this thinking made me start My Mayonaisse Jar.

I divided the story into several chapters. The first chapter is my formation year. I came from a builder’s family, born in Surabaya. I spent some of my childhood in Bedugul, Bali accompanying my father that worked in the construction of Bali Handara project. I was astonished to see the culture of Bali, the island of God. When I was ten years old, I moved to Jakarta. Jakarta is a mixture of colonial, traditional, and ultra-modern cities. This juxtaposition shows the true potential of Indonesia, and this potential has its weakness in its infrastructure and integrative planning.

Since working in the architecture field, I was curious about what’s the limit of architecture. I was hungry for learning, and the first step is to get to know myself better. I moved to Bandung to study architecture in ITB. I worked in Ridwan Kamil + Partners’s studio, Urbane, for a year before working in Singapore in DP Architect, and finally accepted to work in Foster and Partners London. I put some understanding that The studio selected me, not me choose them. I did send many applications, and many got rejected. Few were accepted.

The second step was understanding that the studio has goals, and I do have plans. How to put both goals in harmony is the key. I need to care about the studio’s goals. By doing that, I have responsibility for the studio. The story then continued when I studied again in Sydney, continuing my master’s degree in Urban Design and Development under Jon Lang and James Weirick. Then, I started my firm, Realrich Architecture Workshop. This chapter is the formation year, year before I met Laurensia.

Formative Year

The few years when I was a student in ITB, I was a more socially active person, I was in student organization then I become secretary-general and some of the technical coordinator, and planning team who were in discussion about the central theme, vision, and executing the plan into the schedule. I was involved in training new organization members for one year and two years below. The training is ongoing for one year per batch led by the leader of the student organization. The training is about personal and communal on getting to know yourself and how to be collaborative such as knowing your responsibility and practising leadership.

My role was at backstage; we learn, prepare, and evaluate the implementation of the training. I knew that we are never alone in performing the ideas, and understanding that the picture needs to be pushed, pushing myself to be active unpretentiously while not expecting anything in return is profound to my attitude towards making an effort from concept to execution. I met with many inspiring people during my formative years, few notable one is Ridwan Kamil, Baskoro Tedjo, the Hermit of Atelier 6 Architects, and Eko Purwono and all of the fellow lecturers.

Inspiring People