After spending a year cooped up in their homes with quarantine and pandemic shutdowns, residents of Indonesia’s massive cities were longing for an outdoor experience.

Restaurants have adapted from being just a place to eat to a place of domestic escape due to the inability of traveling overseas. Designed by Seniman Ruang, Talaga Sampireun aims to offer a natural outdoor dining experience with a new image of Indonesian rural life, while still retaining its traditional values.

The project is located in Bekasi city, which has a dense population of family residents and industry workers. The ambitious project involved the transformation of 10.000 sqm of empty land into a resort-like culinary experience with numerous detached buildings such as an entry building, main dining area, exclusive VIP dining, and floating private dining rooms known as Saung, all nestled within a beautifully landscaped environment consisting of greeneries, artificial lake, agriculture garden, and playground.

The lake was built to cool down the hot and arid conditions and as an immense reservoir for rainwater harvesting, which can automatically water the plants. Surrounded by 17 floating dining spaces called Saung (a Sundanese hut, usually built as a resting shelter for local farmers), the lake became the main attraction and a new habitat that naturally bred edible fishes for customers and workers.

The idea was to overcome the various site conditions by implementing Indonesian vernacular architecture. All buildings were designed to enable natural cross-ventilation, which minimizes reliance on air conditioning. The roof's vast expanse, inspired by the shape of a banana tree leaf, provides shade for the room from heat and heavy tropical rain. Materials were carefully selected for efficient budgeting while ensuring the design's timelessness.

Blending design and sustainability, Talaga Sampireun incorporates local, eco-friendly structural materials alongside modern steel structures. Sulawesi coconut wood, which was not commonly used in its place of origin and sold at a very low price, was predominantly used as the structure, floor, and wall of Saung. Besides being affordable, rigid, easily grown and accessible, they also age beautifully - the older the wood, the bigger the wood fibres appear, and the more exotic it becomes. The floor is elevated to avoid common pests like termites, and the ceiling is exposed to showcase wood shingles construction and minimize budget; this design allows for air flow under and over the building, encouraging passive cooling across the buildings.

In addition to sustainability considerations, the team also integrated elements to highlight cultural values. For example, the entrance space is covered in rattan, woven modernly as an interpretation of Indonesian Batik fabric. Bricks are exposed and stacked in another Batik pattern as a divider between the kitchen and dining area.

Bamboo lines were embedded in different heights and waving compositions, allowing air to flow between their openings. The local vintage tiles, Tegel Kunci, were applied to enhance a focal area of the floor and express modesty. To bring the rural atmosphere to life, the team chose decorative elements representative of everyday life, such as traditional Indonesian cutleries as decoration and farmers' hats creatively transformed into wall lamps.

Talaga Sampireun provides a tranquil escape for those looking to feast and gather with their friends after a long time spent apart. With a cool night breeze after the sun sets and a serene view of the lake, a private dinner in a Saung is just what Indonesians and the country’s visitors alike have been waiting for.

PROJECT DETAILS

Project Team: Seniman Ruang

Location: Kecamatan Bekasi Barat, Jawa Barat, Indonesia

Project size: 800 m2

Site size: 10000 m2

Completion date: 2020

Photographer: Celvin Leowardi