A House Just for Hobbies? Unbelievable Home Tour

Hi guys! Welcome back to Behind the Brakes with Taufik Efendi. This episode is a special BDD edition. We're already at one of the houses that is being showcased as a work at BDD this year and the name of the project is A3 House. This is a work from BPA Studio. This is the house. Behind me you can see the facade. It's lush as you can see here. It's dominated by a lot of plants. It's lush both outside and inside as well. Now about the second skin. Here you can see there's a grill made of material that looks like wood. Its function is to block the heat so it doesn't get too harsh inside and its second function is of course for privacy as well because for the A3 house this house is really meant to be the owner's private space. Let's continue to the garage area first. Let's take a look. So here it is. You can see over here there's a long fish pond. The fish inside are really big but if you notice why does this pond extend all the way to the neighboring house? The reason it's called A3 is because there's also A2 and A1. So the A2 house is right next to this one. Meanwhile the A1 is the one over there across the street. So there are actually three different houses but they're part of the same series and keep evolving from one to the next. It started with A1 then became A2 then A3 and it will continue again in the future. And for the front area we can see here that there's also a material here with a really distinctive character and this is the installation pattern in a zigzag like this as you can see. Then here we're greeted by an aquascape and let me give you a little spoiler. This isn't the only time you'll see an aquascape because there will be more inside and actually there are also aquascapes in the other houses because the owner happens to be a fan of aquascaping. So you really get that nature vibe when you come to this house. Okay now we've gone inside this A3 house. We're in the first room. Right now as you can see it's empty except for a piano here. But actually this house is already occupied. It's just that because of the BDD event the furniture has been moved out for a while. And in this room the first thing that really caught my eye was the wall guys. Because this is a textured wall kind of like a rough textured finish but done with a different technique. This technique is called a scratched finish. So in terms of texture it's just interesting. It's irregular but it's nice. When the light hits it it looks really great. And over here you can see there's a big wooden board. This isn't a wall panel but it's actually a sliding door. The material is teak wood that's been laser cut for the pattern and this is the sliding door. Let's try sliding it. So the purpose of this is to hide the private area of the homeowner. There are three rooms here. So the middle one is the bathroom. This is the private bedroom. Sorry we can't go in. There's also a game room but we can't enter that either. We just want to show you the bathroom. We have a glass door like this. What's interesting about this bathroom is this. There. You can look up. This is really a void all the way to the top. It's really tall. Light definitely comes in from above. So it immediately feels really spacious all the way up. It's really tall. I don't know exactly how tall it is but it's definitely very tall. And you can see the connection up there. I'll show you in a moment right after this. Okay that's the bathroom. And now let's move on to the next area friends. This is. Here there's a sliding door. Look. You can see this is a glass sliding door. It's like this. Look. And then there's something here. There's another void. There. There's another void. And here more light is coming in from the skylight above. And there's an area here. Yeah yeah this is a closet. At first I thought this was just storage under the stairs. But it turns out this is used as the homeowner's personal wardrobe. So if the homeowner is staying here, their clothes and personal items are kept here. Why? They're placed outside. Not inside the bedroom. Like I mentioned earlier, this A3 area is really meant to be the private space. The personal space of the homeowner. So it's not meant for receiving guests. This area is truly private. That's why the line between the private and public areas is blurred. So that's also why the wardrobe is placed outside like this. Next we can see here that it's definitely bright here. Because the light keeps coming in. And here there's a staircase leading to the second floor. These are floating stairs like this guys. But before we go up to the second floor, I want to tell you a little bit about this area too. So over here if you want to go to A2, the homeowner wants to go to the A2 house, you go through here. And for houses A1 and A2, they really started from scratch. From zero. But for A3, it was built from an existing structure. That's why there are structural additions. As you can see here. This steel is the structural addition to this A3 house. But the original structure was not removed. So the old and the new were combined. That's how this A3 house was created. Before we head upstairs, I want to mention something else interesting. This wall is made with... This is also a textured wall. And there's an interesting story too. This was even redone several times you know. Because the owner coincidentally also supervised it. And this was repeated many times. To find the right pattern, the owner prefers it this way. It's really cool. And we can see it everywhere here. It also uses the same material even up here as well. Okay let's go up to the second floor. And if you look at the skylight here, from the void earlier, it's not just used to let light in. But actually it's also for air circulation guys. Because you can see here there's a perforated base. There's also a gap there. So air can also flow through. So it's not just light that comes in, but air as well. And you guys can also see the additional structure here. This is the new one compared to the old one. So it's a combination of the old structure and the new one. So to achieve cross ventilation in this house, they even make use of the back part of the house as well. So if you look over there, you can see it. What's that called? That's actually the back wall of this house. And that's also the neighbor's house at the back. But because its position is higher. So they created a vent here using bricks arranged in a crisscross pattern like that. So there's still cross ventilation from the back to the front. We can also see there's a grill underneath as well. So air can still flow throughout this whole house. Okay we're on the second floor now. And here the first area we can see is the bathroom. So here we have a sink. And here is the bathroom on the second floor. There it is. Now what's interesting about this bathroom is that it has two doors. So the first door is the one we just entered through. By the way this is a full bathroom. There's also a shower. And here there's another door that leads outside. That one goes to the service area. We'll take a look from that side later okay. So this is the bathroom. And the reason why it's a bit lower like this is because this is actually the old structure guys. So this part that's lower is the old structure. While the higher part is the new one. Okay let's continue. Now let's take a look at the area on the second floor. All right for the area on this second floor. Actually the owner designed this area to be a lounge. So it's a place to relax. That's why as you can see there's another aquascape here. Not just downstairs but up here as well. There's no tv here. But the way to enjoy it is through this hobby which is then brought in here. Then we can also see that the ceiling is high here. And if you look here there's a glass block. This glass block. This is the void from the bathroom below guys. So the void continues all the way up. And this becomes an interesting accent for this room for sure. And it's not just for aesthetics. It's also for air circulation. So the room stays cool as well. And the air also rises up. Now this is the owner's private area. The lounge area earlier was a place to relax. And here is the garden area. So it happens that the owner also likes plants. So the front area is really used to display the owner's plants. And now we can see this from the inside. Earlier we saw it from the facade side. Now we're looking from the inside. All of this can be opened. The windows can be opened. So air circulation can come in. Natural light also comes in. We can see it above as well. And on the side here it's also for air circulation. So it's really plenty of skylight. But the air circulation is also good. This window can also be opened. That's right. That's why if you notice there isn't any ac right in this outdoor area. Actually there is one up there. But even without ac in the middle of the day like this the atmosphere is still comfortable. The atmosphere is still cool you know. Okay let's move over there. Now this is a door that's designed to eventually connect to A4. But A4 isn't ready yet. It hasn't started. So this is new. That means this door isn't functional yet. Eventually it will connect to A4. Over here is the service area everyone. This is the door from earlier. The one from the bathroom. There are two doors right? One from over there and one from here for access. And here are the stairs. Up there is the water tank. It's also covered with this grill. So it's camouflaged too. But this can be opened. And over there is the water tank. There's also the outdoor ac units. So maintenance is easy too. You just need to go up these stairs a bit and everything is placed right there. And there are also two types of water in this house. Because the owner really likes aquascaping as you can see. So there's water for personal use. And there's also special water for aquascaping purposes. So it's also centralized up there. Okay and we've explored everything in this A3 house. And to talk further. Ask more in depth about this house. We're really happy today because we can talk with Mr. Budi Pradono. So let's continue our conversation. Okay friends. Now I'm not alone anymore. Now I'm here with Mr. Budi Pradono. Hello sir. How are you? I'm good. Ready. Thank you for letting me stop by to see your work. Yes. In this episode right? And I'm sure my friends are also curious. I want to talk directly with the architect. I want to ask more about the A3 house. The one we already saw earlier right? So sir maybe you can tell my friends. How big is the building? The Yes. Mr. Budi right? So could you tell us what the theme of BDD is this year? And what is the connection? Or how does that theme relate to the A3 house that we've already seen? The theme of BDD this time is crossing boundaries. So it's about how designers can redefine traditional boundaries into boundaries that go beyond the traditional. So it can be interpreted in many ways. For example when we pass through a door we've already crossed a boundary. This is very important. Yes. If we relate it to this project it's adjacent to its neighbor. Coincidentally the neighbor has their own property so they're connected like that. It's connected with a koi pond for example. And what's even more essential is you know care. And the client's responsibility is to see not just their own house but also their environment. So how they go beyond the boundaries of their house to the river. So the whole river bank is planted with greenery in order to create a design with better environmental quality. And I think that can encourage others around them. We have to care about our environment. So maybe we have to plant more trees ourselves. Maybe add better trash bins so that the environment will be better. Okay. So crossing boundaries can be understood that way. Don't just care about our own home but also care about the surroundings. Yes. That's right sir. So can you explain the translation here since our friends are also looking at the model here. So what does crossing boundaries mean The first thing is how this house can be connected to its surroundings. That's the theme. For example we create an urban void. So an urban void is like this box. This glass block connects the horizontal and vertical elements. So the air flow stays cool right. And all of that is implemented in every building A1, A2, A3. Then there's also a territorial boundary that is crossed by the pool. So with this pool the boundary becomes blurred right. Then what's essential is the environment. The garden. The trees on the side of the road continue all the way to the river. So towards the river there are actually a lot of public spaces that people have turned into private spaces. It becomes something unpleasant dirty and so on. But with the addition of trees and proper maintenance well that's something that might seem trivial but is actually essential. So the environment becomes better healthier. That's right. I agree. Okay so just to give some context friends. Earlier I mentioned at the beginning that A3, A3H are all part of a series right. There's A2. There's A1 now friends. You can see here sir. There's A3 here right. There's A2 here. This one and A1. So A1 has the theme of glass and metal. So everything is made of glass. And then in terms of programming as soon as you enter you're immediately in the dining area. So the higher you go the more private it gets. So the living room is upstairs. But by doing that we created a large bathroom upstairs. Also with the urban void we added plants inside the house. So nature occupied the architecture. Okay. So that's the theme. Then the second one is the concrete house. So the concrete house is all made of concrete. Yes. Then in terms of the layout the bedrooms are located in the basement at the very bottom. Why? Because that's the place that's the most how do you say peaceful. So because the homeowner is a doctor a famous orthopedic specialist. So after surgery sometimes he comes home late at night. He needs complete rest. Okay. Well that can be achieved by sleeping in the basement. So if he comes home at 2 or 3 a.m after working late he can fully rest there. Maybe there's a scientific reason for that sir. Sorry. Yes. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That means it's A2. Yes. And then A3 we call A3 the louver house. So it's basically just a modern louver grid like that. So it's more transparent. So it's open. So if you make a terrace on the outside you can directly see the surroundings like that. Well at night it's the opposite. With the lighting we can see that the louvers just look like strips. So it's total privacy. Then the upper floor is used for relaxing or as a lounge. A lounge. The big one with the aquarium. So indeed an architect should also pay attention to the client's hobbies. The client. The client has a hobby of keeping fish. That's why it's like that? Yes. Oh aquariums. Every house here has an aquarium. In fact this is the smallest one. Some are three meters long. Wow. Yeah. It brings in a sense of nature. It creates peace for oneself. So that's really important when we've been working. We come back home. Back home. Back to calming the mind. Okay. So for the A3 house itself Mr. Budi what were the challenges during the design process and during the construction process as well? And how long did it take sir? How long? It took about two years to finish. So it was finished in about two years right? Yes but if we look at it this is really artisanal. First because for A1 and A2 everything started from empty land. So we had complete freedom. But in this case it's about preserving the old structure. So we call it the acupuncture strategy. The acupuncture strategy means we inject something with a steel structure. So the steel structure is injected and then we build the steel structure. Yes everything. And then for old buildings some parts are brick structures. Some are already damaged. Yes those have to be repaired. Especially the utilities. That's a problem. A lot of the wiring has been chewed by rats and so on. So there are mechanical and electrical systems that all need to be updated. We're trying to use air conditioning units that are not visible. Then it's supported by large fans. Now we're happy because of that. The air can flow inside the house. That's right. That's right. Wow. Now for BDD itself sir. What is the timeline like? When we're filming this it's almost finished. Yes. But for this year is there another series of events sir? Yes after that BDD is on June 11th to June 21st and the second one is on November 11th to November 21st. So there are two event series right? Two series of events and the one in November might be better nicer and cooler. But in between because our theme is crossing boundaries. In between if designer or architect friends have projects that can be launched during that time we encourage them to showcase them. After this it's not about showcasing anymore but after this we open up a discussion. Talking about design is very important so that we can make progress because this is a very intellectual exhibition. Because this is not a trade exhibition. Trade exhibitions are about selling. We're not like that. We're showcasing concepts, ideas, ways of thinking like that and they're expected to respond to the current situation. The current situation is like well for example there's a big bathroom because the new living room is the bathroom. Bathroom. Because people are stressed and all that. Cool. Thank you very much Mr. Budi. Thank you for joining us for a chat on this episode of Architect and for friends who also want to see Mr. Budi's other designs. His other works as well. Maybe you could share. Sir do you have an Instagram or a website people can access? Yes. Go to the website budipradono.com or Instagram Studio BPR. Okay. Alright then. Alright. Thank you very much once again Mr. Budi. Wishing you continued success for Mr. Budi for Studio BPR as well and also for BDD. May everything go smoothly this year. Okay friends we've reached the end of this BDD episode of Behind the Bricks here at A3 House. I hope you enjoyed it. Earlier we toured the house and also had a chat with Mr. Budi. If you still have any questions feel free to leave a comment below and Mintak also known as Mimin Arsetag can help answer them. Don't forget to like this video and don't forget to share it. Don't forget to subscribe to Arsetag's YouTube channel so we can get even more subscribers. I'm Talfik Effendi signing off. Thank you and see you next time.