Tenganan Village Center in Bali

Site and Concept

Design Concept The design scheme implements the earliest Balinese traditional philosophy, Tri Hita Karana (harmony between Gods, man, and nature ). It emphasizes that man should achieve three balance and harmony in life to achieve happiness (Harmony with God, Man, and Nature). The proposed building is designed to represent its era. It intended to revive the local architecture, not to compete with the indigenous one but more to showcase how the idea from the past will interact with today's human advancement and innovation. The following describes 3 design strategies. Verticality (man and Gods) The vertical conception refers to the intangible relation between man below and God above. The selected site is an 8800 square meters parking lot in the southernmost of the village. Before 2016, this site was a village's leftover space (forest). The site's irregular shape weakens the linearity and the "street concept" that characterizes Tenganan village. That is why the author's initial intention is to emphasize the existing street. Like other Balinese villages, the north part of this village has higher ground, and it is believed more sacred by locals compared to the south part. Thus, preserving the village street also maintains the narrative and connection between the two areas (sacred-less sacred, old-new, past-present). As an outcome, the new building arrangement feels monotonous, but it exhibits a respectful attitude toward context. It also contributes to reviving the village's central axis, which is a sacred feature in Balinese village. Horizontality (man and man) The horizontal conception refers to harmony among people on an equal basis. These strategies were initiated to respond to problems detected from space syntax simulation that shows that the third zone has the most unconnected and unintegrated streets among the three existed village zones. The problem is aligned with the site investigation result that villagers living in the first and second zones received much more visitors and income than the villager in the third zone. Since the intervention site occupies the middle zone, connecting the first and third zones becomes vital to overcoming the socio-economic gap. Therefore, the design tries to resolve it by proposing a traversable building that triggers visitor movement to the quieter zone. Naturality (man and nature) As tourism development surged in 2016, the paved parking area wiped out an existing local forest. That is why there is an eagerness to bring back greenery in particular areas. Nature is also present through natural materials that dominate the building (thatched roof, wood, and stone). Besides greenery, the composition of the building highlighting the accessibility to the mountain forest in the background.

Tenganan Activity Center

The strong repetition of triangular shapes sets the base of the architectural language. It inspired from Tenganan traditional public building shape. The main building is in correspondence with the temple complex behind it. It is displayed as a stacked prism with a dynamic twist on its top to bring contrast with the orderliness of the surrounding. The other complementary building displayed more static to continue the narrative of the village. The building has various functions: gallery, theatre, classrooms, workshop space, and curator offices.

Tenganan Activity Center : A Gate to The Past and Nature

The main building's composition is inspired by a traditional Balinese gate. The gate-like composition is arranged to highlight the temple complex near the site along with its forest background. People commonly recognize the surrounding forested mountains as a village border. Therefore, this perception still isolates human activity from nature itself. While this design intentionally put a gate-like structure near the border in the hope that people would sense the forest as an explorable place rather than a boundary. Thus, dialog with nature can occur. On the upperfloor, the exhibition object not only in the interior but also exterior. People can observe the north (the village, the past, sacred) and the south (the city, the present, less sacred) from the above.

Tenganan Homestay

Tenganan homestay uses the local traditional house layout as a base. The idea is to merge all the separated pavilions into one roof, which is considered more efficient and solves rainwater leakage problems that concern traditional house in general. The design of the house exhibits a stacked volume with a gap in between. The gap then becomes the place for stairs for upper homestay and a passage for people to access the market street behind it. The building mainly uses laminated timber and steel joinery. Only the service area (bathroom and kitchen) is maintained using a concrete floor and waterproof panels.The interior retains an open-air concept on the first floor and an air-conditioned room for the visitor on the second floor.

Supporting Building

The information center, coffee shop, and restaurant are connected with the square. All the new proposed buildings are designed with a tropical approach in mind. It also follows the concept of "Clarity of Structure" and "Truth of Material." It aims to show an honest building that exposes the structure and material as it is without any hidden structures or repainted materials. In the outcome, the clarity of the joinery between the steel and the wood, the glass and the natural stone, the polycarbonate, and the thatched roof, will become part of the aesthetic language.