Anti-Sustainability

The words sustainable and sustainability are the words that I hate the most right now. Why is that? 'coz in my opinion those words are just commercial tactics for tycoons to make even more money! Everywhere you look nowadays you see sustainable this, sustainable that; so f**king commercialized. Much like green architecture back in the day. BOOM! Everywhere you look you find shits that aren't even a bit eco-friendly but has a green label to it. Yeah...well, green here probably doesn't have anything to do with the environment, but green as in dough/MONEY.

So, I propose something called Anti-Sustainability to counter-act the sustainability boom. You see, nowadays, people everywhere are talking about how the world's fuel supply is gonna end tomorrow, but when you look hard, people are still living the same way as before. I still see big trucks, people with humvees that gives half a mile to the galon, super cars, super bikes everywhere. What's the point of shouting out how the world's energy supply is going to end in the next five minutes, when we still see people living the way they have always lived like before? It's as though all this energy talk is just to keep us living in fear. So, how about we drop all that shit, and just continue making shitty mileage engines that breathe out some 5000 horse powers, and plant them in our vehicles to boost delivery of goods and services? Ultimately that will speed up economy for sure. How about building towers that consume so much energy, and has lights so bright that it can actually illuminate a couple of city blocks? There, that way nobody else would need to turn their light on. Saves a bunch of bills right there.

I'm getting nowhere with this...the thing is, why tell people what to do when they already realize what they are supposed to do? Honestly this is like putting labels on cigarettes; I mean, what's the point of putting a poison label on something that people already know is poisonous? People still smoke anyway!! Hellooo!!! Back to sustainability; people will always try to find a way to cut down energy consumption anyways. They will always try to find something cheaper but better. So, please, drop all this sustainable bullshit, and let's get on with just living!

So here's to you all F**K Sustainability! Have a nice day :)

Spicing Up Night Life in The City of Heroes

What sort of cultural activities does the city of heroes, Surabaya, have right now? There are plenty, actually; regular cultural events are held in Balai Pemuda, and in Cak Durasim, and they generate plenty of attention. But I want more! I want something different to come out of the city well known for its fighting spirit (hence earning itself the title "city of heroes"). I want to take a look at night life. This post is based on something similar that I did about a year ago; a virtual project for Sheffield, England, to promote night life in Sheffield.

A local magazine published in Sheffield, Go Sheffo, always talks about creating Sheffield's own identity, rather than turning the city into a mini London. As they say in their Open Your Eyes article:

“[…] What would I like it to be famous for? Well that's easy too, because it's the same thing. It seems obvious to us: if you want your city to be famous, you have to make it different to other places. The greenery, the music, the friendliness: these make it different to other cities. So it's these that could draw people to Sheffield, make it a place to visit, an individual city.

RIGHT NOW these differences are being hidden ignored. The ideas that are running our city are the same ideas as every other: shopping, office buildings, economics, retail per square foot. These are the ideas that will feature in Sheffield First's new City Strategy, and they will make our city disappear into all the others. […]”

(http://www.dontgo.co.uk/openyoureyes/text.html January 2nd 2007)

So, where am I going here? I don't want Surabaya to follow any other city in Indonesia. Hell, any other city in the world if possible! Looking back at the paragraphs that I posted here, we can pick out the words music, and friendliness, thus that is how the initial idea of this event emerged.
This event, which my colleagues and I call You-Jay, has its foundations on digital art and design. To thicken the plot, and setting it apart from any other digital art and musical events, You-Jay invites the automotive community from Surabaya, and its surrounding regions, to participate by lending their on-board entertainment systems.

First thing's first; why the f**k did we come up with the name You-Jay? We just thought at that time to modify the terms DJ (Disk Jockey) and VJ (Video Jockey) into You-Jay. If you think it sounds corny, then let me know, and help me think of a better name!

• You is meant to point to all the creative minds scattered all over Surabaya by calling out "Hey, y'all (Hey, you all)!" thus stating that the stars of the event are the participants themselves.
• Jay stands for Jockey - as in Disk Jockey, and so on.

So, from the explanation given above, it's more than appropriate to conclude that the name You-Jay means "YOU are the jockey, YOU are the star, YOU enhance the event by doing whatever it is that YOU do best whether it's dancing, music mixing, or even graphics and animation!" EVERYONE IS THE ARTIST!

The basic idea of the event is an outdoor dance party, but instead of hiring monstrous concert-sized sound systems, You-Jay emits the music from the people's heavily modified car and bike audios, using different radio stations. Each radio station plays a different kind of music. To avoid sound overlapping, each type of music will be played in different areas throughout the city. Let's say we have three radio stations, then the three radio stations will play three different kinds of music: for example Pop, Hip-Hop, and Electronic.
The music is relayed from a central source, through radio waves (e.g. hip-hop will be played in area ‘A’ on 94.5FM, Pop in area ‘B’ on 100.9FM, and Electronics in area ‘C’ on 104.7FM note, that this is only an example, if I happen to mention existing radio stations, then it was merely because I couldn't think of any imaginary number...but I am not associated with any of the three radio stations that I have mentioned here!). Other than just to avoid the overlapping of different music, the different locations are intended so that whenever someone feels they need a change of atmosphere, they would have to move to another spot, therefore indirectly ‘sightseeing’ in Sheffield. Bearing in mind that this event will be held during the night, to aid the people ‘sightseeing’ therefore light installations throughout the city would be considered. To make things more interesting, then the three places shouldn't be too far away from each other; best to keep it within walking range, keeping the event arena easy to manage and control by security.

Ok, so...moving on to locations now; where would this event be held?? I would propose somewhere between Tunjungan Plaza (it would be cool if we can do it in the car park), Taman Surya, and along Basuki Rahmat Road, in a triangular formation, and I do think that these three locations aren't too far away from each other (still within walking distance). Or maybe in the industrial areas, or any abandoned warehouses (do we have those?). The idea of putting distance between each location, other than avoiding the over-lapping of sound, is that whenever participants need an atmospheric change, then they will be forced to walk to another location, forcing them to go sightseeing and see Surabaya in a different perspective (especially when between each location, light installations are available as guiding path!) The advantage of using parking lots or abandoned spaces is that the event will breathe a new life to places that were considered shady or creepy, rendering them much friendlier than before.

To attract people’s attention towards the event, various competitions are going to be held as well. The competitions are as follows:

• Poster, Graphics, and Video Competition: The community and the citizens will be invited through the distribution of fliers and posters to design the event logo, event posters/flyers and various graphics. Home-made animations will be uploaded onto the event website. The chosen works will be published (logo, posters/fliers), and displayed/projected throughout the city during the period of the event. The winners will be prized with money, ticket or CDs etc.

• DJ Competition: The name You-Jay practically means that everyone is the artist. People can create their own mix-records at home and then upload them onto the event web-site. An online voting will take place afterwards. The best records will be selected online by common people from and judged also by professional musicians. The winning records will be performed during the event. Those records will be sorted according to their genre, and then sent to the corresponding radio stations. These records are the party music and not relying on the radio stations’ music library (although when the amount of records doesn’t fulfill the minimum quota then the radio stations would have to play their stock records). On the event night, there will also be a competition between fresh, new DJs. Participants will vote for the best performer. The winner will receive an opportunity to record their album. The music played during the event will also be made into a CD. Other merchandise such as event T-shirts and DVDs will also be produced.
• • Other Competitions: Sound quality is not the only concern in this event, car cosmetics (carsmetics) will be judged as well. Categories of judgment are:
  • Best airbrush/paint/graphics
  • Best rims
  • Best looking engine
  • Best interior
  • Best accessories

  The participants are also judged by their dancing skills. A stage is available for those who would like to show-off their dancing skills. Everything will be recorded and published as an event DVD.

  • Reflecting on the Illuminate/Light Night event: The Light Night event was welcomed with large enthusiasm. You-Jay will attempt to follow in the Light Night footsteps[1]. The application of light will be used to enhance the party atmosphere. Only this time You-Jay will push the application of light further by installing sensors which are able to recognize the amount of people that are concentrated in one area and the lighting mechanism responds to that area of concentration. In doing so, it is expected that people will be attracted to the spot, and even spark a bit of group competition (which group can steal the spot light?) heating up the party atmosphere. As for the issue of sightseeing in the night, light installations will be prepared to illuminate the possible routes participants will take to move around from one event venue to another.
  • Everyone can enjoy the party (music): Since the music will be relayed through Sheffield’s radio stations, everyone can enjoy the party music no matter where they are. Whether they are at home, or on the street, as long as they have a radio.
  I expect that this event will be welcomed by everyone, especially the creative community in Surabaya, because this event involves practically everyone who can contribute to it in various aspects (music, graphics, animation, dancing skills, and sound system). Although the event itself may not be able to contribute directly towards the cultural sector, but at least it will be able to strengthen and enrich the city's identity and character of being a pioneer in serving a different kind of night life scene.

Anyone interested in making this event come true, then send me an email at prananda.navitas@gmail.com, and we'll take it from there...

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  [1] The Light Night is an event held on October 2006 where a trail of light exists illuminating a pathway leading to some of the city’s cultural sites. Music, lighting installations, street theaters, etc. breathe life to the trail. Some venues even stay open until late to welcome this event.

The Planless House

This design was supposed to compete in the Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition in Japan, 2006; but due to unforseen circumstances, the final design didn’t make it out of the drawing board at all until now. So here it is, in all its glory, an architectural concept which my colleague, Endy Y. Prasetyo from Studio Rurale Surabaya, and I put together two years ago.

Theme Description

It is generally thought that the plan is a means for describing lifestyle. The fundamental principle of this descriptive technique is division. It is thought that the lifestyle inside a house is divided with the device of “walls.” Therefore, if only the elements called “walls” are picked out, and given an expression in which they are emphasized, people may understand the lines on a drawing that indicate the “walls” as describing the essence of a house.

Yet should a house be “walls”? Why can we not describe a house just by furniture? Why can we not describe a house just by tableware? Or what about a descriptive method using only floor textures? As the floor is the only component that the human body directly touches (actually, there are also doorknobs and toilet seats), if we were to describe a house by a technique of scanning with the body, the house would be described as a collection of textured floors. Or it would also be possible to describe a house in terms of air temperature, or in terms of malodorous places due to wind flows.

Why have I become so skeptical with regard to the descriptive method of walls? It is because I feel a sense of unease with the division of lifestyle, and the corresponding methods of spatial division. The cause might lie in devices such as mobile phones, which invalidate spatial divisions, and might also lie in the transformation (the becoming-amorphous) of interpersonal relationships and family relationships. Or, perhaps the “lifestyle” of the person that was the initial premise for the “division of lifestyle” disappears during the era of building a house. Because a person perhaps builds a house for somewhat distinct purposes, if this is investigated more thoroughly, the house, including every “thing,” rather than being something made for some particular purpose could also be said to somehow become a manifestation of its era. Taking a broad view of all of this, I am interested in a plan-less condition.

-Kengo Kuma

A house, in one of its narrowest sense of understanding, is a mere compilation of rooms, thus my partner and I have decided to discard the term room and replace it with a broader term of reference: location. In the end, the house, in our new interpretation, becomes a compilation of locations.

The word "room" indicates a concrete and completed component. Whereas the word "location" does not need to be a tangible chamber. It gains its meaning and character only when related to another "location". As vague as it is, but at the same time, a "location" acts as a firm base for human activity. "Locations" calls for a brand new space, reffered to as "Space of no intention". a space without intention directly confronts the functionalism of the modern era. Since the space has no specific function, it allows people within it to freely choose their own activity. Since there is no imposition, it is abundant with cues to activate people. Furthermore it easily relates to other spaces. The space exists wherever people act, so as to say, solidly yet leniently.

-Sou Fujimoto- Architecture Asia Issue 3 / Sept 2005-Nov 2005

In the attempt to achieve a plan-less condition, we decided to completely remove the interior walls therefore rendering the structure without massive spatial division, throwing away rooms, giving way to locations being a more flexible space which Sou Fujimoto refers to as Space of no intention which we interpret as spaces without clear definition since the type of activity the space contains is not yet clear. In our opinion, a space of no intention only needs a catalyst to encourage certain activities, and ultimately defining the location; rendering it no longer as space of no intention but space of intention in fact, the possibility exists for the space to become space with many intentions depending on the dimensions of its catalysts – which in the case of housing are known as furniture. As we have discovered, the larger the size of the catalyst, the greater the activities may vary.



An issue appears due to the removal of massive space dividing elements known as walls, and that issue happens to be privacy. As a solution, we applied different heights to each location, dividing it spatially by raising and / or lowering each location relative to the other; practically rotating the spatial zoning ninety degrees, zoning vertically rather than horizontally which is mostly done with housing projects. The public zone, is located at the very bottom since this is the zone in which various people have access to within it contains locations for living / gallery, and the kitchen. Above this zone, is the semi-public within it the group of people that have access is narrowed down. Locations in it are those such as : dining, and living. Then comes the semi-private zone, where the narrow group of people is narrowed down yet again to a more specific group of people. This level contains locations such as the sleeping areas. Finally, located on the highest point is the private zone containing the bathing area. Philosophically speaking, we think that people are true human beings when they leave all their attributes behind – literally – no longer being the military general he / she may be, or the businessman / career woman they may also be. Just human, simple and pure. Therefore this highly valued state is located in the highest point within the house.