When Form Follows Beauty

RT+Q’s reclusive Pakubuwono House in Jakarta manifests beauty in polar opposites: the simple and the extravagant, the private and the public, the functional and the impractical

- M. P. Hobayan

Hard to Mies

It’s not hard to single out what makes Pakubuwono House special from its next-door neighbors along the tree-lined Jakarta street where it sits. Its razor-sharp rectilinear form, clad in somber grays and steel tones stands out amidst its Mediterranean villa-inspired companions. While seemingly cold and doubly reclusive with its no-nonsense steel slat fence, there is something attractive about how this light gray Miesian box contrasts with everything around it, in color, shape, and material.

Upon entry, the team comes face-to-face with a long and narrow double-height foyer. The cool whiteness of the facing walls is contrasted by the rust-red hues of a Corten steel feature wall, which holds aloft a cantilevered wood volume above the inky currents of black marble floors. The floor-to-ceiling glass façade that greeted us outside is shielded by a perforated metal curtain halfway up, breaking down the midday light into thousands of tiny dots. The space functions as the reception area to the office volume we just entered, the actual residence buried deep within the lot.

There is not much in the way of furnishing and décor in this space. An abstracted floral painting serves as the room’s lone burst of color. One arrives at the feeling that despite the simplicity, heavy curation was hard at work. I notice a pair of matching seats situated at opposite ends of the office space, their arched forms complementing the dark, ribbon-like wood staircase that slithers gracefully up to the second floor. The chairs at the opposite end, meanwhile, soften the severe corners and angles where they are situated, their lithe, taut forms sculpturelike as they reflect on the pool outside.