February 04, 2015

KOPLAN CONSULTING

Most people who live and visit Bali are interested in the many styles of homes that have sprung up all over the island. From the individual contemporary stylish home, smaller modern villas that are part of a complex, traditional Balinese style houses to the old wooden Joglo houses of Java.
They all have their place and are called home to the vast numbers of expats that now reside here.
With the onset of another year you may be considering building your own dream home, a home to lease or a renovation.
Following is the story of a European architect who has just about finished building his family home.
Let’s take a step by step approach of a very interesting house, that outlines a number of important points for consideration

After ten years in Paris as an independent architect specializing in renovation including apartments, offices, shops, restaurants & new projects, Diego Plat with his young family moved to Indonesia to experience life in a very different part of the world and to further career opportunities.

With extensive involvement of family property investments his experience convinced him that there was relevance in his approach to architecture in Indonesia. “I believe I can bring to my Indonesian and international partners – rigor, methodology, expertise as well as an aesthetic French style” he says.

Firstly, he set up his company PT Koplan (Building Consultants) and gathered together some like minded people, both local & western for various work projects. His first hand experience working in Bali proved challenging & immense, apart from work projects and living in various homes, he decided it was time to embark on designing & building his own family home.

Over a period of several months, in preparation for the development, he initially recruited two Indonesian Architects.
As Diego says “ the most important aspect is to build a team around your project with Topographers, Engineers, Quantity Surveyors, Mechanical & Plumbing consultants as partners”.

PT Koplan has grown their business to provide you with a one-stop solution for Project Management for your project, on time and on budget….

Following is how Diego a clever architect has outlined his own project, keeping to his goal of taking a sustainable approach, energy efficient, with reduced maintenance. And to lead the project while controlling the costs with the envitable delays, without compromising on a contemporary elegance for classic architecture.

The three challenges of this house were:

1/ Design a family house in Bali (Bajawan House) for a resident expat family, a home that can be fully enclosed, all rooms & living space has AC. And, where kids can appreciate living in a home with less maintenance.
a/ used solid materials such as, granite marble, concrete and woods, all polished, easy to clean.
b/ a lot of cabinets, everything has its place, the main idea is to operate with less staff (and more privacy) giving kids self sufficiency to put away and cook themselves.

2/ To reduce energy consumption, increase comfort
a/ all external walls insulated with stereo foam covered by gypsum sheets on the inner side.
b/ above ceiling & at bottom of the attic, use stereo foam layer.
c/ using the attic as an hot air buffer, where cool & moistened air is mechanically pumped from the bathrooms/toilet & sent to the
attic. This hot air is released within the attic, then to the atmosphere thru polymer mesh from the top of the roof.
d/ all rooms have Inverter technology, reduces the electric consumption of the AC unit, that will allow some AC during the hot & rainy season without increasing electricity consumption.
e/ 90% of the 45 square meter glass is double glass with vacuumed space in-between for a tropical environment.
f/ the roof & first floor surroundings outside the corridor has 140cm or more overhang which will produce shade on external walls (a Colonial strategy for cooling tropical houses) the walls that accumulated heat during the day release heat at night.
g/ windows can be left open in the upper part of the house to exhale hot air from each room & participate in the cooling.
h/ exposed quality bricks are a natural moisture regulator, are more efficient than concrete block for insulation & completely recyclable.
i/ 25 metric tons of top Indonesian steel are used for the structure & 100% recyclable.
f/ keep the pool water cool, a section of the pool at 240cm depth
g/ dishwasher to reduce water
h/ passive solar water heater for free hot water

3/ Built on leased land this house has the capacity to be dismantled & re-installed elsewhere at the end of contract.
a/ safety; steel was chosen for its strength & flexibility, in an earthquake area if steel is assembled with nuts & bolts it’s a solution that is stronger & more flexible than reinforced concrete.
b/ except for the concrete bathrooms floors on the first floor, all bedrooms floors are wood floors (parquet plus wooden beams) that are isolated with the bottom part by a gypsum sheet which will decrease fire issues. These wood floors are directly connected to the metal structure. The big plus is to decrease weight on the upper storey to provide less damage during an earthquake.
c/ this is not a house that can be dismantled & re-built easily, however, if you take apart the brick walls (that become soil again) it can be dismounted without difficulty & re-built elsewhere.

Considering the tropical elements, soaring facility & maintenance costs in Bali it makes sense to speak with an experienced professional for your forthcoming project.

Diego KLAT Architect
DPLG (DPLG = an Architect, graduated by the French Government)
Founder & co-owner

// KOPLAN CONSULTING
T: +62 811 3922 101 E: info@koplanconsulting.com W: www.koplanconsulting.com

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