Bittersweet Memories in Design Experience | 07. Achmad Noerzaman

At the beginning of the discussion session, Achmad Noerzaman discussed the history of the establishment of PT. Arkonin, where it was where he became a commissioner in it. He told, about the initial intention of establishing PT. Pembangunan Jaya which is the forerunner of the establishment of PT. Arkonin is to help the DKI Jakarta government in development without using state money because of the economy at that time which makes development itself rarely done. He also explained the vision and mission of his office, according to him sometimes we can find where architecture is actually a problem for the environment. So from the vision and mission, it is expected that PT. Arkonin besides being able to innovate but also provide solutions to the influencers.

According to him, the architect must also have innovation because there are other functions that can support the main function. As an example of the construction of a stadium for the Olympics, there are some countries that lose because of the Olympics and have to renovate the stadium to spend a lot of money and maintenance, because according to him the burden of the Olympic administration is how the stadium can support after the Olympics are finished. Some buildings that innovate like in Sydney Aquatic that are intended for Olympics are made side by side with recreational pools, where when there is no Olympics the community can use recreational pools so that they can still bear the costs of maintenance. There is also in Seoul, the lower part of the stadium was converted into a mall, so this did not make the stadium die so it was still crowded. Innovation like this is what makes us aware that not all good works are successful in reality so that they are not in accordance with what was planned.

When starting a discussion about the project, he said there were several projects such as banks and offices that had their own identities that needed to exist so that people could recognize the building. And indeed there are also some offices that want the building to be a future heritage from what is now. For example, the plantation office project in Jambi, the client wants the same building as the Jambi traditional house. But he said if the building was made the same as it already was, there would be no reference to the new office building. But he still applied the elements of the Jambi traditional house to the building but in modern expressions. This is what makes the client’s view different that the office building there can look good in another form.

In the middle of the discussion, he said that he observed many developers where they should be developers who build for the community not only for themselves. Until the end of the discussion, he explained several other projects from his office starting in Jakarta, Bandung, to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which is a hajj hostel there because of barren land and made a green city park. At the end of the discussion, there was a question from one of the respondents who asked the question: “To what extent are the different designs made with the final execution results?”. He said that the difference was up to 20-30% or more on special projects and for the most similarities between design and image according to him only during the competition.