The Studio; the architecture of harmony

A unique cross-cultural collaboration, Villa Laras and the two Studios were designed and built by a team of creative people and talented craftsmen.

The architecture is a mix of Javanese vernacular and contemporary sustainable design. The concept was developed by the owners, Mark and Sopan, with Lombok-Balinese architect, Rani. Detailed design then followed, with technical expertise supplied by Rani from Lombok and Tarno, from Java. Pak Tarno is an expert on antique Javanese architecture and furniture from Yogyakarta in Java. Rani’s Lombok-Balinese husband, Agus, managed the construction in close consultation with Mark. Mark’s Javanese wife and co-owner of the Studio, Sopan, was closely involved throughout.

As described in another blog article on this website, sustainable design principles were adopted on many levels. Much of the beauty of the buildings is in the use of old recycled teak. The original panels came from old demolished buildings in central Java. Some were carved by contemporary craftsmen out of old, recycled teak.

‘The new pieces were made to match the old,’ explains Mark. ‘This is a living tradition. It is quite possible that today’s wood carvers are the descendants of the original craftsmen; the men who carved the old pieces a hundred years ago.’

Studio One is a complete joglo, reconstructed from near the famous Prambanan Temple in Yogyakarta. Some of the panels were shipped to Lombok where they were stored, while others were kept in Yogya. The rustic old joglo has a new lease of life now, transformed into a beautiful model villa.

The Studio was built in 2009. Mark reminisces about the design stage. ‘We wanted to design and build a family home and a retreat in the hills,’ he explains. We planned to use recycled limasan materials from Yogya, a reconstructed joglo studio to serve as a guest house and a third, smaller house for Sopan’s family.’ We also needed staff quarters, parking space, a swimming pool, a pond, natural landscaping and garden, and space for exercise and small sports.

The design adopts sustainable housing principles; environmentally sustainable, economically sustainable, and sustainable in social and cultural terms. In sympathy with Sopan’s background the owners wanted to recreate a Javanese vernacular; rustic, village-style and at the same time modern and bright. Finally, they wanted green landscaping, a mix of productive and decorative planting that preserves existing trees – and creates a strong link between the built and the natural environments.

These design ideas were garnered from afar; over a long, long time – at least since the time Mark and Sopan started acquiring the joglo and limasan materials in Yogyakarta, around 1999. Probably much earlier. Mark and Sopan studied glossy coffee table books with titles like Java Style, Island Style and Bali Style, and read up on sustainable architecture and traditional Indonesian constructions. The couple visited boutique hotels, contemporary villas, and colonial mansions; Balinese hill resorts, Javanese palaces and village cottages; always observing, always taking photographs and sketching out progressively more meaningful concepts.

They visited floating villages and Bugis stilt homes in Sulawesi, fret-worked Malay bungalows in Aceh and North Sumatra, mossy Javanese compounds in Yogyakarta and Solo, rows of ornate high-roofed houses and rice barns in the mountains of Tana Toraja and Lake Toba, thatched villages in Lombok, Flores and Timor, timber mosques, shingled hovels, mansions and longhouses in Kalimantan, colonial pubs and Chinese temples in Singapore, planters’ bungalows in the highlands of Java and Malaysia, teak palaces, gold-clad Buddhist temples and peaked Thai homes in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. French villas and monasteries in Laos. Long days and late nights spent in conversation, exploring ideas, mapping out thoughts.

The Studio was constructed over an 18-month period in 2008-2009. The foundations and deep underground water storage tanks were built first, followed by flooring, interior walls and framing for the second story. A team of local Sasak builders and tradesmen did the work. Then came the Javanese carpenters with the teak from Yogyakarta.

‘The crunch-time time came when Tarno’s team of ten Javanese carpenters arrived in Lombok with two large truck-loads of pre-carved teak panels, pillars, doors, flooring, beams and other elements of the building. Knowing how things can go wrong, I really wondered if it would all fit together as planned!’ laughed Mark.

But it fitted together beautifully. And the crews from two islands worked together like a family. The Javanese crew stayed on site for three months, working alongside local Sasak tradesmen and labourers.

The result is an extraordinary combination of Balinese ingenuity and aesthetics, Sasak building patterns, traditional Javanese design and detail – including many antique carved sections – and Mark’s Australian sensibility and contemporary environmental ethic.

‘It is a place of beauty,’ says Mark. ‘A work of art, a living work of art…’

See our other Articles

The Studio; a writers’ residence in Lombok

Studio owner, Mark’s book, Crazy Little Heaven, offers readers an affectionate insight into Indonesia and its diverse culture… Heyward’s prose is evocative… Crazy Little Heaven is a welcome addition to studies of Indonesian culture. The book is also a testament to Heyward’s skills as a wordsmith.

His later coffee table book, Looking for Borneo, is a celebration of the island of Borneo, its environment and its people. At the same time, it is a call to action, a plea to save this special place from the ravages of development. A collection of writings, drawings, photographs and music, inspired by Kalimantan and Mark Heyward’s acclaimed book, Crazy Little Heaven, an Indonesian Journey, this new volume is a unique artistic collaboration and a fine contribution to the body of Indonesian travel literature. Khan Wilson’s quirky and memorable artworks complement the narrative in the same way that a fiery sambal complements a dish of fried rice, adding a splash of colour, a little spice and a sense of fun.

The Glass Islands

The Glass Islands, a year in Lombok, is published by Monsoon Books, a UK-Singapore-based publishing house. Released in September 2023, this is Mark’s second book about Indonesia. Mark is one of the owners of The Studio – and the book is all about how he and his wife, Ibu Sopan, developed the Hill and designed and built the Studio!

The book was presented at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in October 2023, and launched at community events in Senggigi on November 3^rd and in Hobart on December 14^th. It was exactly ten years after the launch of Mark’s first book, Crazy Little Heaven, an Indonesian journey, which was described by veteran Australian journalist, Tim Bowden, as “the best book on Indonesia I have read.”

The Studio; the architecture of harmony

See our other Articles

The Studio; a writers’ residence in Lombok

The Glass Islands

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