Musara Kasimaeru

Proposal for the new office complex on Mentawai. A design for an office building in Mentawai Province that stands out amidst the rainforest, but also in harmony with the forest vegetation and island landscape. The 25,000-square-foot, light-filled, environmentally friendly office building promotes a spirit of co-development and collaboration. Its layout addresses the need for flexible, continuous and safe work environments for the future. It also references Mentawai’s rich natural and cultural heritage and revitalizes the area by contributing positively to the site and its surroundings. The project aims to create an environmentally friendly building. It has a lower carbon footprint but is compact and is also designed to provide a preparation room for evacuation in the event of a tsunami.

The new office complex is located in Mentawai, a new province that is part of Padang. It is a district that combines research, education, leisure and commerce. The design refers to the scale of half-height buildings and takes into account the main features of local architecture, nature and environment. The entrances are articulated and arranged as a pilot entrance on a second level, as a protection against a tsunami and as a concept to reduce intrusion into the site.  The effect is to propose a building with the meta-level of a fence, an element whose function is to separate another activity without separating them. Lobby, porch, new stores, cafes and restaurants will give life to these pedestrian accesses.

The treatment of this office building is not only about creating an iconic and monumental integrated office building, but also a proposal to serve as a catalyst for the preservation and revitalization of the area through the development of a cohesive office building integrated into the overall landscape of the island. This includes the placement of the building mass and the design of the pedestrian and bicycle paths, which are intended to follow the contour lines as part of a series of spatial experiences. The remainder of the office community proposal is a form of limiting sprawl through linear-vertical development and a form of responding to the existing landscape and green spaces through the placement of floating masses and compressed spatial organization to reduce the carbon footprint.

The building is arranged as a continuous ribbon with the central atrium and void, enveloped by a distinctive horizontal façade and interrupted iconic roof structure that highlights the structural grid and gives the building a form that corresponds to its natural environment and symbolic metaphor. The linear and twisted pattern of the building mass is a form of response to the contours of the site. The placement of the time period, which hovers 2 levels above the ground, and the landscaping, which minimizes “cut and fill,” are also a form of preservation of the existing vegetation and ecosystems.

The structure of the main building, perched atop the linear office building, is a metaphor for ships and waves and the mentality of conquering the waves at sea. The columns supporting the main office building are “bubuttak kakoat” oars. The shape of the main building also captures the essence of the traditional “uma” house of “sikerei”, which has a rear elongated shape with a gable roof. The choice of Euclidean geometry with its angles and curvatures also borrows from the cultural philosophy of sharpening teeth to achieve complete balance.

The linear grid pattern on the facade of the office building borrows from the linear pattern of Mentawai headdress and traditional tattooing. Images of stone and plant tattoos are translated into the form of the building through the use of natural materials and hues.

The fluid interior contrasts with the formal exterior of the building. The atrium resolves the height differences between the street and the plaza through a series of stepped terraces that create a spectacular arrival sequence. The open floor plans of the office spaces were chosen to maximize flexibility of use. Open circulation adds to the vibrancy of the interior spaces, with communal, landscaped terraces for informal meetings and break rooms at higher levels as part of a rich and varied whole. Openings in the building are designed to maximize airflow and reduce the use of air conditioning. They are also designed to allow sunlight to enter the building and provide a continuous view of the entire site.

The façade is both structurally and environmentally appealing, offering an integrated solution that provides column-free office space as well as solar shading and maximum interior daylight. The exterior façade benefits from a series of landscaped exterior loggias that are visible from both inside and outside the building.