Bandung Art Deco Indonesia

Bandung is the capital city of West Java, Indonesia. Its roots dated from prehistoric time, when a group of prehistoric people lived on the northern part of an ancient lake. Some thousands' years ago the lake became dry and changed into the present Bandung valley. The city is located on high land surrounded by spectacular hills and mountains, and because of that has a much cooler climate than most of Indonesian cities. The name of Bandung has been known since the fifteenth century as a part of the Hindu Pajajaran kingdom. From 1821 until 1852 the city was closed to the European and Chinese people.

Art Deco

Art Deco is the contemporary Modern Design, Architecture, and a broad spectrum of Decorative Arts. It drew renewed inspiration from ancient arts and primitive arts, and was purified by ideas of the functionalists. In the United States it was known as "Modernism," and in France as "Art Moderne." Some said that it was a reaction to "Art Nouveau," and the other said that it was an extension of "Art Nouveau."

The term "Art Deco" was first used in 1968, in a book written by Bevis Hillier to describe the interrelated art and design movement of the era. Parallel to the movements in the United States were the three main movements in Europe. The first one was started in Austria and Germany, known as "Jogendstil." In contrast to "Art Nouveau," it emphasized the functional design that was based on logic and geometry. The second one was the decorative movement as an extension of "Art Nouveau," that can be identified from the highly colorful and ornamental style which ruled Paris in the immediate post World War years. Instead of maidens and flower sprays, arches, sunbursts, colorful geometric patterns, and floral abstraction themes were introduced. The third movement was the principle of Dutch Modern Decorative Art and Decorative Movement in Architecture, as the peak of the Amsterdam School from 1910 to 1930. It was the Dutch modern expressionist architectural style, a rational architecture which elements were derived from the structure.

The climax of Art Deco came in 1925 with the "Paris Exposition International des Arts Decorative et Industries." It had originally been proposed in 1912 for 1915, in order to inspire the French designers to develop works equal to that produced by their German contemporaries. The designers produced various abstract floral ornamentation's derived from "Art Nouveau."

In Architecture, the 1920's style was characterized by the design of pavilions with zigzagged setbacks, the use of unusual materials, the incorporation of decorative wall paintings, ornamental metalwork's, and decorative glasswork on geometric and floral themes. Many examples of the works from the peak of Amsterdam School era can be seen throughout the Netherlands. Many buildings are of an exceptional quality and have superb details.

Art Deco and the Amsterdam School in Bandung

Just like the influence of Hindu and Buddhist cultures in the 7th century, followed by the Islamic and Chinese cultural influence in 13th century, the Dutch cultural influence can be seen as just another part of other influences from abroad which shaped the Indonesian culture.

After the first World War, there were various movements in design and architecture, two of which were the Amsterdam School and De Stijl. The Amsterdam School stream has often defined as a reaction to the strict rationalism of Berlage in mid 20s. It is described as a non-theoretical and unsystematic in character, the very antithesis of Berlage's concept of communal architecture. It emphasized the individual artistry. It has same concept of decoration and design as Art Deco.

The Amsterdam School was a plastic and organic expressionist architectural movement with reference to Wright, and followed more constructional and functional principles. The Amsterdam School architects designed building masses of craftsmanship in wood, brick, iron, and painted glass. The architectural works were dominated by the undulating organic forms, used rough wrought stones, concrete, and iron. Their new communal housing projects were much more plastic in their accumulation and related fully to their immediate surroundings. The design concept showed the appearance of organic architectural plans. Building structures were not concealed and clearly visible. The decoration was derived from the structure.

There is an eastern cultural influence on the architectonic conception, including the Sundanese roof style. Of the important people in this movement are Van der Mey, De Klerk, Luthman and Kramer, who are among the most admired influence in Indonesia. These architects seem to have design influences on Indonesian architecture.

The city of Bandung architecture of that era was strongly influenced by Dutch design. It is the amalgam of Western and Eastern culture, which is sometimes called the "Indo-European" culture. In the first generation of Bandung Art Deco buildings, the similarity of the modern expressionist design concept of Van der May and Frank Lloyd Wright buildings were seen, for example in the Preanger Hotel designed by C.P. Wolff Schoemaker, with its geometric decorative elements on the exterior walls.

In the second generation of Bandung Art Deco buildings, the volume is the effect of static solidity, and is more accurately of plane and surfaces. The pure architectural symbol is the open box, as well as planes surrounding a volume, a geometrically bounded and weightless space. The villa of Ang Eng Kan designed by F.W. Brinkman in 1930 exhibits this aesthetical quality. In the second half of the period, the architects used more simple design patterns like lines, and the towering cylinder that has a basic design similarity with the Isola design by Wolff Schoemaker in 1931. The dynamic interior space concept is clearly seen in the interior lay-out of the building.

A.F. Albers and the Late Art Deco

Architecture expresses the life of the epoch. The architectural concept of the modernist architect was defined by the aesthetic demand for return to simplicity of form. The play of basic form of masses brought together in light and shade. Some of the buildings designed by Brinkman, like the Singer building in jalan Asia Afrika and the villa Ang Eng Kan in jalan Sangkuriang which were built in 1930, expressed the modern composition of boxes of De Stijl.

The other beautiful basic building form which produces plastic power and aesthetical emotion, instead of the box composition mentioned before, is the cylindrical composition of form as the IKIP building design by C.P. Wolff Schoemaker built in 1928, and located in the northern hills of Bandung.

Decorative Art in the late period of Art Deco was related to the style of the modern dynamic and plastic architecture. It is the "streamline" architecture, and is one of the stylistic references of world modern architectural technology. The lightness of the building structure and the dynamic streamline facade of Homann hotel, Bank Pembangunan Daerah, Three Colour Villa, and the Dago Thee Villa, designed by A.F. Aalbers between 1935 to 1938 are the four examples that we can find in the city.

People sometimes called it the "Ocean Liner" style, its reference to the ship design expressing the goal of a modern society. It is the translation of machines into architectural terms; the expression of motion, modern technology, optimism, and social order.

The Decorative Art and the architectural development shows how the acceptance of the later and best of Western architecture allowed the Dutch influence to be absorbed without destroying the city's long term identity. We should see the cultural mixture as an integral part of a cultural continuity and part of the whole history of Indonesia. The buildings of the period are the treasure of learning, the delight in the work of another era and have to be taken more care of.

References:

Akihary, Huib, "Architectuur en Stedebouw in Indonesie", Grafiplan, Geeuweebrug, 1988.

Duncan, Alistrair, "American Art Deco", Thames and Hudson Ltd., London, 1989.

Hartono, Dibyo (et.al.), "Studi Sejarah Arsitektur Pusat Kota Bandung", Bandung Society for Heritage Conservation, Bandung, 1989.

Miss Atom 2008

Meet Yulia Nagayeva. She's a Russian beauty queen. No, not the winner of the Russian prison pageant I wrote about last week; she's the winner of Miss Atom 2008. The contest was held earlier this month, and Yulia beat out many other stunning women of Russia's extensive nuclear industry. Of course, the U.S. in the past had its own version, Las Vegas' Miss Atom Bomb. What makes Russia's contest particularly unique, however, is that it is only open to workers in Russia's nuclear industry.

Miss Atom works for the TVEL Corporation, which is described on its website as "one of the world leading manufacturers of nuclear fuel." Tvel's fuel is reportedly in every sixth reactor in the world. And they have Yulia working there, too.

The concourse is determined by voters (Yulia got almost 4,000 votes). No word on whether she's going back to nuclear fuel, or has plans for bigger and better things.

Last year, Arms Control Wonk tried to rig the voting (and at least one commenter seemed to think the contest was rigged anyhow).

By the way, Yulia's hobbies include: photography, cooking, studying foreign languages and travel.

Sharon Weinburger, Wired Blog, 18 March.

Let's Be Frank

Though many people have recently woken up to the need to go green, for a few, living in harmony with nature has been a long-held ethos. One such person is Frank Harmon, a North Carolina architect who has been designing sustainably for almost three decades. His projects—mostly in his home state—include churches, arts and educational buildings, and houses that embody the ideals of new regionalism. Harmon hews to the notion that a structure should be specific to its place in terms of materials and its relationships to geography and climate. Raised in North Carolina but educated at London’s influential Architectural Association, Harmon worked for Richard Meier, the New York–based architect known for his impeccably detailed—if somewhat cold—white, glassy buildings. So what made Harmon turn toward his warmer brand of regionalism? He had a couple of very strong influences.

You’re an avid proponent of regionalism. How did you get there?

In my late 30s, I met Harwell Hamilton Harris, who became a very important mentor to me. He was the first modern architect to fuse modern principles with traditional materials like wood and stone and to illustrate a respect for climate and region. His thought was that every building is a portrait. It’s a portrait of the owner, or it’s the story of the site or the particular climate or materials of a region. In other words, he felt that all great architecture started with the particulars of climate or site or materials. The more I thought about that, the more I thought that was entirely true.

Also, as a child growing up, I used to love North Carolina barns and farmhouses; but, going off to school in England, then working in New York, I felt they were rather provincial. Then I moved back to North Carolina and realized the inherent intelligence in those buildings.

I was also influenced by my childhood home. I grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, in a suburban development at the edge of the city where some very forward-thinking planner had created greenways and parks, preserving the streambeds. I grew up playing on the banks of those streams, and I can say now that most of what I know about architecture I credit to playing by those streams. To this day I thank the anonymous architect who planned those pathways.

That doesn’t sound like the stereotypical 1950s alienating suburb.

No, it was built before World War II—sometime around 1920—and consisted of small houses, on small lots, and there were sidewalks. There was a huge change in suburban design in the 1950s. One reason for that was air-conditioning; the other was the bulldozer, which really came into its own after the war.I never use a bulldozer. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a wonderful tool, but unfortunately one of the cheapest things that can be done is to level a site, which destroys vegetation and wildlife and causes polluted runoff to flow right into our rivers and estuary systems. Prior to [its inception] you had to move earth by mule, and prior to air-conditioning you had to have porches for cooling. My grandmothers spent their time sitting on porches.I am sure the storytelling tradition in the South comes from sitting on porches.

How have you woven these kinds of regional traditions, like porches, into your work?

I have just completed a church in historic Charleston, South Carolina. It builds on an existing vernacular of Charleston architecture, a wonderful building type known as a “single house,” because they were only one room deep and always had [a] large porch across the south or southwest side of the house. So for this church, I said, “You need hallways, but why don’t we put them out on porches to reduce the heated area by a third?” So now it is one room deep and cross ventilated. It also has the first green roof in Charleston.

So the church is a kind of modern vernacular?

Yes, but I am not interested in vernacular to be sentimental. I am interested in what it can teach us. All vernacular architecture is sustainable. It is always inherently related to the region. But let me emphasize that regionalism should not be confused with parochialism any more than you would call Faulkner a local Southern writer.

You’ve been building sustainably for decades. Does the current green awareness represent a real shift?

Yes, I think it does. I’ve been doing green stuff for 25 years, and over that time I’ve had to educate my clients, and that has been very difficult. Today they all come to me and want something sustainable. The single biggest impact we have energy-wise is our buildings, not cars, and our clients get that. I think there is general unease about how we treat the world, and people want [to] build in a sustainable way. The pastor at the church in Charleston said that building sustainably is a moral issue. Architecture is arguably the most important issue of the day.

What about suburban development, which carpets so much of the country and seems to be the antithesis of regionalism? Is the message getting though there?

It is, I think. Almost all major builders are talking about how their buildings can be more sustainable. The greatest difference I can hope for is that houses and buildings can respond to places where they are. In our country we have the greatest geographical difference, so why is it that houses in Washington State look the same as buildings in Florida? The most sustainable—and liberating—thing we can do is to acknowledge the places we are in.

Frances Anderton, Dwell, April 2008

Emblems from the Pentagon's Black World

If you're part of a super-secret, clandestine, covert military unit, it seems like you wouldn't want to advertise it.

Turns out, some "black ops" personnel do. They come up with cryptic designs — images like dragons wrapped around the earth or naked women riding killer whales — to put on patches that commemorate their missions. What they mean and the details of the missions are almost impossible to figure out.

Trevor Paglen collects these military black ops patches in a new art and history book, I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed by Me.

For more information visit http://www.paglen.com/tellyou/index.htm

The Bryant Park Project, NPR, January 14, 2008

Florence Broadhurst

To describe the life of Florence Broadhurst as eventful, or highly unusual would be an understatement. It would be more accurate to say that her life was a series of phases, each inhabited by a different persona: singer; dancer; actor; couturier; painter; charity worker and fund raiser; car and truck yard operator, fashionista and finally, wallpaper designer.

Florence Maud Broadhurst was born 28 July 1899 at Mungy Station, near Mount Perry Queensland, Australia. She was musical and had some success as a singer in local musical competitions.In 1922, she left Australia for China and South East Asia where she performed in musical comedy under the stage name ‘Bobby Broadhurst’. She became well known for her singing and Charleston dancing.

In 1926, Florence established the Broadhurst Academy in Shanghai. Here, she offered tuition in ‘violin, pianoforte, voice production, banjolele playing (taught by Florence), modern ballroom dancing, classical dancing, musical culture and journalism’.

Three years later in England, Florence married her first husband Percy Kann, and began a new career as designer-cum-dress consultant for Pellier Ltd, Robes & Modes, in New Bond Street, Mayfair.

With her second husband, Leonard Lloyd Lewis, a diesel engineer, Florence lived out the World War II years in England. In 1949, she returned to Australia with Leonard and their son Robert. It was here that she took up painting, and toured around northern and central Australia.

In 1954, the David Jones art gallery in Sydney, held solo exhibitions of her work. There followed further exhibitions, including group shows, in various galleries. During this time Florence became a founding member of the Art Gallery Society of NSW (1953), and a member of the Society of Interior Designers of Australia (c1954).

Around 1960, Florence established Australian (Hand Printed) Wallpapers Ltd in St Leonards, Sydney. Here Florence, with an initial staff of two, began designing and manufacturing the brilliant, flamboyant wallpapers that were to become her trademark.

The company moved to Paddington in 1969 and changed the name to Florence Broadhurst Wallpapers Pty Ltd. Both Florence and the company flourished. As designs and production techniques developed, the wallpapers found eager buyers in the international marketplace. Meanwhile, Florence became famous for her extravagant clothes and jewellery and vivid red hair.

On 15 October 1977, Florence Broadhurst was brutally murdered at her Paddington premises. The killer has never been identified.

Since her death, Florence Broadhurst’s reputation has been enhanced by a resurgence in popular appreciation of her extraordinary wallpaper designs, re-released by Signature Prints, who hold the licence to reproduce her work.

The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, holds a collection also, with a Broadhurst display currently included in the exhibition, Inspired! Design across time. \

by Anne-Marie Van de Ven, curator, visual communication design and photography, Powerhouse Museum

Merchant of Death Arrested

U.S. officials said today they will seek extradition of an infamous Russian arms dealer known as the "merchant of death" who was lured out of hiding and arrested in Thailand in an intricate sting by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Viktor Bout, a former Soviet air force officer who has multiple aliases, has been hit with numerous international and U.S. financial sanctions for his longtime role as a suspected arms dealer to some of the world's most notorious terrorist and insurgency groups, including al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.U.S. and Thai officials said Bout was arrested in Bangkok on a warrant from the DEA, which alleges that the Russian was about to close a deal to supply as much as $15 million worth of missiles and military assault rifles to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Known by its Spanish initials, FARC, the group is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States.

The deal was part of a sting arranged by the DEA using undercover informants who posed as FARC operatives and convinced Bout to leave the safety of Russia to finalize the transaction, according to a complaint unsealed this afternoon in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. One of Bout's close associates, Andrew Smulian, was also arrested, authorities said.

Bout's odds-defying career as an amoral arms merchant who often supplied both sides in military conflicts has been the subject of lengthy journalistic exposes, a recent book and, loosely, the Hollywood movie "Lord of War," starring Nicolas Cage. He is believed to have at least five passports and to be fluent in six languages, according to media and government reports. He is believed to have been born in Tajikistan in 1967, according to the DEA complaint.

Bout operates a broad network of delivery companies with as many as 50 cargo planes, primarily old Soviet aircraft, that specialized in running supplies to conflict zones. His alleged customers over the years have included al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, former Liberian despot Charles Taylor, Unita rebels in Uganda, the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone, and rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the late 1990s. Cargo companies connected to Bout also were linked to hundreds of supply flights into Iraq for private contractors and the U.S. military early in the Iraq war.

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Bout in 2004 for alleged war profiteering because of his ties to Taylor, and froze the assets of 30 companies and four individuals linked to Bout in 2006. Bout also is accused of violating United Nations arms embargoes.

In an interview with the Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy in 2002, Bout denied many of the allegations, saying he does "aviation lifts. This is my main business." He said he "never supplied anything to or had contacts with the Taliban or al-Qaeda," and did not have multiple passports."It sounds more like a Hollywood blockbuster," he said. "It seems so interesting to find a Russian track in it."

The news agency RIA-Novosti said Russian officials may seek Bout's extradition home if they get to review Thai investigative materials, but Bout could be in the United States before that happens. Interfax, citing an anonymous Russian law enforcement source, said there is no criminal case against Bout in Russia.

by Dan Eggen, Washington Post, 6 March.