Akmani Botique Hotel

Architects: TWS & Partners
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
Principal in charge: Tonny W Suriadjaja
Project team: Arianto, Budi Setiawan, Grace Dian, Gery, Misbah
Structural engineers: Purwa
Interior design: TWS & Partners
Lighting design: TWS & Partners
Landscape design: TWS & Partners
Main civil contractor: KMY
Main interior contractor: BMKK
Site area: 1,500 sqm
Constructed area: 10,000 sqm
Design year: 2007
Construction year: 2008-2009
Photographs: Fernando Gomulya

The Location and Client’s Brief

The project is briefed as a boutique – business hotel located in a main busy road in central of Jakarta, which called Wahid Hasyim street.
Mainly known as a tourism and leisure, commercial stripe, this area contain many of street side coffee shops and small hotels, which cater many local or foreigner tourist.
The area surrounding is allocated for the commercial usage which result in a high building floor ratio, because it have a direct access to the central business district of Jakarta, called Thamrin area.

The site itself is relatively small parcel of land, for commercial usage, which around 1500 square meter. Sandwiched between two commercial usage, a Spain embassy and office building, the site is can be seen and approached easily from Thamrin area.
Taken this commercial consideration, our client want to build a custom – self operated business hotel, which have a vision to deliver an unique and customize product to the market.
In order to deliver the best product to win over the market between surrounding competitor, the client held informal competition by end of 2007 to look for concept that suit for the project.

We succeed to convince client and got the project after few months process of presentation.

The Architectural Concept

The lobby and terrace – café as a main welcoming space, put in front of the hotel program and was elevated three meter above the ground, to provide unobstructed view from and to surrounding area.
This strategy will generate and animate the public activity to the building façade, which taken from architectural typology of street side coffee shop or restaurant.
The massing was break into several ‘floating’ boxes, which is a strategy to communicate with the surrounding building scale and road width.

front elevation

The first ‘horizontal – floating box’ was put above the clear glass – skin, transparent, main lobby and café area, to accommodate all type of meeting rooms.
The ‘second vertical’ box, which accommodate the double corridor, 116 bedroom units, was ‘floating above the first ‘horizontal – box, leaving an outdoor space for leisure activity.
This outdoor space give a different and unique tropical – outdoor atmosphere for swimming pool and bar – lounge area.
This ‘void’, outdoor space “suspend” the tower, and break the whole scale as a strategy to communicate sympathetically with the building scale, surrounding.

The tower was seen, ‘figuratively’, as a business – suite with pin-stripe pattern.
This theme was generate, mainly as a glass – skin and window pattern.
The glass was made from three different kind of color and assembled with curtain wall structural system.
The tower building skin also take shape with pointed, slightly angled and folded to reflect the dynamic yet formal look of the business hotel architecture typology.

The Interior Concept

The lobby as a main welcoming space, fluid with the coffee shop and lounge as part of the space and ending with double high ‘small’ ballroom to accommodate 200 dining pax.
The color and material was chosen from earth and natural palette, to give a warm, cozy and yet formal atmosphere for guest experience.
Collage between burnt – natural stain wooden finish, with grey – stripe texture paper – back wallpaper and self illuminated banana paper – glass sandwich, give a sedate color and feel for guest to have their informal or formal activity.