Modern Jakarta is disorienting and alienating. Residents and migrants alike find themselves disconnected from this city, lost in its aggressive development and confused urban fabric. The threat of disasters such as flooding, as well as economic uncertainty due to international instability has undoubtedly made life more expensive, more stressed and more overworked than ever. Consequently, housing is less affordable. It is also prone to climate-caused damage and thus less durable. another strain on people’s budget, but also their mental and physical health.

How, then, does one respond to this?

Social housing has the capacity to be a guarantor of this fundamental human right – that of shelter. It too is a humane and morally-driven structure: it ought directly address the immediate needs and concerns of its inhabitants, dignifying them and empowering interpersonal relationships consequently. Affordable, culturally responsive and sustainable architecture is the key.

serajah kita is a vision of a romanticised, past Jakarta: one of forums and rainforests, grand public meetings and private locales. This fusion of the strategies of vernacular Javanese architecture with the programs of contemporary indekos seeks to create an oasis in the heart of Tanah Abang, a tear in spacetime where individuals and families can retreat into and find respite.

In designing ambiguous spaces which both reference and obscure Javanese culture, inhabitants are inspired to recollect personal and collective histories, thus formenting the creation of place, and therefore, urban orientation. This reclamation of identity accompanies a regeneration of rainforest within the perimeters of serajah kita, restoring an aspect of landscape adored and appreciated by Indonesians past and present.