Karen Raharja

This project proposes a different way of thinking and a solution to the flood disaster in Jakarta. It uses amphibious architecture to give people hope and opportunity to gain their livelihoods back while staying connected to their home and community without the risk of being forcefully evicted by the government. This experimental project combines both reality and speculative elements that promotes the potential success of this project in tackling the issue of inadequate housing in lower income communities that has been affected greatly by the floods.

All together, the structure is built together with the locals without any heavy duty equipment, using affordable local materials such as mud clay, timber plywood, Bamboo and a reusable water tank that the people here are already familiar with. If anything happens in the future, they can easily get these materials to patch up their structures themselves without the need for professionals to come and help. The bamboo stick walls can be spaced out depending on how many lights you want to bring into the room and how much privacy they need in certain places such as the bathrooms and bedrooms where it is more private.

House Flotation system.

Mounted furniture that is connected to electricity and water pipes will be built for the people, but loose furniture such as beds, chairs and tables are left to individual preferences after the holistic house construction is complete.

As time passes, each house will have their own style of interiors depending on their individuality. Walls might be painted in different colors and interior walls can be added to divide and provide more spaces inside.
Significant objects and furniture are an important element to make a house feel like a home. Though “H²ome” provides these people with a brand new house, their previous belongings can give them back a sense of comfort and familiarity of their old home into this new space.

This amphibious structure has introduced a new way of thinking. pushing the boundaries of interior architecture to fit the needs for the vulnerable people in Jakarta. This speculative project will hopefully change the narrative of flooding perceived as a disaster into something that is treated just like a normal occurrence produced by forces of nature.