The third day of field school had us working vigorously for the first time since we gathered here at Ndalem Pengulon. The twenty-five participants selected their choice of topic from the suggested ones – Infill development; Adaptive-reuse; and Landscape and divided themselves into three different groups. The task for each group is to come up with a schematic design proposal and conservation and design guidelines according to their selected site in Kauman.
The first team, also called by us as the “Infill” team, decided to work on a site where until last year stood a historic house that was sold to “outsiders” after the death of its last owner. They completely demolished the house only last year. The second team which is the “Adaptive” team proposed to repurpose the historic Nadalem Pengulon (site of our field school venue). The “Landscape” team chose the site of the tomb of Nyai Dahlan, a national figure in Indonesia and the wife of Kyai Haji Ahmad Dahlan.
Though each team consists of members of three different architectural schools, one might assume that our different ways of approaching the subject matter might become a barrier for communication and teamwork. However, it was very clear to us today that by having an open mind and thirst for knowledge, we were able to absorb a little something from each of our team members to help us broaden our perspective.
The day ended with an intense design crit session which was also attended by externals. Feedback provided to each group by field school facilitators and externals members proved to be extremely valuable as we were able to grasp a holistic picture of our group works, which is primarily about managing change in Kauman historic area that has a rich and varied cultural heritage. The crit members reminded us that our work is a live-project and we need to be more aware of how our ideas can transformed into real works helping the community of Kauman. Although it was only the first day of actual design, it was more than enough for all of us to work closely among our groups and with the community to manage change that is sustainable.