Story by Barbara Hahijary | Photos by Indra Koesnady and Parama Dharma Doc
As he wished to live happily with his wife at home, a man in his senior years relied on Parama Dharma to design and built a new home for him. Like in the previous three houses the company built for his family, he is satisfied with the new constructions result.
In planning to have his fourth house, this man once again chose Parama Dharma, which he felt confident to deliver his dream house. Through the modern architectural design, the company is reliable to create a sense of home, enabling him and his beloved wife to enjoy their golden days happily.
The two-storey house was completed three years ago, with Dion Sundojo as the lead designer. And Damar Interior, a subsidiary of Parama Dharma, was in charge of handling the interior. Dion says that listening to what the client needed most is very important to make the home unique and best suited to the home owner. “The kind of luxury we offer is not a bling, but personalized spaces that are crafted specially for each individual,” he says. Forty years of experience in designing home has given his team valuable lessons, enabling them to understand on how to satisfy the need of the client. “We ensure that all room divisions have appropriate openings and that the scales are designed to fit the spaces. This approach has been successfully applied to various projects and has resulted in high levels of satisfaction from various homeowners,” he says.
In designing this house, the first primary focus was given to the main area in the first floor, where the couple performs their daily activities. Entering the house, we can find a spacious foyer that connects the home’s entrance with rest of the interior, including a living room, master bedroom, dining room, pantry and kitchen. In the center of the house, there is the living room with a high ceiling. One side of the living room is designed with an intricate marble backdrop accent, creating a sense of spaciousness. The master bedroom is located on a corner of the living room, allowing the couple to enjoy a quiet and peaceful rest of the day. All of these rooms face the backyard at the southeast part of the property, hence allowing for sun exposure. Nevertheless, four sides of the house are kept open at least for 1.5 metre from the outer wall to enable air circulation, daylight and easy maintenance.
Second skin is put on the building front façade to reduce direct sunlight since the house is facing west. The vertical profile kayu ulin (iron wood) arrangement gives monumental impression and the interior a unique shade from the sun as part of the space experience.
Interior-wise, immersive living spaces are highly accentuated while keeping them easy on the eyes. White marble finishes in shades of grey and walnut are incorporated to complement the earth tones on the façade, creating a subtle look. Caroline Widjaja, who leads the Damar Interior team, says that the challenge is how to bring the home owner enjoyment while keeping the spaces neat to minimize the need for maintenance as they requested.
Aware that everything has to be pretty but within reach to make the home safer and more comfortable for the couple, the wardrobe, for instance, is open and functional and the pantry shelves are set not too high, Caroline says. She further explains that she added some surprises such as bold color selection in private spaces like the master bathroom.
The second floor, designed for the couple’s grandchildren, has two bedrooms facing the backyard. In the middle of the two bedrooms, there is a living space with a void allowing the occupants to view the main living room downstair.
The ground space, which initially designed for the couple to play ping-pong or other kinds of indoor sports, also serves as their grandchildren playground, where they frequently bike around. The home owner had thought thoroughly on how they could enjoy every bit of the space in this house.
When it comes to maintenance, the senior friendly home is best suited to the couple because they can look after it at ease. At times, the owner spends his time gardening. But above all, he has found true happiness with his loved ones at home.