An environmentally friendly past

The Jakarta Post

Oil prices have escalated dramatically in the last few months and some people harbor concerns this will lead to the next energy crisis in the very near future.

And building and construction operations account for 40 percent of energy consumption and is responsible for 33 percent of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.

But this sector will suffer from the impact of the crisis -- in addition to the effects the industry will see from global warming.

Architects and engineers are at the frontline of the building, construction and operation industry and are responsible for making buildings more energy efficient.

In some countries in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, there have been growing efforts to promote environmentally friendly building practices -- popularly known as green building.

One focus is to reduce energy loads by optimizing heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Internationally, there are growing numbers of new building designs that comply with this effort.

New fa‡ade designs are today equipped with shading devices in order to reduce interior heat from direct sunlight.

In Jakarta's past, a growing interest in design driven by efforts to minimize energy load or to reduce the need for air conditioning (AC) is evident in some buildings on the main street of Jakarta.

Cheap energy costs and our dependency on AC units have provided shortcuts to achieve interior thermal comfort.

Glass cladding technology has preceded design exploration in solar shading devices.

Images shown here include traces of past efforts made toward energy efficiency.

All of them are interesting patterns, characterized by modern tropical building facade designs.

These familiar patterns have a significant role in cooling the building's outer skin layer and contribute to lowering the energy load for air conditioning needs.

The first and second images show stainless steel patterns from the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta.

Built in the 60s, the design still looks contemporary.

Designed by the late F. Silaban, the mosque shows early efforts in contextualizing modern buildings with a tropical climate.

Silaban also was responsible for the fa‡ade design of the Bank Indonesia Building on Jl. MH Thamrin, shown here in images 3 and 4.

Both building's fa‡ades represent the movement toward environmental concern in Indonesian architecture.

Not too far from the Bank Indonesia building, lies the dusty and old United Nation Building, shown in images 5 and 6.

They comprise cellular louvers designed with a slanted profile.

These cells enclose the entire building and provide the impression of one single object.

Similarly, the S. Widjojo Center building on Jl. Jend. Sudirman employs deeper shading devices for the fa‡ade skin.

The envelope's design created a more distinct and unique look compared to other adjacent buildings.

The functional pattern produced an elegant image and helped save the environment.

These buildings show us past efforts made to create energy efficient building designs and they become more and more relevant with today's environment crisis and escalating energy costs.

It is time for us to rethink and to learn from the past.

Zenin Adrian can be reached at zenin.adrian@zadl.net