* DESIGN OF
THE YEAR 2023

The park in Tebet existed for decades prior to this project. Had you visited it before and how did your team become involved in its revitalisation?

Anton Siura (AS): Our involvement started after we won a competition organised by the Jakarta government in 2019 to revitalise the city’s Rangunan Bio Park. We were subsequently recommended to carry out a similar project for the park in Tebet. That was when I visited it for the first time. Its water canals were polluted and there was even a garbage collection corner piling up with rubbish. But at the same time, I was so impressed by the park’s beautiful and mature trees. It was also prominently located between a residential area and a commercial street, and many people were using the park even though it was not ideal. These things convinced me that the park had a lot of potential to unlock through a design transformation.

Beyond simply upgrading an ageing park, your team sought to transform it into one that “promotes climate resilience and returns natural resources to the city and its people”. Why was this important?

AS: We believe that it is crucial to consider the long-term impact of any project that we take on. In the case of this ageing park, merely upgrading it would have brought about short-term benefits but failed to address its sustainability and resilience for future generations of park users.

Prior to the revitalisation, the park was prone to flooding for hours after it rained, which damaged the existing natural resources and infrastructure. We wanted to showcase how an ecological design approach could create a more resilient park that adapts to climate change. While we have carried this out in our park projects in Singapore, it is new in Jakarta. I was eager to lend my expertise to create a prototype. We wanted to create a space that would benefit the community, support local wildlife, and become an ecological asset.

In these ways, the park could help the people of Jakarta reconnect with nature. As their city is full of concrete and is known for traffic jams, our park could offer the people a healthier environment, especially for those who work and live around it.

A key feature of the project was the re-naturalisation of an existing canal that runs through the park. As this was one of the first such projects in Jakarta, what challenges did your team face?

AS: One of the biggest challenges was a lack of established guidelines or best practices to follow. We had to use our projects completed in Singapore to convince the local consultants and government departments that this was a tried and tested solution that can work for Jakarta too. We thought it would be difficult for the locals to re-naturalise a river for the first time, but it went quite smoothly because many of the construction workers come from villages in Indonesia. They may not know how to read our technical drawings, but they are familiar with these ways of working with nature.

Another challenge was that I could not travel to Jakarta to supervise the project due to the pandemic. But I did video calls to demonstrate how things should be done and had a local consultant to translate the designs to the workers. It was our first time supervising a project over video.

Tell us more about how the park is designed for people as well as nature. How have people responded to this new kind of park in Jakarta?

AS: We made sure the park incorporated design elements that would benefit not just the community but also nature. For example, we constructed wetlands and planted specific vegetation to filter the incoming polluted grey water and provide habitats for flora and fauna. Visitors to the park can now see fish, frogs, and birds. In addition, we designed a path that loops around the park so visitors can interact with nature while they exercise. They can experience nine different zones, including gardens, lawns, wetlands, and forests. The park design thus balances human needs and the environment, while also contributing to the health and wellbeing of both.

Based on our research into parks in Jakarta, Tebet Eco Park is unique because many of such existing spaces in the city do not offer a recreational space within a natural setting. They are mostly gardens with no wildlife or concrete plazas with monuments. But the pandemic showed how people want more spaces with natural features. This is why the park has become very popular. I’ve visited it multiple times since its opening and have seen many happy faces. Many visitors also post on social media to invite others to visit the park. It has created a strong sense of belonging, not only among the Tebet community but also the rest of Jakarta.

Not withstanding the pandemic, the project was completed in just 15 months. This is extremely fast given its scale and complexity. How did your team pull it off?

AS: When I was informed that the project needed to be completed in a year, I was pessimistic about whether it could be achieved. In Singapore, such projects usually take 18 to 24 months, and that is already considered very fast. But we eventually finished it in 15 months because of effective project management and everyone’s commitment to making the project work.

Our very dedicated multidisciplinary team helped to identify the risks and issues from the concept design stage to its construction. As designers, we worked very hard to ensure our drawings were clear to avoid any unnecessary clarifications. During the construction phase, we worked with the local contractors to make necessary design changes without affecting the timeline. What was also key was the immense trust the client and local consultants had in us. This gave us freedom to execute the design and it sped up the approval process. Everyone was committed to our design vision because they had seen how well such parks had been done in Singapore.