Before moving to this new site, Sonny Sutanto Architects office took place on Sonny Sutanto's house, in a small space on the second and third level, for almost thirteen years. One day, his wife who is also an architect, saw a picture of office with courtyards inside. She said, “Now is the time to move our office to a private land”, and then the design process begun.
There are several tendency to bring the old office ambience to the new one, for example to keep the working space's comfortable scale and memories reuse the old furnitures. Since the new office is four times larger, there are lots of chance to play with material and hobbies, to create a playfull ambience. For example the railing section mimicking Sonny's signature, “THE BOSS” lettering in principal's office, fish ponds and aquariums, and some handmade wall decoration from mozaics. Different kinds of material exploration are used in this office, for example wooden slabs for the staircase, wooden parquette for the working area, cementum panel for the public area, steel structure, transparent glass, coloured fabrics, colorful mozaic composition for the toilet walls, and so on.
The main staircase is covered by diagonal wooden lattice (tora-tora wood from Indonesia) to create private ambience inside the dining and working area, so it can't be seen from the entrance or circulation. It is surrounded by more than one thousand handmade terracota panel as focal point of this circulation space. The aesthetic elements works well with the programming, they helps define spaces and create warm ambience, also works well with the practicality, for example the use of pivot doors and wooden panel to cover storages. Programmatically, the new office massing is quite simple, there are three masses which geometry follow the site's trapezoidal shape, with the space in between as transition. In those rigid office programs, Sonny create sequence, start from creating a feel of entering the building, controlling perspectives through the corridor which shows the back courtyard, and controlling the geometry of defined spaces which accomodate certain activities.
The spaces are oriented to the back courtyard, with a strong geometrical wall to avoid unwanted view of neighbour’s wall. The first floor is used as public area for guests and employees. First floor contains parking area, fish pond, receptionist area, meeting room, material sample area, model making workshop, dining area, pantry, and a courtyard.
The courtyard can be used for public lecture which occasionally held here. The first floor is open to the back courtyard and side entrance, to create natural air circulation flow. The second floor is used as private working area for architects and principal, with administration room, a gallery, a library, and a fish pond as the supporting programs.
The programs are placed surrounding the main stairs to create continuity, with high ceiling and transparent wall to articulate the transition area. The third floor is also used as private working area for drafter and intership, with toilets and janitor as the supporting program. The transition space between them is an open air space, with view to the public park in front of the office. Meanwhile, the third and fourth floor in the back of the building is mainly used for service area. The circulation of the office area and service area is separated.
