TEGAL TANGGUNG
SYNOPSIS: Not really a blog, but a response to special requests by Aviva, Ann and others following up on our guesthouse in Yogyakarta.
Ever since I had set foot into the Tegal Panggung Guesthouse at Yogyakarta, I had been walking around noticing all kinds of clever functional details such as alcoves, floating tables anchored in the walls, projecting boards, trellises that shielded from the sun, etc. There was an overall brilliance of design that to me pointed unfailingly to Japanese influence: the juxtaposition of materials, the reuse of older materials, the ingenious use of small spaces, the angles, etc. I think I mentioned this in my blog when I arrived. This was great architecture and somebody had put a lot of thought into it.
When we got ready to leave, I thanked the young, pregnant receptionist profusely for her hospitality and told her how much I loved the general feng-shui of the place. I wondered if she knew who the architect was. The owner, she replied, pointing to an elderly woman sitting right there at the lobby. What a coincidence!
It turns out the owner and her husband are an architecture team; he, an accomplished architect of national renown who for example, designed the new airport in Bali which I will soon travel to. He considers this guesthouse his master piece. She was very pleased that I had noticed. And I felt very honored to have had this chance meeting.
It is very hard to do this justice in my photos as everything is so compact and the genius is in the details. But it's worth a try.
