Company Updates Archives

Reunion With Balinese Culture

13/05/2024

by Wira Sanubari with No Comment Company Updates

We share a common interest in exploring the treasures of Nusantara, embracing its philosophy and adopting a mindful approach to nature.

We are very proud to announce that we have been invited to contribute to the Harvard Business School Reunion that took place at Desa Potato Head in Seminyak at May the 5^th.

Our client, Meccaya, entrusted us to introduce Balinese culture to Harvard alumni during their reunion tour in Bali, alongside our project in Magelang. A joyful exchange of ideas between the two cultures—Chinese and Nusantara—resulted in fruitful insights for everybody.

We share a common interest in exploring the treasures of Nusantara, embracing its philosophy and adopting a mindful approach to nature. For instance, Desa Kala Patra, our foundational principle, which we firmly grasp throughout our design.

Sasta Jelantik, our Director of Operations, took the stage to represent our culture, philosophy, and the spirit of a Balinese. He captured the audience’s attention when he mentioned ‘Karang Awak,’ a philosophy from Ida Pedande Made Sidemen, about enriching our inner selves despite the lack of material possessions.

Afterward, Oryza Irawan took part in explaining our current project with Meccaya, our client. He is currently leading the design team of Padmastana Hotel & Resorts, located in Magelang, Central Java. He represents both SHL Asia and the Meccaya team in inviting Harvard alumni as investors for this cultural project.

Ricky Surya Prakasa, CEO of Meccaya, is most energetic when discussing this project. With his belief that this cultural project will significantly raise awareness of the Nusantara civilization, he successfully persuades the audience to take a closer look and become aware of our advanced ancient civilization, marked by the construction of Borobudur Temple. Together with Ferry Salim, the brand ambassador of Meccaya, they both invite Harvard alumni to take part in this cultural project and preserve the heritage of Nusantara throughout modernity. With his elegance, Ferry Salim successfully attracts the interest of the alumni.

As cultural agents representing our heritage to a foreign audience, SHL Asia is eager to ensure that Harvard alumni depart with a memorable souvenir. For all attendees, we provided our culture book ‘Timeless Harmony,’ complete with personal messages and autographs. SHL Asia and Meccaya believe that this book will leave a lasting impression on Nusantara culture. It serves as a tangible reminder of the essence of our event—a cultural exchange.

Eventually, amidst the ever-faster pace and advancement of technology, we hope that there is still room for Nusantara culture to flourish, preserving heritage and shaping the next generations. This culture is encapsulated within timeless design and harmonized with its surroundings—just like our book embodies, Timeless Harmony.

Here’s to a joyous reunion, bringing together Meccaya and esteemed Harvard alumni! Wishing you all a wonderful and memorable gathering filled with shared experiences and meaningful connections.

Piodalan Ceremony at Workspace and Culture

01/07/2021

by Kairana Gassani with No Comment Company Updates

In Balinese, the word Piodalan means being born or leaving, it is originated from the word wedal. So, this ceremony is a form of yadnya, or a sincere sacrifice to Ida Sang Hyang Widhi which is held on the day the temple is born. That is, every temple will have a day that is commemorated as the time to carry out piodalan. It is celebrated on its birthday according to the Pawukon – the 210 day Balinese calendar.

On June, Workspace and Culture has celebrated its piodalan/odalan ceremony to commemorate the temple’s birthday. Workspace and Culture was established 2 years ago. We had our Melaspas ceremony on the full moon in July 2019 with our friends and families. 2 years later, Workspace and Culture is blessed still with the trust of our clients and partners as well as our creativity in delivering services. We would want to show gratitude for all this blessing we have received whilst asking for future blessing.

Early in the morning, everyone was gathered at Workspace and Culture to start preparing for the ceremony. Various kind of banten (offerings) from fruits, flowers, different kind of snacks and crackers placed in festive container made from janur (palm/coconut leaves) served at the ceremony. These offerings for the deities are placed on a raised platform along with the lamak, a rectangular-shaped hanging decorated in various ways symbolizes a path between heaven and earth. Fragrant sticks of burning incense inserted, and then the offerings are ritually cleansed with holy water.

At exactly 10 o’clock, the Pemangku (Priest) came to the scene and prepared himself. He started chanting on prayer while his left hand rang a small bell. He sprinkled holy water and threw flowers every once in a while with his right hand, blessing the offerings and the place. Not long after, everyone started walking around Workspace and Culture splashing holy water, hitting kul-kul, and wafting essence of incense to fill up the room. The ritual was meant to cleanse the space and give blessing to each room.

*Pemangku* (priest) is ringing his *genta* (bell)

At the end of the ceremony, we all sat down behind the priest and listen to his incantation with our hands clasped above our head. As the chanting continued, each of us was given tirtha to drink and splash over. The rituals in Bali is often a way for human to show gratitude to Gods for the blessing and protection, however, it is also a way for human to show compassion to one another as well as showing a sense of belonging to what is theirs.

Through this ceremony, everyone has shown love to Workspace and Culture while strengthen the bond of one another. After 2 years standing strong full of blessing, we hope that WAC will stay blessed and remain humble. Watch the video below for a glimpse of Piodalan Ceremony of Workspace and Culture.

https://youtu.be/hkBuN-hNqmY

Cheers,

SHL Asia Team

shl asia architecture | landscape | artwork

A Quick Update From SHL Asia

29/05/2020

by Kairana Gassani with No Comment Company Updates

shl asia | landscape | architecture | artwork

It has been almost four months since the first outbreak of covid19 in Indonesia. The government has announced health protocols which resulted for most offices working from home and quarantining in all the states throughout the country and so is Bali. Although things have gotten slowing down for many of us, but SHL Asia team is still on grinding as ever.

The team is working on some of the design-phase projects such as Sanna villa in Ubud, few of our projects in India and the new Adiwana Hotels project. While most of our on-going design phase projects still going, some of them need to put on hold until undetermined time. As much as it is hard to admit, we have to understand the situation. With this pandemic happening, tourism basically has been shut down and so have many hospitality projects. However, with every storm comes a rainbow. We got the chance to reevaluate our company and preparing a grand comeback once the condition is (new) normal.

Set that aside, our construction projects are going according to schedule but of course followed with bunch of adjustments on site. The team have been kept busy following up issues and coordinating with all parties involved. Some of the projects include our collaboration project with Nicolas Schoeybroek for a private villa in Tabanan, a project with Tierra Design Thailand for Andaz Bali Resort and a collaboration project with Yoka Sara Byrdhouse Beachclub in Sanur. We do conduct frequent site visit to these projects for supervision purposes. All activity on site is done carefully following the health regulation due to the outbreak.

Going back to SHL Asia studio, things have slowly gotten back to (new) normal. Our small team has been working in office with strict health protocols such controlled hygiene practice, mask usage and physical distancing. While safety and health of our staff is our top priority, at the same time we are still committed in delivering a high quality products and services for clients. Yes, it is a hard time for all of us but that does not mean we give in to the situation. We are trying our best to keep things going and do our own part to make it better.

Cheers,

SHL Asia team

SHL Asia 2019 Rewind

28/12/2019

by SHL ASIA with One Comment Company Updates

Finally, we are arrived at the end of 2019, another more year before the decade ends. It has been a crazy journey for SHL Asia team. Not only we parted with some of our friends but we introduced with more new friends. We managed to accomplish some things we didn’t do the year before and even achieved unexpected things. Here is the SHL Asia 2019 rewind

We started off this year with few architecture exhibitions, SERASI by IAI Bali and Bali Architecture Week initiated by Popo Danes. We exhibited some of our ongoing projects and shared them with public. Meanwhile, our project in Natuna Island, Jelita Sejuba Resort, began its construction work after we previously flew off and had our first ever site visit to that beautiful island. On March, our collaboration landscape project in Sanur, Hyatt Regency Bali, with Ketut Suratman from Rimba Bali and Tierra Design had finally finished its renovation. The landscape presents the ambience of nostalgic Bali, we could not be more thrilled with the result.

A month later we got another chance to come back to Natuna Island for site inspection, although there were some issues on site there was not anything major and the progress is still going well until now. After months of designing and building, we finally moved to our new office studio, Workspace and Culture in May. It was not 100% done yet but we managed to get things done after some time. We feel really good about and definitely look a lot more representative with WAC. A month later, our office was packed with interns, the most we had in the history of SHL Asia. We had 7 interns, with 3 of them from abroad (Netherland and France). We felt really merry in the first half of 2019.

The second half of this year was even better with our participation in IAI Bali Award 2019 and finally got nominated. One of our projects, Folk Pool & Garden, was then announced to have won the award in restaurant category. This award was meant for all the team not just 1-2 people in the company so we were really proud of it. Not to mention, we got a surprise news on our landscape project in Citadines Hotel Berawa has won Indonesia Property Award and later another winning on Asia property Award. The joy was real and we couldn’t be happier for SHL Asia team as well as our client that has been super cooperative.

We also got the opportunity to be featured in the Yak magazine on their printed and online platform in their September issue. While all that was happening, our projects kept going at the same time. The architecture project in Ubud, Adiwana Jeevalokha, did their Groundbreaking ceremony in October. We are very excited about the project to be completed smoothly. Another our project is Blackpenny Sunset Bar that just recently had their opening night. It is a restaurant and pizza located in Gili Trawangan, Lombok Islands with the view of sunset and white sand beach.

These are just some highlights of 2019 since we could not mention everything one by one. One word is not enough to sum 2019 up for SHL Asia. But to underline is we either made progress or learned something from trials and errors in the past year. No such thing is perfect and we can only try our best to make things happen. As always, we keep on aiming to deliver better service, design and product while creating balance between human and nature. Furthermore, we would like to express highest gratitude to all partners, clients and friends that have been walking by our side. Here is to 2020!

Cheers,

SHL Asia team

Winning the IAI Bali Award: Folk Pool & Garden

22/09/2019

by SHL ASIA with No Comment Company Updates

Kairana Gassani

We are excited to announce that we have won the IAI Bali Award with our project in Ubud, Folk Pool and Garden! Utterly grateful for this award as a lot of amazing fellow architects and figures also contributed their works making this award very prestigious and such an honor for us to have won it.

IAI (Indonesia Architect Association) Bali annually organizes an award for architects, architecture projects in Bali and figures that have contributed their knowledge and skills to develop architectures in Bali. This award aim to give appreciation for the architectural innovation that implements the right ethic, logic and good aesthetic.

This year we submitted few of our projects and one of them, Folk Pool & Gardens, got nominated for tourism accommodation category. We were not sure at first about Folk, since one of the criteria was to implement Balinese architecture principles in to the design. It is also required to follow the building regulation in Bali. While Folk was designed to be very rustic and exposed, it is still as Bali as it can get.

Located right at the heart of Ubud, Folk Pool & Garden is a scaled up restaurant turned into swim up bar and backyard. The bar implements the laid back concept, for the owner wished to present the Ubud ambience. To really bring out the nostalgic nuance of Ubud or Bali in general, a selection of recycled materials was applied in most area of pool and garden from its framework building, interior as well outdoor exterior. All the materials were exclusively picked from the local vicinity such as old tin rood sheets and recycled trellis.

Traditional Balinese buildings seek to be in harmony with the nature and the environment. It is presented on how Folk blend in with the surrounding through its humble concept and the nuance of familiarity. The landscape is also covered with plants, flowers and bushes just like the typical neighbor garden. Other than that, traditional Balinese houses are built almost entirely of organic materials and Folk Pool and Garden applied these natural materials such as thatch roofing, recycled ironwood and different kind of stones.

Through Folk Pool & Garden, we wish for people to see how diverse and dynamic our projects are. They are the realization of our unique ideas with the love of nature’s touch and the clash of culture. We want people to not only enjoy our projects, but also story to tell and memories to remember for a long time. And lastly, this award is dedicated to all the team, the clients and partners that have supported us through this journey. This one’s for you.

Cheers,

SHL Asia Team

Stories of SHL Asia Interns: Unity in Diversity

31/07/2019

by SHL ASIA with No Comment Company Updates

They all come from different cities – some of them from another country. They have different age and speak different language

Introducing: Workspace and Culture

30/11/2018

by SHL ASIA with No Comment Company Updates General

SHL Asia is introducing you the new space to channel creativity and culture. Through Workspace and Culture we want to present people the new side of us. People can find numerous landscapes and architecture consultants in the country, but what distinguishes us with the rest is how we present our brand as a whole. So people will not only recognize us through our landscape and architecture work but also through our platforms where we bring up topics about design, cultures and arts.

It all started with our new office (look forward in the first half of 2019!). This will be one of the representations of the big theme “Workspace and Culture”. The definition of workspace is simply an area which we work in. Nowadays, some people might confuse a workspace as a creative space. It is because the term ‘workspace’ corresponds with a place that supports one to be productive and creative to work. So, why not we just use the term ‘creative space’? Although it is somewhat true, but this could mislead the word ‘work’ into a not-so-good connotative. Some people would think that ‘doing work’ is boring, dull and simply not innovative enough. When in fact being creative, innovative as well as making engagement are parts of ‘doing work.’

In creating our ideal workspace, we will incorporate the element of culture into our studio and work. Culture can be presented in many kind of form, for example a studio with an open display gallery, whether it comprises with local paintings or ethnic artworks. We will present cultural awareness, collaborative talk, trend design as well as a closer look of what SHL Asia really is. Culture awareness is crucial for us in the creative industry, as most of our works are influenced by especially the Balinese culture.

Moreover, we will introduce the new culture in the new workspace. The purpose is to eliminate the bad working cultures, preserve the good ones and add the new working cultures. The culture will not just be any culture, but it will be based on our philosophy, The Campuhan Script as it also applies in our new logo. We will implement the river philosophy as a good work ethic which will give us the positive energy and creative workflow like Campuhan (the point where the two rivers meet) to our new workspace. While the (Balinese) script will be applied as well to our new working culture, which means that the Balinese social life and architecture culture will be inserted into art and design form for the output in our work and studio.

Creating a distinct cultured workspace is a challenge as well as an opening. It is not an easy job but definitely a good opportunity to reintroduce the new means of ‘working’ in the creative industry. With the new culture, we wish to deliver a better service and product as well as raising our brand awareness.

Cheers,

SHL Asia Team

Artwork: The Storyteller

30/10/2018

by SHL ASIA with No Comment Company Updates General

Art As Part of Us

Art has been a part of human culture in some capacity or other since ancient times. It serves as a medium of not only personal self-expression, but also as a way to communicate the artist’s view of reality to other people. Working in the design industry allows us to create our own medium to express our idea. We can convey it not only through architecture and landscape design but also down to the pieces of the artworks. Artwork is an inseparable element in architecture and landscape. Some say it is the soul, others say it is the characteristic of the design as a whole. Artwork communicates the concept, and often the display of artwork more than pleases the eyes, but also touches the heart. Furthermore,not only for aesthetic values but the display of artwork is functioned as many things including for lighting, water fountain and even stepping.

We always incorporate many kind of artworks into our landscape design following each concept. Artwork can be translated into many forms including statues, sculptures, paintings, photography and installment. Depending on the space, 2 dimension artwork like painting and photography often displayed inside the building. While 3 dimension artwork such sculpture and art installation is normally exhibited outdoor as it typically takes up space. We mostly display statue, sculpture or water feature since we have numerous number of landscape project.

The Artwork of SHL Asia

Each project of course, has different concept with its artwork, some of the examples include our Natya project, Tanadewa project and Hyatt project. Following its landscape concept which is incorporating the village’s life of Bali and elevate it to the hospitality level, the artworks in our Natya resort project inspired by the things we often see in the villages. These things could be objects like chicken cages and cow bells or even the village people themselves, as we portrayed them in a relief on a wall along the pathway. The relief tells stories about daily activity in the village like a mother feeding their children or the farmer harvesting his crop.

Our other project, takes on the concept of the gods and goddess from the folk story. As like the name “Tanadewa” from Tana (land) and Dewa (God) which means Land of the Gods, the design of the artworks portrays this concept. We display a relief of the dancing goddess in some spots inside the resort. There is also a relief of Balinese mythology about Arjunawiwaha which is the story about Arjuna getting rewarded with 7 beautiful apsaras (female spirit in a Hindu culture) after accomplishing some tasks. All the statues and relief are nicely done by our artwork supplier, 66 Pottery Bali.

Different concept and artwork is displayed in Hyatt Regency Sanur. This resort is one of the pioneers in the island. We are restoring it without erasing the original characteristic of Hyatt. Working on the landscape design, we are collaborating with Tiera Design from Thailand and Ketut Suratman from Rimba Bali. In creating the statues and sculptures, we team up with the local Bali sculpture, I Wayan Sugawa from Taro Arca Dewata which has more than 20 years as a sculptor. All the newer artworks including statues, water fountains and fire torches are implementing the classic Balinese style, with the more antique feels.

Most of our landscape designs integrate tropical Balinese concept, with lush vibrant softscape combines with natural materials like woods and different kind of stones for the hardscape. Therefore our pieces of artwork are also mostly influenced with Balinese style and characteristic. We enhanced it with the flair of local values such tropical wildlife and nature, Bali daily life, or folk stories. We let our designs act as the storyteller to enhance people different life experiences. The aim is not necessarily to create the artwork that would be loved or not loved, but to add something new to the whole design and make people think about it.

Cheers,

SHL Asia Team

Company Anniversary: Celebrate The Journey of SHL Asia

31/08/2018

by SHL ASIA with No Comment Company Updates General

Happy 8th year anniversary SHL Asia!!! Last week of July marked our 8th anniversary of being in the business. As they say, success is a journey and not a destination. While our success story will keep going on, we have set a milestone of completion of eight successful years into our landscape and architecture projects and of course a lot of hard work. Indeed, 8 is not a fairly big number but so many things have had happened that have shaped us into as we are right now. On 2010, our co-founders – embarked on their journey towards the dream of creating landscape hospitality architecture. As the number grows, we still strive in making beautiful designs and delivering the best service to the client.

Without a doubt, any company’s business growth depends upon the hard work of all employees. No individual can ever take the credit of all those years of success and hard work alone. The accomplishments of a company are the results of the combined efforts of every individual and team work. And although nothing can ever sufficiently show the appreciation, we wanted to celebrate our journey with all the employees of SHL Asia. Here is the greatest gratitude for the dedication, for the hard work and of course for all the ideas and inspirations. A feast by the beach, the casual and personal vibe, and nothing but good time.

We are celebrating this for all the hard work, laugh, sweat and the devotion that we have poured in to the success of SHL Asia. We started out small however we had big visions and always put our mind into providing a level of service with an aim to outdo ourselves. All we want to say is thank you to everyone who has supported us, worked with us, taken a chance on us and believed in us. Here is to many, many more exciting and inspiring years ahead!

Cheers,

SHL Asia team

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For the Love of Intern

20/02/2018

by SHL ASIA with No Comment Company Updates General

The month of February…

is also known as the month of love in many countries, including Indonesia. Although love is supposed to be shared and showed every day, but let us concentrate on give MORE LOVE throughout this month of February as well as in the future. This month’s article will be featured Carmen van Vroonhoven, our lovable on-going intern from the Netherlands.

We have been admitting interns since our early days. They have always been an important part in the company’s outgrowth. Not only because their contribution but also it is somewhat a way for us to give back. Since most of our interns are usually final year architecture students, we believe it could be a good opportunity before they are entering the real world of work. Having such an intimate work nuance definitely brings us closer to each other, including with all the interns. With this we hope to acknowledge and appreciate more.

The long of the internship programs can be vary from each intern, it is usually somewhere between 2-4 months. During this time, we grew closer and Carmen has become a part of us. Carmen started her internship program on November 11th 2017 and will be finish on March 9th 2018. She is now on her third year of university. She decided to join an intern program in Bali through an internship mediator back in her country.

Why here?

Why Indonesia? Or Bali, in particular? In her 23 years of life, she has been travelling across Europe. Her love for travelling has finally brought her here to get the taste of a tropical country. She also wanted to learn more about tropical plants. Currently, she is studying landscape engineering. A major focusing on work preparation and realization of public green spaces and infrastructure.

Since she lives in a 4 season country, the type of plants are very much different from plants in the tropical country such Indonesia. She would only learn on plants intended for a colder climate, like the Netherland. Here in Bali, the hospitality and tourism sector is growing rapidly. Resorts and hotels keep popping up left and right, villas are scattered in every part of the island and therefore Bali is a living catalogue for tropical landscape design. This intern experience is a whole new world for her.

The love ride of an intern

One of Carmen’s future plans is to have her own landscape construction company in the Netherland, hence she is focusing mostly on the more technical part for the landscape realization. This is one of the reasons she decided to join us, to have a deeper understanding on the design and visualization process. Since one of our specialization is in landscape design, she got really enthusiastic when was first offered the place. She was excited to learn new software and developing new skills. During her internship program she is placed in team C supervised by one of SHL Asia’s principles, Anang Rahman Hakim. She frequently came along for site visits to some of our projects. Her tasks are mainly support and assist any on-going project, such as on preliminary phase like making mood boards and plant images as well as working on 3D modelling.

No struggles, no progress…

She has faced some challenges throughout the program. Different language or culture is one thing but operating new software is another thing. She has been assisting on Bisma Garden project and working with a new Lumion program which was completely foreign for her. Lumion is 3D visualization software that offers the possibility to walk through the project area before the construction process started. It brings the 3D modelling comes alive. Learning new software in a short amount of time was not easy. However she managed to operate it of course with the help and support from her supervisor and all work mates. Another challenge for her was learning the different kind of vegetation between the tropical and subtropical plants with plants in the colder climate. She has to learn not only the different type of vegetation but also the names in different language, in order to work on preliminary phase to collect plant images. Regardless all challenges, she very much enjoyed the process and loved learning all the new things.

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I had an amazing time during this period and thanks for the education and fun from everyone. Also, I would like to thank all the employees of SHL ASIA for the excellent cooperation and the effort that it took to speak English. I will definitely return to Bali once!

All in all, every intern as well as all the alumni is very dear and close to our heart. They have given a significant contribution to the company’s progress and output. Not only Carmen, but it has always been a pleasure to have all the interns as a part of us. We have learned from each other and made good memories together. All this time it has been an ups and downs journey for us and the interns and they deserve no less of recognition as an intern.