Projects
Concrete as Medium, material, and heritage in Post-Independence Architecture in Indonesia
Anita Halim Lim
This sub-project looks at the use of concrete in post-independence Indonesia by investigating several case studies of architectural practices by local contractors and workers, especially in cities or regions outside of Jakarta. Other case studies will examine the extraction of natural resources to produce concrete and the distribution networks this created. By looking at concrete as a medium, material, and heritage, this research will challenge the view of concrete in Indonesia as a ‘foreign’ building material, symbolizing modernity and globalization. Instead, it aims to provide a more differentiated history of concrete as a building material that has both universal and local qualities.
Radio Infrastructures: Radio Malabar and Kootwijk
David Duindam
This sub-project examines the radio transmission stations in Malabar and Kootwijk that established the first radio telephony connection between the Dutch Indies and the Netherlands in the early 1920s over a distance of 12.000 km. Concrete was an essential building material used to control temperatures and transform the mountainous environment of Malabar into a technological and hydroelectric landscape. As part of this project, I examine how transitory elements, such as wind, heat and radio waves, and moving elements, such as sand and water, collide with concrete structures in heritage formations. Furthermore, by examining these two sites as part of the same technological infrastructure, I want to investigate how transnational memories and heritages are created.
Possible research questions
What are the affordances of concrete as a building material in the context of colonial and postcolonial Indonesia? What are its material properties, how does it stick to other materials, and what does it do to our understanding of cultural heritage? How does concrete decay? What is its impact on the environment, landscape, and communities? What is the difference between rot and dust? What forms of protest can we find in and beyond Indonesia? And what are the futures of concrete in Indonesia and beyond?
Colonial Concrete: the Nederlandsch-Indische Portland Cement-Maatschappij
Rixt Woudstra
A research on the first cement plant in Indonesia, the Nederlandsch-Indische Portland Cement-Maatschappij.
