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Press Kit
Soft Opening
Kapal Bambu Restaurants
Ecolodge Bukit Lawang Cottages, Indonesien
Content
1. Media Release
2. Project Description / Architecture
3 Organisation / Team
4. Facts
5. Portrait about Lukas Zollinger / Architect
6. Pictures
7. Contact
1. Media Release
A landmark for Bukit Lawang
Sunday, December 20, the unique Kapal Bambu restaurant will
open in Bukit Lawang, situated on the border of the famous
Gunung Leuser Ecosystem, Sumatra, Indonesia. Among the
largest bamboo buildings in SEA, it l inks nature, sustainability
and culinary delights.
Upon months of joyful suspense YEL, Foundation for Sustainable Ecosystems,
invites for the soft opening of the Kapal Bambu restaurant on Sunday,
December 20, 2015 to be hold at the Ecolodge Bukit Lawang Cottages,
Sumatra, Indonesia. Kapal Bambu will enhance the mission of the Ecolodge
Bukit Lawang Cottages in promoting sustainable tourism, environmentally-
friendly hotel management and environmental education programmes for a
wide range of domestic and international visitors.
The unique bamboo building has been designed and built by Swiss architect
Lukas Zollinger in collaboration with the German-Columbian bamboo expert
Jörg Stamm. Design, material and construction focuses on sustainability in
accordance with the green vision of YEL. On the approx. 1000 square meter
plot of land, the architect has used predominantly natural materials. 90 % of
the building is from bamboo, which is found in sufficient quantities within 50
to 100 kilometres. While in principle this material is easy to manufacture, the
harvesting, preservation and subsequent cutting into the needed length,
shape and diameters involves considerable expertise and time.
In all 110'800 meters of bamboo with an average diameter of 15cm have
been processed.
The magic bamboo, poor man’s timber?
For many years, Indonesian people are accustomed to using bamboo for
manifold purposes of daily life, such as furniture, house walls, farm
equipment, crafts, musical instruments, even for food. Unfortunately, the
multiple benefits of bamboo are not in tune with the value of the bamboo
itself. Bamboo has very little economic value and is still regarded as the "poor
man's timber“.
By using bamboo for our new restaurant Kapal Bambu we hope to promote
bamboo as a cheap, strong and endurable building material and to improve
its image and reveal ist properties as a high-value construction material for
permanent buildings, handicrafts, furniture and other, a substitute for tropical
hardwood, which is increasingly scarce. „Bamboo for everybody”, that’s the
new message we want to launch!
Food, recreation and information
In the basement of the two-storey building there’s the eating area with
around 120 seats, the kitchen, as well as the bar, hotel reception, office and
shop. On the upper floor opens a large space of 450 square metres, which
we call „bamboo lounge“. That’s where you want to be!
With the help of flexible room dividers, functions such as seminars and
conferences can be accommodated. A book and video library offers
information on nature and environmental conservation, the nearby Gunung
Leuser Ecosystem with its unique flora and fauna, as well as the projects of
YEL and its NGO partners.
The soft opening of Kapal Bambu on Sunday, December 20, 2015 offers you
a great chance to make up your own opinion about the unique restaurant
there in Bukit Lawang.
The people in charge are happy to make themselves available for interviews.
Opera Batak presents: “Mencari Si Mina”
Originating from a traditional form of theatre, the Opera Batak group
performs a play of about 60 minutes, which the group has especially created
for the opening of Kapal Bambu. We would not like to disclose any more at
this stage: come, marvel and enjoy!
2. Project Descript ion / Architecture
Building
From afar we already discover the “Kapal Bambu” , which means “bamboo
ship” in English. It has almost become the new landmark of Bukit Lawang.
Traditional Batak architecture is marked by the characteristic boat-shaped
roof, which is said to symbolise the origin of the early settlers, who arrived by
sea, but also the shape of the water buffalo horns, emblems of force and
power.
Restaurant concept
The project includes the construction of a new restaurant-complex for the
Ecolodge Bukit Lawing Cottages, which is an integral element of the Bohorok
Environmental Education Centre (BEEC).
The Kapal Bambu restaurant is the new heart of the Ecolodge Bukit Lawang
Cottages. The ground floor eating area offers about 120 seats, as well as
harbours the bar, hotel reception, office and shop. The local kitchen team
adheres to authentic Indonesian cuisine but ventures also into European and
fusion cooking.
The upper storey, the “Bamboo Lounge” with book and video library
measures 450 square meters and caters to recreation, information and
entertainment. It is designed to serve as a multi-functional space for various
activities. With the help of flexible room dividers, functions such as seminars
and conferences can be accommodated. The furnishing with comfortable
chair cushions, hammocks and coffee tables provides for a relaxing
ambiance.
Materialisation:
The materialisation of construction and infrastructure focuses on
sustainability. The choice was quickly made up for bamboo and clay. These
natural and ecological materials are found in sufficient quantities in
immediate and broader environs of Bukit Lawang. Moreover the local
communities can be involved in the purchase, preservation, manufacture
and maintenance of bamboo.
Facades, roofing, stairs, railings, lighting and furniture are all produced from
bamboo, with the exception of the floor of the basement, which is a polished
terrazzo cement floor, the bar counter, a beton moulding, and the walls,
made from clay.
All the bamboo luminaires have been designed by the architect and
produced in the workshop on the spot. They are positioned in a way to
highlight the structural framework oft he building.
Most of the bamboo originates from within a radius of 60 kilometres of Bukit
Lawang. It was pulled by water buffaloes out the forest to reach the trucks,
be uploaded and transported to Timbang Lawang’s bamboo preservation
centre.
Some of the remaining materials originate from close surroundings, such as
the river stones and gravel, as well as the clay. Cement and iron for fittings
such as railing were purchased in Medan, while the bamboo shingles came
from a bamboo factory in Bali and the special bamboo, „bambu duri“, for the
indoor railing from East Java.
3. Facts
Architecture:
Construction time: one year
Construction costs: approx. 300’000 EUR
Construction plot: 50 000m2
Ground floor: 530m2
Height: 13 m
Depth: 16 Meter
Roof: 1305m2
Open facade: 438m2
Closed facade: 184m2
Origin of material: Indonesian
Restaurant:
Restaurant: Approx. 200 seats
Bar: approx. 20 seats
Kitchen: Indonesian, some European and fusion cooking
Kitchen team: Local
Hotel:
Management: Zefri Chandra
Staff: 37 employees
Rooms: 32 rooms to accommodate 100 guests
Room charges: 350'000 - 400'000 Rupiah/IDR
4. Organisat ion / Team
YEL, Foundation for Sustainable Ecosystems
The Indonesian Foundation YEL (Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari, Foundation for
Sustainable Ecosystems) was founded in early 2000. The Board of Directors
includes Swiss and Indonesian members. YEL is the partner organization of
the Swiss Foundation PanEco and responsible for the collaborative Sumatran
Orangutan Conservation Programme SOCP. In addition to the SOCP YEL is
active in environmental education, organic farming and eco-tourism,
including the Bohorok Environmental Education Centre with the Ecolodge
Bukit Lawang Cottages and Kapal Bambu restaurant, which are contributing
significantly to the income of YEL and thus to the funding of its projects.
Physician and YEL founding member Dr. Sofyan Tan became widely known
beyond the borders of Indonesia due to his pioneering school that
incorporates a multicultural approach. Today he is a Member of Parliament
at the seat of the central government in Jakarta, where he probes his political
impact to promote conservation and environmental issues.
Regina Frey
(Founding member und member of YEL Board of Directors)
Regina Frey was born 1948 and passed an idyllic childhood in the small Swiss
winegrowing village Berg am Irchel, where she still lives and works until
today. Berg am Irchel is also the seat of her foundation PanEco for
Sustainable Development and Intercultural Exchange, which she founded in
1996. Upon finishing her studies in biology at the University of Zürich in 1974,
her involvement began for the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan
and his habitat, the Sumatran rainforest. Indonesia with its fascinating nature
and culture would capture her for a lifetime. After first years of nature
conservation work in the field, Regina Frey came to the conclusion, that
responsible behaviour towards nature and the environment can only
develop, if young people receive the right incentives within the family
environment or through the educational system. The foundation of one of
the first Indonesian environmental NGO, “Green Indonesia Foundation”
(“Yayasan Indonesia Hijau”) 1978, establishment of the first Indonesian
Environmental Education Centre in Seloliman, East Java, in 1991 and of one
of the first certification agencies for organic agriculture in 2008 are
pioneering achievements due to her initiative. The explosive expansion of
palm oil plantations over the last decades has reduced Sumatra’s rainforests
to approximately 10% of their original size. The urgency to conserve this last bit of rainforest with its irreplaceable biodiversity determines her actions.
Lukas Zollinger
The Swiss architect and qualified carpenter, Lukas Zollinger is co-owner of
Zollinger Brunner Architects in Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland. He has the
restaurant project designed and accompanied as a project manager for one
year on site Bukit Lawang. Zollinger studied architecture at the ZHAW in
Zurich and Winterthur.
Jörg Stamm
The German carpenter and bamboo architect Jörg Stamm has built bamboo
projects all over the world. He is widely considered as the eminent "bamboo
architect".
In Columbia he has been invited to contribute to the gigantic bamboo
pavilion for the EXPO 2008 in Hannover, Germany. Another milestone was
the invitation to the technical university of Pereira in Columbia to be a
consultant for a GTZ project to realise a bamboo bridge construction training
course for craftsmen and architects.
A key experience for him was the encounter in Sumatra with the forest
people, the "orangutans". To look into the eyes of an orangutan is an
interpersonal encounter of a special kind. Therefore, when Regina Frey asked
him for help with the new bamboo restaurant in Bukit Lawang, she did not
have to ask twice! Together with architect Lukas Zollinger, Stamm has been
involved since the early start of the design of the bamboo construction. He
calculated the statics of the entire building and helped Zollinger with his
expertise in developing details.
Two characteristics mark all his endeavours: the drive to convey bamboo
craftsmanship to manufacturers and academic institutions and second the
promotion of bamboo as a durable and sustainable construction material to
replace tropical hardwood timber, because the tropical rainforest must
survive!
Markus Klitsch
The German carpenter Markus Klitsch supervises the bamboo workshop
(Bamboo Preservation Center) in Timbang Lawang, where the bamboo is
delivered, preserved and manufactured. His task is the training of local staff in
developing precautionary measures for “safety at work”, the planning and
monitoring of bamboo manufacture for construction and split floor
production. Moreover, he was responsible for the establishment and
operation of the wood-bamboo processing machines. Since 2008 Klitsch has
been working on various bamboo construction sites around the world.
5. Portrai t of Lukas Zoll inger
From Switzerland to Sumatra’s jungle
One and a half years ago, Lukas Zollinger arrived in Bukit Lawang lying on
the edge of the Sumatran jungle. The start of a big adventure for the 32-year
old Swiss carpenter and architect. He was to replace a ramshackle restaurant
from brick and timber with an ecological architectural landmark! The local
NGO YEL, Foundation for Sustainable Ecosystems had mandated him for the
challenging task of building a new restaurant for the Ecolodge Bukit Lawang
Cottages from sustainable materials.
“I immediately knew that this was a big chance for me!”, says Zollinger. For a
long time he has been looking for an opportunity to find a meaningful task.
That’s how he happened to come to Bukit Lawang, first as a civilian service
person, then to continue as a volunteer to build the Batu Kapal.
Now his task is almost completed. It takes only a couple of days until the soft
opening of Kapal Bambu. Zollinger stands in midst of the construction site.
When he tells about his experiences, he becomes nostalgic: “It has been an
incredible time for me.” He and his team have experienced many ups and
downs during the last months. These were altogether new challenges, which
Zollinger had to come to turns with on the edge of the jungle. Above all the
cultural differences proved to be discomforting and hard to overcome:
“Communication works completely differently here”, he tells.
Moreover, it renders work difficult if you cannot communicate directly with
the workers, but through an interpreter. Two members of the construction
team speak English well. “Donnie and Moses are both very smart and have a
good grasp of the work here”. They are the ones who transmit his orders to
the 55 manufacturers.
The poor quality of the Chinese tools represented another challenge for the
architect. In response, Zollinger and his team had to be creative. “We
improvised tools from all sorts of material which was readily available!” E.g.
upon half a day, the concrete grinder broke. “I had to wait four months for
the spare parts, while the work had to go on…” We experimented with a
variety of solutions.
When Zollinger looks back, these are the moments which make this project
so special for him. “The growing skills and support from the workers are
great and make me proud!” Every day, he challenges them and they in return
challenge him! “They really work hard and offer me increasingly valuable
inputs.”
In his year at Bukit Lawang, Zollinger found his new love: bamboo! He
discovered this exciting material: “Bamboo has lots of advantages and there’s
still a lot more to be discovered.” So far, hardly any houses are built from
bamboo in spite of the fact, that there’s lots of bamboo around. “With Kapal
Bambu I hope to open the eyes of the Bukit Lawang community for the
multiple benefits and uses of bamboo.” It’s his big hope that Sumatran
farmers and builders will acknowledge the true value of bamboo, giving it a
new economical significance. In order to draw attention away from palm oil
to focus on the establishment of bamboo plantations! Because palm oil is
responsible for one of the biggest man-made disasters, the destruction of
tropical rainforest.
Zollinger will leave Sumatra at the end of December. “I hope that my work
will prove to be useful for the people and the whole community here.” But
he cannot let go of Bukit Lawang completely; he would like to continue
building houses from bamboo and in his had is already birthing some ideas…
6. Pictures
You may use the following picture for the press.
We are happy to e-mail them to you, as well as more of them upon your
request.
Lukas Zollinger, the architect
7. Contacts and Informat ions
Regina Frey
contact@reginafrey.ch
+41 79 419 12 22
Contact in Indonesia:
contact@reginafrey.ch
+62 813 7581 4823
Further information:
www.paneco.ch
www.sumatranorangutan.org
www.yelweb.org
www.orang-utan-coffee.com
Facebook: Ecolodge Bukit Lawang Cottages
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