Elegance, Beauty, Influence – Hotel Indonesia

This is another book that I wrote commissioned by a giant corporate. Sucked, but nevertheless it is a beautiful book (up to a certain page).

One thing that I learned from writing this book was Sukarno’s (Indonesia’s First President) concept of an ideal building in tropical climate. His idea was a little bit on the extreme side, but somehow it made sense. He chose Abel Sorensen as the architect to build Hotel Indonesia. The young man with little experience was a firm proponent of the so-called International Style sought by Sukarno. While the International Style sought to embody efficiency, this was not always the case. Designed in temperate climate, it did not always translate well in the tropics. Until Anastas Mikoyan, the vice president of USSR, who stayed in the hotel subtly mentioned the lack of AC. As a result Sukarno agreed to a change in basic design and converted 206 cross ventilated rooms (out of 406 rooms) into air-conditioned rooms.

But, he insisted on natural ventilation in the lobby and front desk area. This system actually worked quite well because of the huge terrace outside, designed to absorb the heat of the hotel and breezes created by a fountain in the parking area. Smart, eh?

Another thing that I really enjoyed working on this book was the opportunities to actually meet the people who were involved in Indonesian ‘contemporary’ history, the chance to see those treasured beautiful black and white photos, and listened to all the juicy gossip around Indonesia’s First President.

Now the book is done, I am left thinking what if Indonesia’s first President was not Sukarno? He might be rock ‘n roll in his attitude, but this man definitely had an unsurpassed love for Indonesia. His nationalism might be choking, but that was his sole legacy to this country and alas, now it is running thin for some uncertain reasons.

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