The Shakkei Art Community Hub, designed by Ar. Kartiansmara Lilih Purnaumbara, M.Sc., IAI, won first place in the Onduline Greenroof #7 Award 2025. In the design process, she collaborated with Ibnu Ma'arif and M. Fadli Rohman, a team of modelers who played a role in the visual development and design representation.

The Onduline Greenroof Award is a national-scale architectural design competition organized by Onduline Indonesia. This competition challenges architects, academics, and students to present innovative solutions to environmental issues through a green roof design approach. In its seventh edition in 2025, the competition adopted the theme "Greenroof for Urban Harmony," emphasizing the importance of integrating roof systems, landscapes, and the quality of sustainable urban spaces.

Design Context and Ideas

The Shakkei Art Community Hub project is designed as a communally oriented commercial space, expected to become a platform for social interaction and a driver of creative economic activity in urban areas. The site has outstanding ecological potential because it directly borders the Nologaten Ecotourism Forest to the west and is located in a dense urban area with a dynamic valley contour.

This site condition gave rise to the application of the "Shakkei" concept—a Japanese term meaning borrowed scenery or borrowed landscape, the practice of borrowing views from the surrounding landscape to become an integral part of the architectural composition. This approach not only broadens the perception of space but also creates a harmonious relationship between the building and its environment.

Design Concept: Expressive Roof as a Medium for Contextual Response and Sustainability

The design of the Shakkei Art Community Hub stands out through its expressive yet functional architectural approach, placing the roof element and the building form at the center of the main idea. Both are designed not only as spatial enclosures, but as media that directly dialogue with the landscape context, climate, and user activities.

1. Building Form as a Visual Icon

The circular and dynamic shape of the roof serves as a powerful visual symbol amidst the dense urban area. This composition of forms creates a two-pronged visual experience:

Inward High Visual Impact, where observers from outside perceive the building's large scale and contrasting forms, drawing the eye toward the center of the space.
Outward High Visual Impact, where users inside the building can enjoy peripheral views of the surrounding environment with a harmonious human scale.
This approach balances iconic power and contextual harmony, strengthening the visual connection between the building and its surroundings and establishing a prominent architectural image within the area.

2. Roof as a Response to Topography and Natural Drainage

The roof system is designed to follow the existing contours of the site, which is located in a valley with a natural drainage pattern. Rather than leveling the land, the design maintains the topographic slope to maintain natural rainwater flow. Water is directed through a gutter system to a permeable infiltration area, maximizing the ecological function of the land without disrupting the original topographic character.

3. Roof as a Response to Solar Movement and Space Activity

In addition to responding to the contour, the roof slope is also arranged to follow the movement of the sun to optimize natural lighting and reduce heat load. The space beneath the wide roof span provides visual and thermal comfort, as well as flexibility for a variety of communal activities.

This circular roof serves as a unifying element for the entire building mass. Its expressive yet functional form allows for the creation of a green roof system that acts as an ecological space, water absorption area, and natural cooling element.

The building is designed not only to function commercially but also to strengthen community values, provide an inclusive public space, and prioritize energy efficiency and thermal comfort. Thus, the Shakkei Art Community Hub exemplifies the application of sustainable architectural principles contextually to its urban and social environment. This success is clear evidence that learning in the Architecture Study Program at UIN Sunan Kalijaga emphasizes not only aesthetic and technical aspects but also social benefits and ecological sustainability.