Cover A stunning sunset vista of the house and its aquascaped pond, which is the highest level of the seven-tiered pools and water filtration system
A stunning sunset vista of the house and its aquascaped pond, which is the highest level of the seven-tiered pools and water filtration system
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Enthroned in a picturesque estate atop seven tiers of pools, this house in the Greater Jakarta area by veteran architect Budi Lim is envisioned as a series of bungalows and slices of open spaces from which its occupants can appreciate nature’s rhythm
Perfection, as they say, takes time. That adage is embodied in this remarkable house in BSD City, within the Greater Jakarta area. Designed by renowned Indonesian architect Budi Lim, it is the result of a long-gestating idea carefully conceptualised, cleverly executed, and continuously improved.
Lim first met the homeowner in 1994, when he designed the bank he worked for. The pair became fast friends, and the banker told Lim that he would like him to create his home one day. He called Lim in 2015 and said he had found the perfect site.
The plot was one-third of a 1.5-hectare patch of land owned by a late prominent Indonesian politician and engineer, who had parcelled it into three parts for himself, his wife, and their two sons. His plan didn’t materialise, and Lim’s client was able to buy the westernmost parcel from the family.
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Woven rattan panels from Byo Living are used on the ceiling to bring a rustic warmth to the living-dining area
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“The existing site was surrounded by bamboo bushes and had many fruit trees planted by the family,” says Lim. The site was fan-shaped, with a 50 centimetre elevation from the main road and a six-metre sloping elevation towards the back. It also shared a border with a neighbouring golf course. “I decided then that I had to think of a design that stitched the site to the golf course—that’s the point of having the golf course as your neighbour, right?” he adds.
Without a strict deadline and complete creative freedom granted by the client, Lim spent nearly three years pondering his design approach. “He nearly lost patience and jokingly threatened to reassign the project to Andra Matin!” Lim laughs. By 2018, Lim had distilled his thoughts into a design which, despite taking only two weeks to finalise with his team through models and video renderings, bore the depth of his thousand-day contemplation.
The owner’s succinct design brief requested that the home look modest from the outside, with a master bedroom for him and his wife, and two bedrooms for his son and daughter. It also asked that the design consider his love of the outdoors.
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Above A pendant lamp from Ong Cen Kuang is matched with bespoke timber furniture from Eva Natasa
Above The homeowner relaxing with his pet dog on the ‘floating’ platform
A pendant lamp from Ong Cen Kuang is matched with bespoke timber furniture from Eva Natasa
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During the ideation process, Lim was less interested in exploring shapes; he questioned the basics instead. “‘What is architecture? What is home? How do you sleep? How do you enjoy your space with your loved ones?’” he shares. “I was also haunted by the idea of balance, respecting nature and living in harmony with it.”
Completed last year, the resulting home has a minimised interface with the terrain and maximum contact with the open air. “There is a very little area of the earth that I covered with materials,” says Lim.
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The master bedroom boasts expansive views of the secluded neighbourhood
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Most of the floor area is elevated from the ground and supported by concrete columns, creating the impression of “floating” planes stretching out to the lush backyard and the golf course beyond. Even some floor finishes, like the 3 centimetre-thick polished marble tiles in the living room, are just laid onto the platform without mortar and thus theoretically can be picked up and moved elsewhere without much fuss if needed.
Meanwhile, the bedrooms are envisioned as independent bungalows, each with an ensuite bathroom and wardrobe area. These modular boxes were prefabricated off-site and installed in place with a steel-cable suspension system, leaving the site as unscarred by the construction process as possible.
Above The spiral staircase makes a sculptural statement from this vantage point in the dry kitchen
Above This bathroom features the same Byo Living rattan panels and terracotta screen
The spiral staircase makes a sculptural statement from this vantage point in the dry kitchen
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Lim has done away with walls wherever he could or otherwise articulated them with porous and breathable materials. “When you are inside the bedroom, I want you to experience the expansive landscape, yet you see the steel structure of the house and feel safe and protected,” he shares.
To complement the glazed surfaces, he chose soft curtains and blinds that gently diffuse light and make the house “glow like a lantern” at night. The ceilings and walls of the bedrooms feature rattan panels from Byo Living, which lend an organic touch to these spaces. The wavy terracotta modules used to screen the west-facing rooms from the heat and glare of the sun are actually roof tiles cut in half.
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Above This perforated fibre cement screen shields the service corridor from view
Above The second floor’s 18m-long ‘memory lane’ is a gallery with the family’s photos and memorabilia
This perforated fibre cement screen shields the service corridor from view
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Lim shares an anecdote about the homeowner. “He complained about me being stingy with the size of the master bedroom, which is 12 by 5 metres,” he recalls. “I said, ‘Sit on your bed and look at the view—you have the largest bedroom on earth!’ He did that, and as he took in the sweeping panorama, he agreed with me!”
Lim made no distinction between conceptualising the project’s architectural, interior, and landscape designs, seeing them instead as parts of an overall cohesive concept that he had to undertake to realise his and the client’s vision.
This west-facing corridor is layered with a screen made up of cleverly cut terracotta roof tiles
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The trees and shrubbery have been curated to portray the passing of the seasons, like the Royal Poinciana tree between the common bedrooms that blooms in a riot of bold red hues during the dry season.
Others were chosen to balance the aesthetic, such as the eucalyptus and teak trees. “I wanted to create an emotional landscape. Eucalyptus has a pale bark and graceful branches that remind me of a ballerina, which contrasts nicely with the dark, robust teak tree. I imagine them dancing harmoniously in the garden,” says Lim.
The heart of the house is an 18 by 18 metres green open space. “I convinced my client not to build anything there,” says Lim, likening the square space to “the peak of an Inca pyramid, from which one can survey the land and gaze at the stars”. This comparison was spurred by the impressive tiered body of water below it, which forms the steps of the metaphorical pyramid.
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Above This view of the house from the backyard showcases its cleverly elevated spaces
Above A view of the multi-tiered water purification system from the street
This view of the house from the backyard showcases its cleverly elevated spaces
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The home’s exterior was personalised with just as much care and consideration as its interior. The project’s most striking feature is its water purification system, which comprises seven tiers of bodies of water covering 12,917 sq ft out of the 53,820 sq ft of land, making it the dominant design element on the site. “It’s the one feature that I refused to compromise on,” shares Lim, who is known for his use of water features as purification systems in Indonesia’s architectural scene. He dubs this kind of functional water feature “live water”.
The seven tiers are—from the order of the lowest elevation closest to the street—a wetland that mediates the house’s plumbing to the city’s sewage system, a water lily pond, three tiers of lotus ponds, a swimming pool, and an aquascaped pond. This last level remains a work in progress as Lim is still in the process of stabilising the site’s naturally high PH to a more normal level so that the aquascape can thrive. “We must care for this live water like we would care for a child,” he quips.
Above An evening view of the master bedroom from the flowering garden
An evening view of the master bedroom from the flowering garden
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Although the scale of the water feature was initially met with resistance from the homeowner, Lim persevered with his vision. In the end, as the architect and the client stood together on the highest point of the house gazing at the landscape, the latter was much pleased with how the water feature serves as a mirror that reflects the passing of time and captures the rhythm of the surrounding natural landscape.
Credits
Photography: Ernest Theofilus and Happy Lim
Jakarta-born, Bandung-raised and Singapore-based, Asih Jenie trained in Visual Communication Design at Bandung Institute of Technology and Architecture at Parahyangan Catholic University. She brings both rigour and heart to design journalism, infused with a distinct Southeast Asian voice.
As a child, she doodled on the edges of her schoolbooks and never outgrew her fascination with all things well-made and well-told. Her 15-year career spans editorial roles and bylines in Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Australia, across spatial design titles such as Dwell Asia, Cubes, Design Anthology, Habitus Living, and Home & Decor.
After a brief stint in public relations, she returned to publishing in 2023 to lead Tatler Homes Singapore, where she continues to tell stories about how we shape the spaces that shape us.
