Hakka Cultural Center

Location : Pontianak, West Borneo

Type : Museum

Phase: Construction 2017

Site Area : 3.180 sqm

Gross Floor Area : 1.544 sqm

Height : 15 m (3 levels)

The design of Hakka Cultural Center is derived from an ancient Hakka-Chinese architectural building known as Tulou. Tulou’s literal meaning is “Earth House” as the basic material components of the house are from earth base, such as soil, rocks, bamboo, and wood. Tulou’s distinctive trait is characterized by its massive hollowed form with a large void in the center, creating a ring offset. The ring offset is inward looking with a circulation corrider inside and railings as barriers to the open space in the center. The façade of the Tulou are made of rectangular windows as thresholds that lie horizontally alligned but vertically irregular.

The interior is subdivided into three main programs: Main Hall, Hakka Cultural Museum, and outdoor space. The main hall adapts the Tulou’s typology and the extension adjacent to the main hall is simply a glassed building. The mixture of the Tulou’s ancient characteristics and modern architecture elements becomes the basic principle of design for this cultural project. The use of bricks as a heavy material represents the rich cultural quality of ancient Tulou while glass represents the light and transparent quality of modernity. Furthermore, the lightness of glass supplements the heavy circular form. The two main materials complements one another by accentuating the beauty and virtue of the Tulou-like form and therefore allows the circular form to be the main focal point of the building. In addition, water element present in this project symbolizes Hakka’s exodus sea voyage to Indonesia.