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Vila Merah |
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Bandung |
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In the early 20th century, Bandung was once described as 'The Paris of Java', due to its many treelined streets, fine parks, and gardens. Although Bandung today, is no longer as elegant as it was in the 1920's and 1930's, it has still managed to retain much of its traditional and colonial charm. In fact, the highland city of Bandung is now a living museum, of contemporary architectural masterpieces, from that colonial era.
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Designed by the Dutch architect, R.L.A Schoemaker, in 1922, Vila Merah is a superb example of De Stjil, or Prairie, architecture. It is conveniently located in a lush green area, at the junction of JI. Taman Sari and A Gelap Nyawang Bandung.
Other antique properties in this area, dating back to the 1920's, and still used and maintained by commercial institutes, include the dormitories Asrama (Dormitory) (A) ITB and Asrama (F) IT.B Vila Merph, and those two dormitories, were initially used as residences for the Technische Hoogeschool's professors (Bandung Institute of Technology, now known as ITB).
Vila Merah was developed on a 400 square meter plot of land. It consists of two buildings; the main building is a two and the other is a small pavilion. he main building has a floor space of 134 square meters, the pavilion only 35 square meters. Like many other I' European style colonial properties, the prominent feature of this vila, is its large open air space, which takes up more than 50% of the total floor space. And in order to suit the tropical climate, it was designed with many windows and vents, porches and balconies, to let the air cirtulate. However, what makes it truly unique, and interesting, is the red brick bearing wall structure. It is widely rumored that the red bricks for this building were shipped over from Holland.
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In a short intermezzo, during the Dutch occupation, sea routes were the main gateways, which connected Indonesia and Holland. Ships from Holland were only loaded with expensive consumer goods at that time, such as: milk, alcohol, and imported cigars. Due to the light loads, the ships had to carry red bricks in the hull for ballast. Conversely, the ships from the East Indies (Indonesia) returned with shiploads of spices and other natural resources. The red bricks were unloaded at Tanjung Priok Harbor, in Batavia (now Jakarta). Consequently, Tanjung Priok Harbourwas gradually piled up with red bricks from Holland.
When the Technische Hogeschool (now ITB) was developed in 1919, a heap of red bricks were transported to Bandung, and more than half were used to build Vila Merah. It was also intended to measure their strength against the tropical weather. Consequently, we can safely assume that Vila Merah (Red Vila) got its nickname, from the color of its walls.
What we do know is that Vila Merah had been used as a residence for the Bandung Technische Hoogeschool's professors (ITB), before it became an Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) Guest House. It is noted that one of China's (RRC) former Prime Minister's, Chou en Lay, staved atthe Vila, durinq theAsiaAfrica Conference in 1955.
Shortly after that, the Vila was used as an ITB boarding house, until 1995. Then, it became a place for the University preparation of classes in art. The University preparation of classes in art, also nicknamed the building, Vila Merah. Since 2001, the building has been used as an office, for the Centre of Research on Tourism ITB (P2PAR ITB).
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