RAD+ar encloses tropical Frame Garden with mirrored panels in Indonesia

Large mirrors frame the tree-planted interiors of this cafe and seating area beside a park in Jakarta, Indonesia, completed by local studio Research Artistic Design + architecture.

Called Frame Garden, the project is designed to enable the local community to make better use of the neglected park, providing a cafe operated by coffee chain Tanatap, visitor facilities and a small gallery beneath a semi-outdoor tropical garden.

“The site is adjacent to an abandoned public park boasting vast greenery with ironically zero facilities,” said Research Artistic Design + architecture (RAD+ar) principal Antonius Richard Rusli.

“Consequently, nobody would pay attention to how much positive impact the park has and can contribute to not only the environment but also to the surrounding communities,” he told Dezeen.

The stage-like Frame Garden incorporates an amphitheatre-style seating area for up to 300 people, which winds between lush planters and trees as it steps down from the entrance towards a large opening overlooking the park.

Designed to be “facadeless”, this open space is framed by alternating mirrored and glazed panels, which reflect the plants and trees and offer glimpses of the surrounding park. Twisting, trunk-like sculptures made of fibreglass also animate the walls.

“Frame Garden celebrates its porosity being as open as possible as a contribution to the cityscape,” explained the studio.

“Without a front or back, the building is free to be approached from all directions while taking advantage of the surrounding landscape,” it added.

Beneath Frame Garden’s upper level, the partially subterranean ground floor contains the cafe and gallery, illuminated by skylights that reveal the garden above.

A stepped ceiling – the inverse of the seating space above – covers the cafe and is fitted with concealed lighting, while a wall of full-height glazing looks onto a covered garden and outdoor seating area.

“Upon entering the building, [visitors] walk underneath a very low ceiling 2.2 metres in height that slowly increases the height of space into 7.5 metres as the visitor walks from the front garden to the back garden on the ground floor,” said RAD+ar.

“[They] are teased by what appears to be sliced skylight and people activities in the garden above.”

The gallery sits on the other side of the rear covered garden, which it also looks onto through a wall of full-height glazing.

Frame Garden’s service areas for the kitchen and toilets have been organised along the edges of the site, leading to a parking area at the rear of the building that sits beneath its large opening.

Other projects recently completed in Jakarta include a family home topped by an angled, tiled roof and a bamboo extension to a studio.

The photography is by Mario Wibowo.

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