Indonesia
Indonesia: Jakarta offices and apartments, the new capital at Nusantara, and the industrial estates around Batam and Bekasi.
Indonesian architect Andra Matin has completed a bold black house in Bintaro, about 35km from Jakarta, with almost no visible windows, designed around a female homeowner's request for a "masculine" residence that prioritises privacy. The client, identified only as Y, bought the adjacent lot to double her site to 300 sq m within a cookie-cutter suburban development. Matin said the homeowner is "a very private person, so we try to eliminate windows in respect of that." Instead, slim openings bring in air and light. The facade and roof merge seamlessly in jet black, using pigmented concrete and Yellow Balau timber chosen for durability and weather resistance.