Taman Ismail Marzuki gets face-lift

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta administration announced Friday it was planning to upgrade Taman Ismail Marzuki, a 38-year-old art center in Central Jakarta, and called on aspiring architects to help in the process.

Head of the city's museums and culture agency, Aurora Friday, said the administration would hold an architectural design contest in conjunction with the Indonesian Architects Association.

She said the administration was encouraging people to participate in the contest in order to establish, "what (the public) want the park to look like so it can inspire artists as it did in 1968 when it was first established".

Aurora said the administration initially developed a master plan for the park's expansion back in 1995.

"But so far we have built only the theater. The auditorium has the capacity to hold 1,200 people," she said.

The theater was officially opened earlier this month.

"We still have more work to do on the exterior of the building, and this is expected to be finished by the end of this year," Aurora said.

The chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the architects association, Ahmad Djuhara, said the contest's judges were looking for unique designs.

"It is also a matter of how well participating architects can bring out the spirit of the arts within their designs," he said.

"Their designs must also be comparable to buildings in developed countries. For example, Singapore has many grand theater buildings in line with its mission to become the leader among Southeast Asian countries."

Ahmad said registration for the competition would open next Friday, and only members of the association were eligible to enter.

"This requirement is in compliance with a regulation that stipulates only certified architects can practice. We can assure you that all of the association's architects are legitimate and certified," he said.

The association would submit the entries to a team of seven judges, including urban architects and artists, Ahmad said.

"The judges will deliberate on Nov. 27 and will determine the winner later that day. However, we will officially announce the winner at some stage before Dec. 15," he said.

Ahmad said the winner of the competition would start working with officials on a more detailed master plan next year, with construction set to begin in 2009.