EXPLORING THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN TRADITION AND TECHNOLOGY: REALRICH ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP

After establishing his Realrich Architecture Workshop in 2011, Realrich Sjarief is currently involved in architectural activities that emphasizes locality and handcraft. He graduated from the Institute Technology of Bandung in Indonesia, did his masters at the University of New South Wales in Australia, and built his career at Foster + Partners in the UK and DP Architects in Singapore. He was also awarded the Jakarta Award from the Indonesian Institute of Architects in 2017. As an artist and educator, he is working to contribute to society via architecture through his OMAH Library. Park Changhyun did his M.Arch and at the Graduate School of Architecture, Kyonggi University. He is currently the principal at a round architects. He won the 32nd KIA Award for his SKMS Research Lab, the Seoul Metropolitan City Architecture Award for his Joeun Sarangchae, and the Kim Swoo Geun Preview Award for his Jeju Mujindowon. He is also the winner of the Iconic Award held at Germany in 2019 for his Jeju Seoho-dong Residence. He has taught students at Kyonggi University, Hongik University, and Korea University from 2002 to 2018, and he is currently leading a project mapping the Korean architectural landscape by interviewing about 60 architects from Korea, Japan, and Portugal.

Realrich Architecture Workshop (hereinafter Realrich Architecture) comprises a group of young architects based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Through a range of experiments with materials, the team explores the perceived connections between contemporary architecture and traditional technologies, following these investigations up with various activities. I was given the chance to interview (via email) Realrich Sjarief ‒ a third-generation architect and the principal at Realrich Architecture ‒ about the nature of the architectural scene