The Spatialization of Salt | FuturArc Prize 2024 Third Place

Of Muaragembong Estuary, the selected location upon which the proposal is based, the team described it as a prime example of what environmental historian Scott Gabriel Knowles calls a slow disaster. It has suffered from intensive salinisation due to nearly 50 years of anthropogenic landscape alterations, leading to a fresh water crisis. This area, where multiple species coexist, has seen conflicts where endemic primates—specifically the Javan langur and the long-tailed macaque—venture into residential zones in search of fresh water.

Out of the team’s ongoing collaborative work with a chemist and a primatologist, they have discovered the extent of the impact on multiple species as well as residents who are mainly low-income fishermen and aquafarmers, who have had to import water from Jakarta, three hours away by boat.

The Spatialization of Salt entry introduces a modular architectural system designed to produce fresh water through distillation, utilising the solar still method. This method also results in the formation of crystallised salt, much like those seen in salt caves. The approach seeks to firstly, productively render salinisation visible by creating salt formation from evaporation to produce salt, and secondly, reversing the damaged ecology by planting mangroves to both expand the habitat for primates and to draw them closer to the source of fresh distilled water. The entrants believe that the latter will also contribute towards disaster mitigation.

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PROJECT DATA

Scenario
Climate Destruction

Location
Muaragembong Estuary

Country
Indonesia

City
Bekasi, West Java

Site Area
13,200 square metres

FUTURARC PRIZE 2024: THIRD PLACE

pppooolll is a Jakarta-based architecture practice that operates in complex and diverse environments—where the process matters as much as output. They have been engaged in strategic projects ranging from designing replacement housing for informal settlements to developing rainwater collector modules in rural mountainous areas. These projects have earned international recognition, including the LafargeHolcim Award Asia Pacific (2017), Reimagining Museums for Climate Action (2019) and the Perhutana Forest Design Competition (2022). The practice is led by Kamil Muhammad. The team for this competition includes Raushan Fikri, Gerald Alexander Djuneidy and research chemist Novita Anggraini from Labtek Apung.

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