Architecture Competition Memorial for Witches 3rd and Student prize winners – UNIVERSITY OF INDONESIA

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the 3rd and Student prize winners of our "Memorial for Witches" competition – Annasya Koesty Fadhillah, Muhammad Rafli and Gina Khairunnisa from Indonesia!

3rd and Student prize winners from Indonesia

We are three best friends who are pursuing an undergraduate degree in architecture at the University of Indonesia. We were brought together in the final year of Architecture Design 5 studio, and from that, we formed a group of 3 and took part in various design competitions to fulfill our academic assessment process, but after going through it we fell in love with architectural design competitions itself. Starting from our academic needs we continued our path together and decided to take part in other design competitions because we liked it. From this, we learn that design competition is not fixated on winning or losing, but on how to think outside the box and be happy with the output we produce from a long thought process.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been involved?

For almost 4 years we studied together as architecture students at the University of Indonesia. After going through 7 architectural studios together, we decided to collaborate and take part in 2 design competitions in our last semester, the national and the international competition.

Our national competition discussed co-working space design with the idea of inclusiveness for blind people and people in wheelchairs. We value every thought process that occurs during architectural competitions because this allows us to hone our design skills through various explorations.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

For us, Architecture is a process of creative exploration through art and design to gain spatial qualities and enrich human life. Nowadays, in architecture, we are not only focusing on humans as primary users. We also think about how to integrate aspects of society and the environment.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

We love to explore the world of architecture through unique themes. Especially in this competition, for us, the brief of Memorial for Witches is very interesting. This competition encourages us to build a strong idea about injustice uniquely. We did several discussions to find a connection between injustice in the past-present- and how our final product will be able to give a meaningful impact in the future.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

Participating in an architecture competition is a place to get out of our comfort zone. With this, we can explore our own ideas and abilities to break down limits that we never realized before that we could go beyond. Unique competition themes are also impossible to find in other media.