Creating atmosphere in hotel interior space with material roles: Bata Pejaten

As a major tourist destination in Indonesia, Bali possesses hospitality industries that are competing to present the best experience for guests. One of the hotels, Katamama, offers a specific spatial experience through the use of Bata Pejaten, handmade bricks traditionally made from mixtures of clay and paras sand-A fine stone powder of volcanic material sourced locally in Bali. Meticulous selection of Bata Pejaten applied on the 5-star quality hotel became its own uniqueness as these bricks are generally seen as a simple inexpensive material and mainly used for temples construction. As an interior space, it should be recognized not only related to the usability to meet human needs, but also the emotional effect of giving experience. Those spatial experiences are the atmosphere of space that exists between human and their built environment. It is understood through the senses of human, creating an impression and significant meaning to the person. In this case, the material becomes one of the important aspects of spatial atmosphere production. For Bata Pejaten, it is their craftsmanship, composition, and organic transformation. The paper aims to explore how Bata Pejaten and its properties and qualities generate atmosphere of space. This paper presents a case study analysis on interior spaces characterized by its specific material and authentic substances from volcanic eruptions as the core investigation. This paper demonstrates a design approach from the material perspective. In particular, this study introduces the concept of using materials attentively in creating spatial atmosphere characterized by modest material yet rich in its values.