A designer who can become light and salt has become the very soul of School of Design (SoD) UPH. This was stated by Dr. Martin Luqman Katoppo, S.T., M.T., as the Dean of SoD UPH. He believes that this value has to be emphasized to and understood by all of his students. One of them, Theodore Sutiswan, an Interior Design student from the 2013 batch, show his understanding of this value through his Final Project which includes the idea of proper residential concept for the people of Walang Village, Lodan, North Jakarta. He hoped that this project can become a solution and bring a good impact for the society.

Theo decided to choose the proper residential concept as the object of his final project because he saw that there are a lot of residential concept that needs to be perfected. After the survey process, Theo chose Walang Village – one of the slum which enter the list of 21 villages that needs to be reordered by the Provincial Government (Pemprov) of DKI Jakarta. From here, Theo began his research with the participatory method, which requires the researcher to involve the user of the design concept.

“With this method, the quality of my Final Project lies on the quality of interaction built between me and the people of this village as the user of the design concept. It started by knowing Mr. Tumijan, one of the influential figure in the village, then my interaction grows to the ones with religious leaders, merchants, drivers, and many more. In the middle of the process, the villagers were faced with a fire incident which burned 128 buildings out of about 200 in block A, which in total as an area of 1 hectare” Theo then explained.

Looking at this condition, Theo thinks that his presence should not only be for his own need, which is to collect the data for his research, he thinks about how to use the data he has collected may be useful to re-build a quality life for the villagers. Thus, aside from making a village spatial planning concept, Theo also encouraged the people to be more active in constructive activities such as, community service, sport activities, making green spaces through simple vegetable gardens, and many more.
Aside from giving encouragement to the people of this village, Theo was also directly involved in the Independent Community Action Plan (CAP), a program from the DKI Jakarta’s government in order to raise the people’s welfare.

The main event is the presentation for the CAP program which was held on October 28, 2018. This vent was held along with the advocate team of Walang Village, who helps the reordering process of Walang Village, Housing Department Chief (Sudin), DKI Jakarta’s Governor’s Staff (TGUPP), and other government officials, who were invited by the people of Walang Village to listen to the villagers’ presentation on the planning and system for housing concept.

“All of the data presented here are a result of a long discussion. We started together by building a dream house, which was created according to the need of a 5×6 meter area, which was also adjusted to the people’s needs which were divided into three kinds: rented houses, shop houses and a regular home. We also design the village’s layout by including the facilities that the people need such as a mosque and madrasa in one location, Early Childhood Education (PAUD), and also a community hall. This was all discussed together with 20 samples of family heads from the total of 256 family heads that owns a building,” Theo stated.

With all these ideas and process, Martin as the Dean of SoD, thinks that Theo is the personification of the three core values that SoD has, which is also a rendition of UPH’s vision and mission as a Christ Centered University.

“SoD has three core values as a rendition of UPH’s vision and mission, they are Design Thinking, Social Innovation, and Redemptive Impact. The third point relates with how a student should not only be smart academically and are capable in making great designs, a student also has to have the heart to serve. Just like what Theo had done, I hope that in the future more of SoD UPH students are able to grow and become students with a heart to serve,” Martin stated.

Martin also added that Theo’s effort should be appreciated because he was able to open the door for SoD UPH to be involved in DKI Jakarta Government’s program, which is the re-ordering planning for other four villages.

“In the near future, we will try to work hard for this opportunity. The point is a design has to be able to give a real impact, become the answer to people’s need, and issue social innovation. This kind of activity can also be a place for the Faculty to do research and Community Service (PKM),” said Martin.

What Martin has said was felt by Theo, and it encourages him even more to become an influential designer.

“One of the excellences of SoD UPH which not many campuses have, it is the application of learning process through interaction with communities, which encourages us to become an impactful designer. To make people realize that design is not all about the money, but there is another side to it such as social, life, and also sustainable environment. From my learning process and final prject, I want to share and apply the things that I’ve learned,” Theo, who said that he has become more inspired to become an impactful designer because of the community and environmental design course, stated.

In the future, Theo is determined to maintain his relation with the Walang Village people, he has even asked the people to make a waste management system and waste bank in the village.