The Art of Tropical Living

In the 1960's all local houses consisted of very basic
constructions, foreigners rented rooms in family inns
(losmen). Shortly after trendy Sanur was the first area that
attracted more sophisticated buildings, usually under
supervision of western designers and architects. 

Around 1980 the situation started to be influenced strongly
by western business people that came to Bali frequently enough
to build their own house. These houses and villas somehow took
some traditional Balinese essentials to blend with imported
Western standards. Although there was suddenly the comfort of
a western bathroom, the bottom line was usually a lack of
professional competence in an overall architectural context.

Starting around 1990 the present situation started to emerge:
Elements of Balinese architecture like thatched materials for
the roof or carved doors are used in a modern context and in
combination with the Western tradition of comfortable
furniture and furnishings.

That is not a general evolution of the "Bali style" it is
rather used as reinterpretation in a decorative and usually
aesthetic way. Many Westerners have build their Balinese dream
home based on a mixture of Western comfort and Asian styles.

The indoor-outdoor living style is dominant to express the
best possibilities the tropical climate has to offer. Natural
materials used are wood, alang-alang, bamboo, stone, glass and
ceramics.

The traditional Balinese way to construct buildings followed
very strict rules of shapes and sizes, also positioning and
orientation was absolutely predetermined. Constructing a
building is guided by religious motives not by practical or
designer aesthetics. Therefore it is originally not an art
form but religious ritual.

The latest development is however an extracting of Balinese
designs to merge with new international styles in an artistic
way, giving birth to a new Bali style.

Now designers are getting creative in an unpreceded way to
redefine this so typical local art of tropical living in a new,
internationally valid way that possibly will set the trend for
years to come.