Field Notes · May 2026
Why we still draw by hand for the first six weeks
Every project starts with a pencil. Not a stylus, not a trackpad — a pencil. Here's why that stubbornness matters.
6 min read
Maulana Architect
Architect · est. 2011
Booking Q3 · 2 slots
Book a consultationJakarta · Indonesia | est. 2011
Spaces with soul,
drawn with care.
We are a Jakarta-based architecture studio working across residential, commercial, and hospitality projects throughout the Indonesian archipelago and beyond.
84 Projects·14 Years·Jakarta, Indonesia
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01 · Selected works
Buildings we'd visit on a weekend.
Forty-three more in the archive.
See full archive → →02 · Studio
We make slow buildings on purpose.
Founded in 2011, Maulana Architect is a studio of fourteen people working from a converted shophouse in Kebayoran Baru. Our practice spans residential, hospitality, commercial, and interior projects — mostly in Indonesia, occasionally abroad.
We work slowly and deliberately. Most of our projects take two to three years from first conversation to completion. We turn down more commissions than we accept. The buildings we make are specific to their sites, their clients, and their climates — none of them are repeatable.
01Architecture
From feasibility through construction administration — residential, commercial, hospitality.
02Interior
Spatial planning, finishes, furniture curation, and bespoke joinery for unrepeatable rooms.
03Master Planning
Sites, villages, campuses. We read the land before we draw a line on it.
04Consultation
Sketch-stage strategy for clients early in their journey, in person or remote.
Founder · Maulana Pradana
Team · 14 humans
03 · Process
How we work.
01
Listen.
2 weeks
We start with conversations — not surveys. About how you live, what you keep, what you'd rather forget. Then we walk the site together.
02
Sketch.
4–6 weeks
Hand drawings, foamcore models, and quiet arguments. Three directions, narrowed to one. You see everything we discard.
03
Refine.
8–12 weeks
Full design development with engineers and craftspeople we trust. Materials chosen by hand. A cost plan that doesn't surprise you.
04
Build.
9–24 months
We stay on site weekly. We answer the contractor's phone. We adjust drawings as the building tells us what it wants to be.
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Clients who refer us
Client voices
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They listened for six months before they drew anything. The house that came out is the one we didn't know how to ask for.
Anggraini & Rio PradiptaOwners, Rumah Batu
05 · Recognition
2025
AR House Awards
Shortlist — Rumah Batu
2024
Dezeen Awards
Longlist — Studio Laut
2024
IAI Architecture Award
Gold — Menara Arsa
2023
Wallpaper* Design Awards
Best Use of Stone
2023
ArchDaily Building of the Year
Nominee — Kanvas Pavilion
2022
FuturArc Prize
Honorable Mention
06 · Journal
From the studio.
Material · Apr 2026
Andesite stone, and the quarry we won't name
The stone that defines Rumah Batu came from a quarry two hours outside Bandung. We've agreed not to publish the location.
9 min read
Studio · Mar 2026
We're looking for one project architect
We're growing slowly, on purpose. We need one more person who's good at all of it — the drawings, the site visits, the difficult conversations.
3 min read
07 · Common questions
Things people usually ask.
Anywhere from a 60m² shop interior to a 12,000m² mixed-use building. We take on roughly six new projects a year. Fit matters more than scale.
Most projects are in Indonesia, but we've designed in Singapore, KL, and rural Japan. We travel for the right brief.
Percentage of construction cost for full-service architecture (typically 8–12%), fixed fee for interiors and consultation. A free 30-minute call is the best place to start.
Usually, yes. We also have a short list of contractors we've built ten or more projects with, if you'd like an introduction.
08 · Start a project
Let's build something worth visiting.
We take on six to eight new projects a year. If you're thinking about starting something, the best first step is a conversation.
Jl. Senopati Raya 47, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta
studio@maulana-architect.co
+62 21 9914 0220
@maulana.architect
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