00:02Hi Berlin interiors. My name is Takami. I'm David. This is our house. Welcome to have a peek in our
00:09paradise.
00:22We are a family of four. My wife is from Japan. I'm from Belgium.
00:28The kids have been born in China. We've been living abroad for the last 20 years.
00:32It was a decision to come here in Bali and then to ground back with nature.
00:37The house here was a first step for us. We wanted to build a house that does not extract resources
00:44from the natural environment.
00:46A house that does not extract resources from the local community.
00:50So this is what we call our regenerative home. It's a house, it's a home that actually gives back life
00:57in the community and gives back life also to the soil around us.
01:00This house we used only or mostly reclaimed material. Reclaimed teak wood, reclaimed iron wood, reclaimed steel, reclaimed tiles on
01:14the roof.
01:14So we didn't want to use any cement in that house. So no cement, no concrete.
01:22We used a traditional Japanese technique but also a traditional technique that was here used in Indonesia.
01:30There is a traditional Japanese technique called Ishibatate or floating stones.
01:35The way it works is that there is a small hole below or around a meter deep where you put
01:43rocks, gravel, sand and on the top of it you add a big river stone that is just sitting on
01:51the soil.
01:53And on the river stone, then you put the column that is also sitting on the stone.
01:58So this is how it works to fight against, the strategy to fight against earthquakes is that when there is
02:04the energy from the soil, every part is moving on each other.
02:07So the force is not coming up to the house.
02:11A lot of effort has been made together with our architect on cross ventilation, on shading to make sure that
02:21we have a comfortable life inside the house.
02:24So we have this kind of east-west wind, very cold actually.
02:28So when we enter the house during the dry season, we even have to put a small cardigan here during
02:33the day because of very cold wind.
02:35And now during the rain season, we have the south-north wind that is coming in the house.
02:43You have understood by now that for us, the material that we use is extremely important because it's about the
02:52energy, it's about the soul.
02:54So here we have three pieces of ceramic that are done by a Chinese artist living in Bali.
02:58They have designed this wonderful sofa as well that has been done by a local association with pure natural linen.
03:09Me coming from Belgium, they have been researching a little bit and they found somewhere here this wonderful blue stone
03:16that is actually a Belgian stone.
03:19It came here around 400 years ago.
03:20So this has been used a lot here in Indonesia in public buildings, in railway stations.
03:27And so we found this wonderful blue stone, 400 years old and even more in the making from Belgium.
03:37This beautiful table, it's in Merbau, it was the floor of a factory.
03:43And then below, it's a big old trunk.
03:47So this has been also reclaimed, burned, all the chairs redesigned by Cura to really fit here as a central
03:54piece in the house.
03:55It's a bit like the roundabout distributing everything that we do.
04:00So we enter, we can go in the kitchen, found a way because it's not always easy when you have
04:06pillars, what do you put in the middle?
04:08And they found this wonderful way to keep the energy flow, to keep the people flow around as well.
04:17Another challenge, we build in the property here according to the permaculture principle.
04:24And one of the principles is that the area build has to be lower than 15-20% of the
04:32total size of the land.
04:33For us here to put the space, the only way was actually to build it on two storeys.
04:40And the two storeys are very different.
04:42So you have the ground floor here, that is exclusively made of Hulin wood.
04:49Reclaimed Hulin wood, reclaimed Hulin wood floor, reclaimed Hulin wood from piers in Kalimantan,
04:56reclaimed Cologne from a railway bridge.
04:59And this was, let's say, a big challenge because this was the base to actually put the juglo on top.
05:05So what you will see upstairs has been built in 1907 in the small village nearby Semarang.
05:12Please, I invite you to come upstairs.
05:16So the whole structure, the roof, the beams, the main columns are coming from that house in the village in
05:25Semarang.
05:26But it has been lifted up to give some light and to give some space and to help as well
05:34with the cross ventilation.
05:35So it has been lifted up almost 1.5 meters so that you create this beautiful, beautiful space.
05:44You can see behind me, we have the same concept where we let the air flowing from side to side.
05:51And on the other side here as well in the roof.
05:54So this allows us actually to live completely here in a tropical environment without air conditioning.
06:05We have designed three bedrooms.
06:08We have a space there that was also reserved for potentially a fourth bedroom.
06:13But as the process was going along, no decision was made early.
06:16And we decided to keep it as an open space for now.
06:20Bedrooms, like the rest of the house, are very minimalist.
06:24Just the bed, the beautiful view, the sound of the waterfall from the subac in the bottom.
06:33Always the air flowing around.
06:37These mosquito nets that are integrated into the structure as well.
06:42That allows us actually to keep everything open during any time of the day and any time of the night.
06:56The same principle in our son's bedroom.
06:59So very, very bare furniture, very minimalistic.
07:04With the warmth, with the warmth of the wood, we don't need to add too much in the bedroom to
07:12feel it cozy and comfortable.
07:15And then we have, of course, the nature all around us as well.
07:20That is the best decoration you could think of.
07:25Very minimalistic bathroom as well.
07:28Some stone, some wood.
07:29Very rustic, a bit industrial feeling as well, where we kept the steel beam apparent over here.
07:35The feeling as well, when we take, when we are here in the bathroom, when we take a shower, to
07:42be in the nature, to be outside, but without having an open bathroom.
07:47And so no intruders that come and bother us.
07:55This is usually where I'm working.
07:58My computer here, rice field in front of me, some nice paintings, very soothing and very zen feeling.
08:08And then always as well with a look on the garden, listening it and watching it growing step by step.
08:18In the same time that we were building our house, we wanted to be able to regenerate the life in
08:25soil.
08:25This place was a rice field.
08:27We made some tests, soil testing, when we first arrived.
08:32And the soil testing results showed that the land itself was completely dead.
08:36There was not any kind of form of life in the soil.
08:40So our ambition was, as we were coming in this space, is also being able to bring back life in
08:49soil.
08:50I'm standing on the bridge with the small river.
08:53That small river have another function as well.
08:57It's helping to collect water and storm water when we have the heavy tropical rains.
09:04We don't want water to go below the house, but we want to be able to guide the water where
09:10we want it to go.
09:11So when the water comes after when we have a very big rain, the water starts to go down on
09:17the land.
09:18It's collected by the river.
09:20The river is bringing it to the other pond here in the center.
09:26And then going down to a third pond in the bottom of the property.
09:43Thank you, Valley Interior, for taking a peek in our paradise.
09:46See you guys soon. Bye.
09:48Bye.
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