Aesthetic study on historic building of Toko Merah using phenomenology & artefact theory approach

Abstract

Toko Merah is one of the cultural heritage buildings in the old city of Jakarta that has a change of form and function based on the history of different holdings which appeared maintained and preserved. Currently, the building is not fully utilised; only some of the building is rented as a meeting house. The Toko Merah building has different functions based on its history of ownership. The existence of this building which sets in the early history of the establishment of the twin luxury house makes it the icon of the cultural heritage building. It is now called Toko Merah. The method used in this research is qualitative descriptive based on the history of the Toko Merah with a phenomenological approach specifically chosen to observe the aesthetic form of space in search of the essential meaning of the Toko Merah building. The results show the phenomenon of the Toko Merah building as a cultural heritage building has an essential aesthetic meaning as a cultural heritage building which needs to be studied and explored more in the narrative of adaptive reuse and should be maintained and preserved so that it can be utilised wherebymeaningful interpretation and usage can be materialised. It will eventually be celebrated as a heritage building which preserves that memory of the past.