The columns of the new Constitutional Courthouse: Abusing the classical order

was published in Jakarta Post on Sunday September 2, 2007

Recently, a new classical building has been added to Jakarta’s long list of newly built. This new building of the Constitutional Courthouse on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat houses the nine judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia.

According to my lawyer friend, this building is the nicest courthouse in Jakarta where generally other courthouses are in bad shape. The new courthouse represents a highest appreciation to our judicial system.

The courthouse employed classical style in its design, similar to the adjacent historic buildings such as the National Museum and the Merdeka Palace. It is set on a pedestal like base with steps in front of it with nine supporting columns sits in the façade of the courthouse.

At a glance, this new building stands out from any other building in the area. Not only because of the significant dome roof, but also the steps open up the building to the street which make this courthouse public friendly. These steps indeed generate the illusion of going up on a hill as a typical classical architecture device where the courthouse portrays as a Greek temple.

The reason I am mentioning the Greek temple is because of the courthouse’s columns.

We can determine which classical order the building employs from the design of the capital of the column. In classical architecture, there are five canonical orders where each order has specific a column design. Each order belongs to either the Greek or Roman period. The Greek has Ionic, Doric and Corinthian order while the Roman has Tuscan and Composite order (Picture 2).

The nine columns of the courthouse is definitely Greek’s Doric order (Picture 3). Doric columns are fluted with concave grooves and topped with smooth capital that flared from the column to meet a square slab.

The Greek Doric order has been widely used in buildings of trustworthy institutions since its reappearance in mid 18^th century in the new phase of Classicism in the United States and Europe. It had new connotations for projecting images of high-minded primitive simplicity, seriousness of purpose and noble sobriety. It also suggests incorruptibility, thus it suits well with the image of the Constitutional Court.

However, original Doric columns stand directly on top of a flat pavement without a base, while the ones in the courthouse stand on top of 1.5 meter base. Even the Roman version of the Doric columns stands on a low square pad or a plinth. This is the first rule the Courthouse’s design violates.

The other violation of the classical order is the number nine itself, which symbolizes the nine constitutional judges of the Constitutional Court. Columns in classical architecture do not sacrifice function over decoration. They are always true to their purpose, to provide space. Column never becomes the center of the façade. The space itself is the center. That is why the columns are always in even number, where the doorway always in the middle.

The courthouse design has disturbed that order for the sake of symbolic value. Classical architecture has specific rules and order that needed to be understood and adhered to. The rules have been developed over many centuries of experience and research from a great civilization. Classical Architects since the 15^th century has been adapting the rules from the book “De Architectura”, known today as “The Ten Books of Architecture”, authored by Vitruvius (1^st century BC).

In my opinion, violation of the order would be a sign of disrespect to the classic style. People tend to think that architectural style can be abused and applied anyway they want. We can see how catastrophic the result is. The new Constitutional Courthouse is weirdly proportioned and inelegant in its nature. This contradicts with the original intention of the courthouse.

Captions:

Picture 01 The new Constitutional Courthouse from Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat

Picture 02 Five basic classical order of column’s capital. (From Encyclopédie by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, France, 1777)

Picture 03 The Constitutional Courthouse’s Column

All images are by Zenin Adrian