Back in November last year, Andi Rahmat of Bandung-based design studio Nusae flew to Tokyo, Japan to receive the prestigious Good Design Award for the city branding initiative Menuju Tubaba. He was accompanied by Tulang Bawang Barat’s former head regent, Umar Ahmad, who during the award ceremony had proudly donned a traditional Lampung attire: the handwoven tumpal fabric sarong and the kikat manuk meghem, a headpiece of the same fabric that is inspired by the form of a roosting chicken.

Andi and his design studio Nusae are a part of Menuju Tubaba’s notable crew of architects, urban planners and designers gathered by Pak Umar to realise his transformational vision for Tulang Bawang Barat with architect Andra Matin at the helm.

“At first, we were caught off guard by the immensity of Pak Umar’s vision. It was also our first time doing something of this scale,” recalled Andi, the founder and principal designer of Nusae. “He didn’t give us a specific brief. Instead, he told us stories about Tulang Bawang Barat, noting that it is a place of equality and balance, anchored by ecology and culture. Then, he invited us to visit and experience it for ourselves.”

“My approach is creating a Tubaba that is modern but still grounded in its Lampung roots.” Andra Matin, lead architect of Menuju Tubaba.

Tasked to design and strategise for Tubaba’s visual branding and communications, Nusae collaborated with the Jakarta-based type foundry company Tokotype to design Tubaba’s city logo and typeface, which is translated into the city’s environmental design as well as a lineup of Tubaba merchandise that features t-shirts and scarves to city maps. Most recently, they collaborated with Italian shoe brand Superga to release exclusive Tubaba merchandise in the form of the brand’s classic canvas and rubber-soled footwear.

The visual identity of Tubaba is slowly coming together. But if there’s one identifying landmark that has served as a design template since the beginning, and has been designated as the main icon of Tubaba, it’s the Islamic Center by Andra Matin.

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The merging of past and present

“I remembered Pak Umar saying, ‘Tubaba needs to go from bukan-bukan (ordinary) to bukan main (extraordinary)’,” recounted Andra Matin of his conversation with the former head district during the early stages of Menuju Tubaba. “I was quite challenged by that.”

That challenge transpired in the Islamic Center, the first landmark built under the project that comprised the As Sobur Mosque and Sessat Agung cultural centre. “My approach is creating a Tubaba that is modern but still grounded in its Lampung roots. But as a whole, the direction we’re taking is designing something that is beautiful and healthy for people here to experience,” explained the architect at his home in Bintaro.

Following the Islamic Center, the same design philosophy was also applied to Tubaba’s cultural institutions like Pasar Pulung Kencana and Masjid Muttaqin, also designed by the Aga Khan Award-winning architect.

Just off the main street of Raya Pulung Kencana, the traditional wet market of Pasar Pulung Kencana was transformed into a massive and open-air, two-story building. Refurbished to shelter over 400 stalls, from fruit and vegetable vendors to booths selling jajanan pasar and basic home needs, the market’s new design is clean and minimalist, defined by the raw and cool quality of concrete, and the intricate weaving facade that frames the building. The latter was handcrafted by BYO Living, a Jakarta-based architecture weaving design firm, to function as the building’s cooling system, as well as to add a traditional charm to the market.

Following the Islamic Center, the same design philosophy was also applied to Tubaba’s cultural institutions like Pasar Pulung Kencana and Masjid Muttaqin.

In the late afternoon, when the crowd is not as busy compared to the morning, soft light filters through the patterned facade and the roofless structure down to the patch of greenery in the centre of the market. Around it, vendors on spread-out mats sit cross-legged, exchanging friendly banter while peeling bulbs of garlic and shallots.

“Before, the market was stuffy, dark and muddy. Now, every element is a complete contrast from that. The reason why I built the garden in the middle is so that it could brighten up the space and fuse more with nature,” said Andra Matin.