Beyond Building: PDW, Inside Our Practice

Archi-Lab, IndoBuildTech 2026 — 9 July 2026, Jakarta, Indonesia

On 9 July, four professionals from PDW's next generation took the Archi-Lab stage at IndoBuildTech 2026 in ICE BSD for a conversation that resisted easy framing. The session explored how PDW's values actually show up in the work. Projects came up as case studies, grounding the conversation in real decisions, real constraints, and what it actually means to practice architecture from the inside.

The session opened with a question that ran beneath everything that followed: what does it mean for a building to matter? Agitha Yusuf put it plainly: "More than just brick and mortar, we believe that our works deserve to have a soul and a story. Rather than just being another notch in the belt, our works should be able to bring positive imprints on the lives around it."

Navigating Multi-faceted Built-environment Landscapes

From there, the conversation turned to what collaboration actually looks like inside a project. In a large-scale project environment, an architect works as a design integrator who balances crucial issues and aspects that guide design choices. Decisions do not come from the architect alone, but from an expansive network of stakeholders. It is a collective effort to find the best design solutions through open, aligned, and supportive communication.

Ar. Libradi Dwiputranto, IAI, was direct: the quality of a project is never the result of the architect alone. "What makes a project succeed is the collaboration of everyone involved — an invested client, a contractor who engages, stakeholders who communicate and work together. The architect's role is to hold that collaboration together. It's never just about how good the architect is."

Ar. Hale Ramia, IAI, brought that further: "Beyond Building as a design principle is not about a shared aesthetic, it is about a shared way of thinking. The goal is not only for a building to be useful, to create experience, and to contribute to its surroundings, but for the work and the thinking behind it to inspire, clients, stakeholders, and the wider community."

Amplifying Impact Beyond the Building

This approach to design collaboration is what allows complex, large-scale projects to come to life, as seen in PDW's Dewa United Arena, which received IndoBuildTech Architecture Prize 2026 for Sports Facilities category.

The room, as moderator Ar. Irene Hutami, IAI, noted afterward, was engaged throughout. Questions kept coming. "There was a wonderful energy in the room, an excitement about how we can further amplify the impact of our work on society. It felt like a reminder to architects that the work doesn't stop at producing a building. It goes beyond that."

The session ran close to its full two hours, and the pace, she noted, felt right.

[PDW/PSY]