Soejoedi Wirjoatmodjo

During the period of National Revolution, Soejodi joined the Student Fighters of Brigade 17 in Surakarta to counter military offensive from the Dutch between 1945 and 1949.

From the quality of his works, Soejoedi was nominated and won a scholarship from the French government for a study in L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1955.

During his study, Soejoedi had the opportunities to see the works of Dutch modern architects e.g. Jacob Bakema and Aldo van Eyck.

He eventually graduated in 1959 with a design thesis on pesantren, the Islamic boarding school and training center, with the best marks.

[3] During his tenure as head of department, he emphasised the use and exploration of modern technology for building construction and material, especially concrete and steel structure.

Form, function, and material are necessarily to be integrated as a geometrical and sculptural composition that works for specific purpose and context, and a strong embodiment to site.

[3] In 1964, Soejoedi was called by President Sukarno to be in charge as chief architect for national architectural projects in Jakarta.

He placed the Javanese concept of spatial category into his design: the balance of the realm of outside (jaba) and inside (njero), and the gradation of values from preliminary (purwa), intermediary (madya), and inner sanctum (utama or ndalem).

Soejoedi realized that architecture is not a pure work of art, but also a public and utilitarian endeavor with respect to aesthetic and human experience such as: safety, comfort, and health.