Island Magazine, April 2001

Tropical Houses
A PORTFOLIO OF PHOTOGRAPHS BY TIM STREET-PORTER
(ROBINSON CRUSOE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD.)

From Tropical Houses: Living in Nature in Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Java, Bali, and the Coacts of Mexico and Belizeby Tim Street-Porter
(Clarkson Potter/Publishes,$60)

VILLA BEBEK
You might suppose that the compound belonging to Bali’s leading landscape architect would embody landscape design as a defining element. You would be right. Made Wijaya’s property near Sanur, on the island’s east coast, houses a hodgepodge of structures – nine pavilions occupied by design studios, office, kitchens, guest cottages, and Wijaya’s own residence. The structures at Villa Bebek )”bebek” means duck) are at once linked to and separated from each other through the deft use of landscaping in the form of courtyards, walls, gatways, ornamental pools, hedges, trees, and paving. The result is a sense of continuity and modularity, shared space and private domains – a place where aestheties rule, and life and work converge.

Asian statuary and other regional artifacts complement locallymade furniture outside a guest bedroom suite
Baby coconuts adorn a corner	a glimpse across a courtyard
Kitschy matador lamps and an Art Deco table spice up a veranda	Javanese shadow puppets (below) do the same for a dining room