A Ritual Art of Offering as Catalyst for

Sustainable Urban Intervention

Syed Sobri Zubir1 and Mohd Hafiz Amirrol1
1
Department of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi
MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, MALAYSIA

Abstract
The ritual art of offerings as part of religious procession has been inherent in
many traditional cultures since time immemorial. This form of ceremony is
apparently still practiced in contemporary times and one of the places that are
heavily laden with this form of offerings to the Gods is on the paradise island of
Bali, Indonesia. Their livelihood is ingrained with this ritual from the day of their
birth until the day of their cremation. Since this ritual is part of the culture, which
in turn shaped the built environment, therefore, it becomes the primary concern
of this paper to explore their significant attributes so that it can be used to
generate alternative solutions in modeling sustainable and livable communities
for the future. The site for the proposed urban design intervention exercise will
be on an empty land of more than 400 acres to be developed in supporting a
community of 20,000 people on the island of Serangan, supposedly to be the
miniature of Bali and the home to the second holiest temple that is the Pura
Sakenan. The island is connected to the island of Bali by a bridge that caters for
the regular religious processions to the temple. These theoretical exercises are
generated from the urban design studio of the architectural program at the
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia and will culminate in design guidelines
and proposals that assimilate the ritual art of offerings that is endemic and
responsive to the context of the place. The paper will present four models of the
proposed new urban structure on the island of Serangan, Bali portraying
variation of approaches based on their initial research and analysis of the context.
The intention of the project is to expose students to spatial planning and design
issues, with special emphasis on social and cultural phenomena in producing
alternative models relevant to contemporary and future urban forms. Since Bali
is experiencing dramatic cultural, economic and social change via global market
driven economies have transformed the traditionally strong communities to
accommodate new typologies of urban form. By zeroing into the components of
place making as complete entities in themselves, students would be able to
appreciate the hidden dimensions of the city. What is introduced in our urban
design studio is a way of thinking, a way of approaching problems by identifying
them rather than inventing them. Only then does one look for specific data that
are needed in order to solve the problems. Also important is the logic of the
argument, how the various sections of the study work together and are linked to
the main problem. Each intervention proposals will be discussed individually,
deliberating each design intention to achieve the prescribed goals from the
research findings to reflect aspects of sustainability. The urban design process of
the research laboratory is based on a synoptic method so as rational strategies or
synectic approaches could be realized and transformed into a reflexive program
for the urban intervention. As this research and design project makes use of a
multiple sources of evidence, a mixed-methodology model is adopted. It is a
combination of historical-interpretative strategy as well as qualitative and
quantitative strategies. Hopefully, this design research exercise can validate the
possibilities of projecting a new typology of urban form that is derived from the
source of traditional norms i.e., from the ritual art of offerings.

Keywords: culture; tradition; reflexive; hybridization; responsive; sustainable;

typologies; morphology; urban form
1 Introduction
Despite the current brouhaha over problems of carbon emission, carbon
footprints, etc, the issue of sustainability is not just limited to matters of earth,
water, air and the environment. This paper asserts that the core component in
ensuring sustainability of any field is the people. Integral to this is their day to
day attitudes that also for the culture of the society. Hence, the cultural habits vis
the cultural longevity will also impact the sustenance of the lived environment.
However, influx of foreign contents is always a challenge to any traditional
society. As Soeters (2005:69) laments, “If we look at history, we could say that
the norm was for the poor man to help himself by forming his own dwelling, his
village and his town, all the while praying to the gods, with an appropriate
humility, that what he made would please them as well as himself. But then, in
the early twentieth century, architects took upon themselves not the role of
people trying to make their own place in the best way they could, but of being
gods themselves. Whereas the gods of the past had sanctioned the creations of
men, these new gods determined that nothing was properly ordered and set out
rearranging it all for the better. By means of the tabula rasa, a completely new
order could be created”. Bali is not untouched by this phenomenon of starting-
from-a-clean-slate approach to development. It is experiencing dramatic cultural,
economic and social change via global market driven economies that have
transformed the traditionally strong communities to accommodating new
typologies of urban form. Made Wijaya, a permanent resident of Bali
disapproves of the new breed of housing schemes which are devastating the
island not unlike the tsunami of 2004, branding them as Bali’s New Asian Zen
McVillas for their identical architecture. “What concerns me most about Bali at
the moment―……[is] the genuine threat of real-estate brokers smothering the
land with ugly villas” (Wijaya:2008, 2007, 2006). Despite the influx, an
important aspect of the Balinese culture remains intact. This paper looks at the
ritual art of offering practiced among the Balinese as a form of cultural
sustainability that moulds and gives life to their built environment. Since this
ritual is part of the culture, which in turn shaped the built environment, therefore,
it becomes the primary concern of this paper to explore its significant attributes.
This can be used to generate alternative solutions in modeling sustainable and
livable communities for the future.

2 Ritual Art of Offering

The ritual art of offerings as part of religious procession has been inherent in
many traditional cultures since time immemorial. This form of ceremony is still
practiced in contemporary times and one of the places that are heavily laden with
this form of offerings to the Gods is the paradise island of Bali, Indonesia. The
people’s livelihood is ingrained with this ritual from the day of their birth until
the day of their cremation. An important aspect to observe in this culture is that
every object has a life. This object’s life is a necessity for it to address and
interact with the gods in accordance with the object’s unique purpose. For the
Balinese, reality and existence veils the play of embodied and disembodied
entities (sekala-niskala) that could be generative and/or degenerative and are
complementary to rather than opposing each other (state of rhwa bhineda).
Creation then is no ‘better’ than degeneration. Rather than conquering or
overcoming degeneration, the Balinese choose an appropriate balance of the
forces instead. It is their quest in life to restore or maintain balance. Being able to
do so means achieving the ultimate goal of moksa or spiritual liberation
(Samadhi:2004). The means to achieving this balance is through the ritual of
offering to the invisible forces, viewed as gods, demons and ancestors. These
forces are treated as honoured guests and daily presentation of offerings called
banten are made to express gratitude to the benevolent ones and to placate the
mischievous ones from disturbing the harmony of life. The banten comes in
every imaginable shape, colour and substance. Those for daily presentation are
kept simple whilst those for specific rituals become more elaborate and specially
produced. The simpler offering usually takes the form of small palm leaf trays
containing flowers and betel called canang. These are offered to the resident
gods in every household before the family sit down for their meals.
These offerings bear salutation to higher spiritual beings, and thus necessarily
have to be attractive. Every offering then has a deep symbolic significance in
addition to its decorative function. The production of these offerings is inevitably
regarded as a traditional art form that constitutes the cultural sustainability of the
Balinese people. This is augmented by the transitory nature of the offerings.
Typically created using perishable and organic materials, the offering may not be
re-used once presented to the higher beings. Similar ones therefore have to be
produced again and again each day. These become the many tasks of the
Balinese women and within a household the activities become a cooperation of
several women generations. This way, skills and knowledge are handed down
and culture constantly revived. Furthermore the number and variety of offerings
required for any ritual could be astounding. There are literally hundreds of
different kinds. The names, forms, sizes and ingredients differ greatly. There is
also considerable variation from region to region, and even from village to
village. The basic form of most offerings remains constant nonetheless. Rice,
fruits, cookies, meat and vegetables are arranged on a palm leaf base and
crowned with a palm leaf decoration, called a sampian, which serves also as a
container for flowers and betel nut. These offerings take place in various
hierarchical rituals, from the household level, to the communal level and to the
temple festival level. Besides the major communal offerings associated with a
particular ritual, each family brings its own large and colorful offering to a
temple festival. The procession of women of a neighborhood carrying these
offerings to a temple makes for a spectacular sight as each offering, containing a
remarkable construction of brightly-colored cookies, could measure several
meters from top to bottom.
These ritualistic processions then become an integral part of the street life as
the people walk from their house compounds to the temple grounds and so give
vitality to the urban setting. Furthermore, each occasion does not only involve a
selected group of the people but participated by the whole neighborhood. The
elements used in the ritual, from the varieties of offering to the selection of
costumes being worn constitute an interactive art that enliven the public realm.
Enriching all this is the fact that the rituals are not only bound within the
household compound or the temple ground. Offerings are also made at every
business premise be they on specialized altars or even directly on the pavement
in front of each shop. Montgomery (1998) listed twelve physical conditions for
making a city. These are summarized in Table 1.0 below. From this list, the
Balinese practice of processional ritual of offering would have significant
interconnection with almost all of those conditions, particularly number 2 to 12.

Table: 1 Physical Conditions for Making a City [Montgomery:1998]

No. Condition
1 Development Intensity
2 Mixed Use
3 Fine Grain
4 Adaptability
5 Human Scale
6 City Blocks and Permeability
7 Streets: Contact, Visibility and Horizontal Grain
8 Public Realm
9 Movement
10 Green Space and Water Space
11 Landmarks, Visual Stimulation and Attention to Detail
12 Architectural Style as Image

In seeing the significant contribution of the local community in building this

specific character of Bali, one must see urban forms as an ongoing process that
will evolve through participation of the community itself. Urbanity is contextual,
both spatially and temporally, and is always in the making. Options in place
making are not ready made, but are always morphing. Choices are not between
what is already there, but are about anticipating, adapting, and combining what
the current and future keeps on offering.
3 Comparative Design Attributes and Method
From this principle of contextualism and cultural sustainability, students of
the urban design research laboratory were encouraged to see the urban design
process based on a synoptic method. This way, rational strategies or synectic
approaches could be realized and transformed into a reflexive program for the
urban intervention. This research and design project makes use of a multiple
sources of evidence and so a mixed-methodology is adopted. It combines
historical-interpretative strategy as well as qualitative and quantitative strategies.
The intention of the project is to expose students to spatial planning and design
issues, with special emphasis on social and cultural phenomena in producing
alternative models relevant to contemporary and future urban forms. By zeroing
into the components of place making as complete entities in themselves, the
hidden dimensions of Bali could be appreciated. What is introduced in the
research laboratory is a way of thinking, a way of approaching problems by
identifying them rather than inventing them. Only then does one look for specific
data that are needed in order to solve the problems. Also important is the logic of
the argument - how the various sections of the study work together and are
linked to the main problem. In this process of identifying problems and
solutions, students were guided to categorizing and analyzing typology
characters of existing built forms. This is with the aim of giving birth to fresh
ideas which will have a strong characteristic in its design approach - a type of
specific architecture and urban form with strong cultural elements which may not
be able to be represented elsewhere. This principle of using typology studies as
an analytical moment of architecture is suggested by Aldo Rossi in his book
Architecture of the City. It becomes a guiding tool for students to understand
local culture and context in the production of their individual design proposal.
The heritage of traditional Balinese architecture is a mixture of old and new
features, that is long associated with its local community’s lifestyle and religious
belief. This mixture is a product of the migration of Hindu and Buddhist
community from East Java to Bali Island. Their existence in the island soon
dominated the political and cultural scenario of the island, resulting in changes to
the older traditional architectural features of the existing community, which
mostly exist along the lower areas of deltas surrounding the island. Traditional
Balinese housing types can be generally classified into two; (1) cluster houses of
the Bali community, and (2) traditional Bali Aga houses. These two types of
houses are usually a group of small buildings, arranged according to their
functions in clusters (kuren), enclosed within four walls, similar to the types of
houses that can be found in Java. Seven basic separated elements made up the
housing cluster; (1) entrance gate, (2) living/sleeping area, which usually is made
up of open verandah, (3) storage area for harvested rice, (4) kitchen area, (5)
toilets, (6) working space, and (7) area for religious procession and rituals. These
elements are arranged in such a way as to respect the most sacred area, such as
the area for religious activity and private areas being located at the most upper
end of the cluster, towards the mountain-view. Other areas, which are least
spiritual or considered ‘dirty’ are located at the lower end, directed towards the
sea. This arrangement is applied the other way around for houses in Northern
Bali as the main mountain (Mount Agung) forms the central range of the island.
This idea of balance is central to Balinese philosophy and way of life. Nature
and Man complement each other in an order of hymn of beauty addressed to the
God of Supreme (Sang Hyang Widdhi). This philosophy is translated clearly in
the form of physical planning and landscapes of their living environment. The
traditional villages (desa) are an ordering space. The basic Balinese territorial
unit is the desa, which co-exists with its surrounding, usually covering both the
wetland of the rice fields and the dry land of the housing compounds, which
connects to gardens, temples and small roads. The Balinese desa is also usually
host to a set of three village temples (the Kahyangan Tiga), each not only
functioning as spaces for religious activities, but also as important nodes of the
village symbolic life and of other community based activities. The territory itself
has the village temple (pura desa), situated in the center of the village, where
meetings and other ritual activities take place. Other temples that also mark the
existence of a territory include the temple of the dead (pura dalem), temples for
each group of families (pura banjar) and various temples of the local sub-clans
(pura panti). All temples of the Kahyangan Tiga are of significant importance in
the local rituals. Thus their existence cannot be denied in any development of
livable space and urban planning, be it traditional or new. The most important,
though, is arguably the pura desa, as evidenced by the honor shown to its God,
who is usually given the most prominent position during any procession of Gods
activities.
Much of these procession and ritual works at the community level is shared
among various families, clans and villages. Sharing facilities and taking turns to
organize any ritual activities is common, and community participation can be
seen, thus making these temples as strong symbols and places to encourage good
social networks and harmonious lifestyle. Collective works such as security
duties, cleaning and organizing an event could be seen anywhere in the villages
of Bali. Within this physical construct of community living lays the framework
of the new urban design intervention, which hopefully will provide new
inventive models that would make the experience of the built environment more
pleasurable. The varied characters of the elements to be included in each
proposal are desired and will provide the best context for living, even in a
modern but contextually responsive environment. Sustainability also plays an
important role in determining the holistic component of a village or town
planning. The vast agricultural landscape is no less important in the structure of a
traditional Balinese village. The almost ubiquitous narrow grassy dikes seem to
spread out like an endless carpet. These glistening rice fields not only sustain the
economic cycle of a village, but also create added value for hotels and resorts to
attract guests. In each field, small shrines stand as a symbol of protection and
prosperity for the harvesting season. These traditional and sacred elements made
up the unique composition for habitable, commercial or touristy areas in Bali,
and are adopted in the designing process of this urban design studio.
 To avoid romanticism dialectic, naïve interpretation of traditional forms and
compositions, as well as getting lost in translation, a reflexive approach was
taken in the process of analyzing these unique typologies and designing each
individual proposal. ‘Wish images’, as being described by Walter Benjamin, in
producing forms of the new means of production based on a process of
intermixing the new and old, were translated into analytical diagrams. These
diagrams were guidelines of ideas, approaches and inventions desired, brought
into workable design solutions by proposing a morphological system that allows
variation within the bound of strong Balinese planning and lifestyle practices.
The process of diagramming also guides students to further embrace and expand
their initial thoughts by having a hybridization of various approaches, thus
developing a pragmatic way of design process, rather than radically alter the
landscape of the island from an ‘uncontrolled’ design attitude. Four design
proposals were selected based on their diverse and varied approaches in
designing the new urban structure for Serangan Island. These proposals are to be
discussed below individually. Each intervention proposals will be discussed
individually, deliberating each design intention to achieve the prescribed goals
from the research findings to reflect aspects of sustainability.

4 Proposed Intervention
The site for the proposed urban design intervention exercise is an empty land
of more than 400 acres to be developed in supporting a community of 20,000
people on the Island of Serangan. This island is supposedly the miniature of Bali
and the home to the second holiest temple in the land that is the Pura Sakenan.
The island is connected to the island of Bali by a bridge that caters for the
regular religious processions to the temple.
These theoretical exercises are generated from the urban design studio of the
architectural program at the Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia and will
culminate in design guidelines and proposals that assimilate the ritual art of
offerings that is endemic and responsive to the context of the place. The paper
will presents four models of the proposed new urban structure on the island of
Serangan, Bali portraying variation of approaches based on their initial research
and analysis of the context.

4.1 Reflecting Contemporary Ideas and Design – Mohd Zainuddin Md

Noor

It can be said that almost all cities throughout the world are faced with a
multitude of problems, ranging from urban disorder and violence, pollution and
congestion, lack of open spaces and public amenities, to over population and so
forth. In simpler terms, this in fact, represents the fallacy of progress brought
about by the universal spirit of modern development, which is an integral
component of Westernization. Few would be willing to admit that the problems
facing us today come not from the so-called "under-development" but from
"over-development". Some have equated the terms "city" and "problem" to be
synonymous while others, to some extent, have identified urban problems
incorrectly, and as such the real problem is a global one stressing the fact that it
has resulted from social injustice.
To counter this imbalance from the recent development the scheme
incorporates contemporary design ideas in reinforcing identity by reinventing the
reflexive qualities of the Balinese cultural landscape. This is achieved by
translating the traditional Balinese planning by assigning designated spatial
attributes in creating a matrix that is simultaneously hierarchical in the
cosmological as well as in the physical sense to achieve spatial balance.
In the design process, the Tri Hita Kirana concept is essentially intended to
establish harmonious relationship between human beings and God, human
beings and the environment, and human beings among themselves. This concept
is applied clearly in the creation of the housing typologies for Serangan Island in
the form of spatial zoning and elements classification. This classification
essentially signifies the three elements of Tri Hita Kirana, that is the spirit
(atma), the energy (prana) and the body (sarira), which can be found in all kinds
of entities in this universe.
The generated urban design concept for Serangan Island, which is conducive
in the regeneration of cultural identities resulted from the synergy between the
traditional Balinese planning systems and the principles of place-making. This
synergy yields a set of hybrid urban design principles which theoretically will be
able to assist the planning and designing a unique township that reflects a
coherent Balinese cultural values, and at the same time accomplish all principles
of good urban design practice.
Figure 1: Typology studies on urban patterns and built forms.

Figure 2: Proposed layout.

4.2 Walkscapes – Hafiz Amirrol

Even though Serangan Island is home to the second holiest temple in Bali,
the place can be considered neglected from mainstream development since the
days of Suharto’s “New Order” regime. This has resulted in poverty with high
illiteracy rate, inadequate habitable spaces, and abandoned tourism projects on
the island. Their livelihood dependence on fishing further deteriorated due to
excessive environmental pollution, which has affected the marine ecosystem. In
order for this island to survive from the onslaught of the free market economy,
the development content of the island needs to readdress the sensitive issues not
only relating to the typical approaches that are evidenced on Bali itself but also
to be more reflexive incorporating their cultural roots and landscape. By
exploiting the almost daily ritual of walking in religious procession practiced by
the people of Serangan and Bali, which in turn shaped the built environment, this
project tries to explore their significant attributes in generating alternative design
solutions in modeling a livable and sustainable urban environment for the future.
The daily ritual of walking in religious procession is translated through
assembling and sorting of fragmented urban spaces as layers of abstracted
elements. The proposed scheme therefore is an assemblage of fractured parts of
the traditional walking city comprising districts of modernist reform projecting
capitalist-consumerist ‘experiences’. Simultaneity, fragmentation, and
ephemerally characterize this postmodern condition with intertwined
pedestrianized paths and networks that create places, which enhance aesthetics
and social awareness. It is hoped that the permeable streetscapes will expose the
myriads of the ordinary people and challenge the opportunities for intentionally
entering, maneuvering and exploring the spatial and physical repertoire of the
proposal.
This scheme tries to exploit the natural landscape formations of the island.
The advantages of doing so offer an original urban fabric and identifiable
panorama from outside and on the island itself. The rich diversity of built form;
squares, streets, alleys and landmarks culminate in a unique sense of place within
the various localities.
By gently regulating with varied height restrictions of the urban form gives a
sense of spatial coherence that create the qualities of urban ‘space of flows’
which then become the most identifying character of this township. The whole
phenomenon suggests a state of fluidity, at the same time offering a huge variety
of built volumes - tall, low, wide, narrow, big, and small - is brought together in
a unifying force.
Figure 3: Initial studies and speculative diagramming.
 Figure 4: Formation of proposed scheme.

Figure 5: Figure ground and detail proposed layout.

4.3 Faiz Ismail

This scheme evolved from the central idea that urban form is a by-product of
the collective consciousness of society that seek to sub late and transfigure the
incompleteness and the inadequacies in the social system as manifested in
contemporary urban reality. By morphologically confronting this issue, the
generated images are translated into workable design solutions that allow
variations within the boundaries of traditional Balinese planning regulations.
This accommodates flexibility of working with natural geometry rather than with
strict platonic form. Free and malleable forms are achievable, while a traditional
platonic gestalten that is commonly practiced is too exacting and therefore
vulnerable to corruption and degradation of the urban fabric by later
interventions.
The primary aim of this scheme is to establish the continuity of traditional
culture in the development of contemporary urban form. Even within the context
of globalization, the surface of urban life in Bali is still embedded in indigenous
meanings. If we want to reconstruct or reconnect the historical rupture of local
cultural tradition created by westernization, it is necessary for us to understand
the cultural forces that have established design principles behind the creation of
their indigenous built form, which then can be translated in the modern context.
The aim is not to replicate but to transform and assimilate what have been done
in the past into something compatible with the values and aspiration we hold
today. By understanding the process that has contributed in molding indigenous
cultural artifacts is not to deny present day realities, but to re-establish a
continuity of traditionalism within the context of modernity.
By doing a morphological analysis of the existing models would enable us to
neutralize the past and free from being conditioned by specific historical models
and concentrate instead on the inventive transformation of new models or
variants which respond to new and particular demands of the existing
contingencies. The designer who does not understand the building’s typology
will make the mistake of imitating the superficial aspects of specific historical
models leading to the inappropriate pastiche. If the designer denies typology, he
is at the same time cannot respond properly to the functional demands of the
building and cannot create a body of culturally meaningful urbanism.
Although the physical and spatial organization of traditional urban form have
been gradually changed through the introduction of alien urban types and strict
land allotment, the concept of the centre still remain embedded in the spatial
organization. The proposed scheme delineates an agenda for a critical urban
design idea that reflect contemporary and identifiable urban form, one which is
compatible with modern needs and at the same time vernacular in character.
Figure 6: Analytical studies on typology and networks.
 Figure 7: Proposed scheme.

4.4 Zul Azri Abdullah

The prevailing architectural polemic in Bali is in a state of ambiguity.

Architects with a wide range of approaches towards developing a responsive
architecture derived from the local traditions have failed to comprehend the
essence and virtues of its intrinsic values. Furthermore, the differences in views
and attitudes have made contemporary built form susceptible to the influences of
the non-regional images of modern architecture, which have been a threat to the
survival and continuity of the local traditional and cultural heritage of Bali.
This scenario has proven that the loss of tradition has been attributed to the
development of the indefinite human progress through material evolution as
envisaged by secularism itself and has resulted in a unilateral and monolithic
ideology of modernity. This may be due to the fact that western society itself
gave rise to the modern and industrial city, but in Bali, where the conflict of
traditionalism and modernity prevails, it is the city that has made and molded the
society. The concept of Westernization is not entirely new for it marked the
beginning in the development of secular worldviews that have created the
problems we face today. It is pertinent to highlight the fact that it was the
process of secularization that has established a worldview that places man in
control over nature, rather than emphasizing them in harmony with the physical
and the natural environment1. This is due partly to the creation of an artificial
environment from which nature has been excluded to the greatest extent of its
spiritual dimensions and hence to the disappearance of traditional cultures.
 To reduce the exacerbating qualities to further degrade the security,
tranquility and sanctity of the Island of Serangan, this scheme tries to generate
alternative built form that portrays a strong sense of regional identity of the place
by considering the following principles derived from the philosophy of Tri Hita
Kirana.

To create a hierarchy of space syntax reflecting the Sanga Mandala (Utama-

Madya-Nista),
To induce a balance of activities in land use distribution: Tri Hita Kirana
(relationship between man and God, man and man, and man and nature),
To balance the needs of urban development within the specific context,
To consider space/time equilibrium as an operative mode and a reliable
strategy in shaping new realities of urban form that promotes tourism and
culture,
To consider nature as the principle element and the decisive force in
generating urban design solution.
 Figure 7: Diagramming exercise in the process of understanding an urban
schemata.

5 Discussion and Conclusion

In the years to come, Indonesian cities and townships will face a major
overhaul of its condition and surrounding, be it infrastructures, planning systems,
built form typologies, extensions and annexations. New ones will be built, and
things might not be good as in the 1980s and early 1990s, when things are still
‘fresh’ and not chaotic as what exist now. But urban infrastructures are what
Indonesian cities will demand, so these cities will get these new urbanism
infrastructures either slowly or quickly, but surely eventually. Population
growth, urban migration, economic growth, tourism demand, post disaster
reconstruction, and the whole modernization process will demand that. Important
decisions are to be made by every layer of society, with a clear conscience that is
very important to shape the future urban civilization and lifestyle. These
decisions must undergo intensive processes, and the proposals generated and
discussed above from the idea of manipulating the ritual art of offerings in Bali
may work as catalyst for new sustainable urban intervention. This concept
imposes order and demand certain behaviors and discipline. It will also create
new types of urban spaces and usage, with different possibilities to relate to
existing spaces and socio-cultural context. From the understanding of these
concepts and urban design processes, a research based studio unit is seen as a
laboratory to execute research on these new possibilities of urban studies. It is
hoped that our effort in this design research exercise can validate the possibilities
of projecting a new typology of urban form that is derived from the source of
traditional norms i.e., from the ritual art of offerings, thus stimulating the wide
myriad of urban design interest in generating interesting urban design schemes.

References
Paivio, A. (1975). Perceptual comparisons through the mind's eye. Memory &
Cognition, 3, 635-647.

Klimoski, R., & Palmer, S. (1993). The ADA and the hiring process in
organizations. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research,
45(2), 10-36.

Schön, D.A. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass.

Burghardt, G. M. (1984). On the origins of play. In P. K. Smith (Ed.), Play in

animals and humans (pp. 5-42). Oxford, England: Basil Blackwell.

John Montgomery, ‘Making a City: Urbanity, Vitality and Urban Design’, in

Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 3, No.1, 1998, pp. 93-116.

T. Nirarta Samadhi, ‘Man, Culture and Environments: An Anthropological

Approach to Determining the Balinese Urban Design Unit’, in Journal
of Urban Design, Vol. 9, No.2, 2004, pp. 205-223.

Sjoerd Soeters, ‘On being a humble architect’, in Nicholas Ray, ed., Architecture
and its ethical dilemma, Taylor and Francis, New York, 2005, pp.

Made Wijaya (Michael White), ‘Stranger in Paradise’,

http://www.strangerinparadise.com, retrieved 17 March 2009:

‘Bali’s Wickedness’, in Hello Bali Magazine, September 2008.

‘The Smart Money Heads South’, in Hello Bali Magazine, July 2008.
 ‘Winning New Age Hearts and Minds’, in Hello Bali Magazine,
December 2007.

‘POST ZEN; Empire Strikes Back, in Hello Bali Magazine, July 2006.

‘Bali Tourist Information: Bali Offerings’,

http://www.balibagus.com/bali/bali_tourist_information/bali_offerings.
html, retrieved 19 March 2009.
Kompas Online (2004) Serangan, Miniatur Pulau Bali,
http://www2kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0408/07/Wisata/1192611.htm,
Jakarta.
Legge, J.D (2003) Sukarno - A Political Biography, Archipelago Press,
Singapore.
Frampton, K. (1994) Critical Regionalism: Modern Architecture and
Cultural Identity, Thames and Hudson, London.
Schulz, C.N. (1980) Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of
Architecture (Paperback), Rizzoli Publishing, New York.
Toer, P.A (1963) Tjerita dari Djakarta, Grafica Publishing, Jakarta.