Tata Habitat at IAI Banten Awards 2025: Listening Back to the Earth Through Bata Kohe Research

Tata Habitat received IAI Banten Awards 2025 in the Architectural Ideas and Thought (Gagasan dan Pemikiran Arsitektur) category for a research paper exploring animal-waste brick (bata kohe) as a viable sustainable construction material, affirming that regenerative architecture in Indonesia begins not with form, but with a fundamental shift in how architects relate to the earth.

The awarded paper is titled: "Pemanfaatan Bata Kohe untuk Konstruksi Berkelanjutan: Kinerja Mekanis, Reduksi Emisi, dan Implementasi di Mini Mills, Sigi" (Utilizing Animal-Waste Bricks for Sustainable Construction: Mechanical Performance, Emission Reduction, and Implementation in Mini Mills, Sigi).

The award was received by team member Apsari Anindita, representing CEO Achmad Zakaria, on December 9, 2025, during IndoBuildTech Expo 2025 Part 2 at ICE BSD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPaBzFOuMBs

Apsari Anindita accepting the award.

Rather than presenting this as a milestone, we see it as a pause. A moment to listen back to the questions that shaped the research in the first place.

As expressed in our acceptance speech:

“For us at Tata Habitat, this award is not merely an appreciation of a written work, but an encouragement to continue exploring the relationship between architecture and nature more deeply.”

This research emerged from a quiet unease. Much of today's architecture is still built upon extractive systems. We take from the earth, shape it, and move on, rarely asking what is returned. At the same time, architectural beauty is often reduced to visibility: landmarks competing for attention.

Our research challenges this direction, not through confrontation, but through repositioning.

“Material is not merely a building component, but a mediator between humans and nature.”

Bata Kohe prototypes: experimenting with different material compositions and colors.

Read more about the project here.

In this view, architecture is not an object imposed on the landscape. It is a dialogue. Material carries memory, process, and consequence. In this sense, bata kohe is not merely a low-emission alternative, it is a circular construction material that closes the loop between agricultural waste, built form, and ecological return. Strength is no longer measured only by compressive force or structural performance, but by our capacity to cultivate awareness of the land that sustains us.

This perspective is central to Tata Habitat's way of thinking. We are less interested in architecture as a final image, and more in architecture as a relationship system, between people, place, and ecological cycles. Research allows us to slow down, to unlearn certain habits, and to ask whether our design decisions heal or silently deplete.

The awarded paper does not propose grand solutions. It offers a reframing. A reminder that regenerative architecture begins not with form, but with responsibility.

“We hope this small step becomes part of a longer journey toward an architecture that is conscious, responsible, and regenerative.”

Apsari took a pose upon receiving the award with presenters.

We extend our appreciation to the jury, mentors, and fellow architects who continue to safeguard the spirit of exploration within Indonesian architectural practice. Our gratitude also goes to University of Bina Nusantara as our laboratory of inquiry, to Nawasena as our research partner, and especially to Lingkar Temu Kabupaten Lestari and Gampiri Interaksi Lestari, whose trust allowed this research to remain grounded in real contexts.

For Tata Habitat, this recognition strengthens our believe that architecture must move beyond extraction, beyond spectacle, and toward a quieter, more attentive way of building with the earth.

Not louder.

Not faster.

But with consciousness.