Culture is indeed a treasure beyond compare. As one of our country’s national elements, Garuda Indonesia has long been in the forefront of introducing local cultures and traditional handicrafts to visitors from around the world. One of these efforts to aid in doing exactly that - is by designing Garuda Indonesia’s First Class Lounge, the airline’s signature lounge. Steeped in the country’s cultures and traditions, the lounge presents classic opulence throughout its interior —the perfect display to showcase the extensive pride of the people of this diverse country.
PHOTOS BY: Bagus Tri Laksono & Satya Wibisana
The lounge is the first one belonging to Garuda Indonesia designed with the First Class standard. It is located on the ground floor of the Terminal 2 building in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Cengkareng, Tangerang. Large enough to accommodate up to 40 people, the lounge features an ultra-luxury design and breathtaking ambiance. The interior is designed by Q Space, a design consultant famous for their works in sophisticated office buildings. With three design awards behind their name, the design consultant is also responsible for the design of Garuda Indonesia’s ticketing office, lost & found room as well as the airline’s other important facilities inside the airport.
The lounge, which opened its doors in early March 2014, showcases a distinctive design concept that differentiates it from the existing lounges inside the airport. The luxury ambience is one of the requirements drafted by the Garuda Indonesia because passengers pay a large sum of money to have the ‘first class’ brand stamped on their boarding passes. To achieve the desired design and to offer something special for the discerning travelers, Q Space had many rigorous discussions with Garuda prior to deciding on the right design concept. The concept to pamper passengers with a more personal touch has made the lounge much different from the existing Garuda Business Lounge that is located one floor above.
There are two reasons why the lounge is not too large in size. First is the small number of first class passengers. Second is the limited space in Terminal 2 that makes it difficult to build a bigger area. These size limitations, in addition to the isolated location—making use of a room previously used as a shed—and the lack of escalators to reach it, made the construction of the lounge a certain challenge for the designers.
From a technical side, Q space deliberately constructed a layout using fluid, organic shapes to provide a comfortable and classy ambiance. Color selection and lighting are designed with similar concept in order to create a more energized design. “We picked warm colors to provide an ambiance that is relaxed but still luxurious,” says Prapanca Muchtar, the Director of Q Space. “Lighting is designed to be soft to avoid straining the eye by eliminating down-light lamps that would exhaust the eyes and create obvious shadows.” The lounge also has a membrane ceiling so that the light it produces could be warmer and more even, especially when combined with the glow from the standing lamps positioned in several corners of the room.
Furniture arrangement is also made very personal considering privacy is one thing that is paramount here. Single chairs and desks, sofas as well as seats in separate cabins are positioned with privacy in mind. Chairs and tables from various high-end brands are selected to boost the opulent feel of the lounge. With reddish brown as the underlying tone of the lounge, materials used include teakwood, marbles, leather and fabrics in similar colour scheme preferred by Garuda as the Indonesian national flag carrier.
The dining area placed in the middle of the lounge is designed to look different from most dining rooms in common restaurants. Chairs and tables are made 10 cm higher than the standard furniture design, enabling people seated there to be as tall as the waiters who come to take their orders. In this dining area, Garuda Indonesia offers a la carte menus for first class passengers waiting in the first class lounge.
Another interesting aspect of the design is the large number of woven ornaments adorning the walls and floors. In fact, the traditional weavings of Indonesia is the one local artistry that Garuda is striving to introduce to every country around the world. Fittingly, artworks made of woven fabrics from across the archipelago beautifully drape the walls of the lounge. Another locally-sourced luxury can be seen in the red woven carpet laid out in the middle of the exclusive lounge.
The beautiful composition of woven artworks on the lounge’s walls is complemented by awe-inspiring details found in every corner of the room—the most remarkable one being the lines of wall ornament made of vertical wooden planks. On closer inspection, beautiful woven motifs are carved onto the planks’ surface. Made with extreme care and meticulous attention to detail, the vertical wooden decoration is offset by a background of stainless steel.
In addition to the sumptuous waiting and dining rooms, Garuda First Class Lounge is also equipped with a smoking corner, a mushola (praying room) and a separate kitchen. The toilet comes complete with a shower and is laid out differently from the usual Business Class Lounge that we are used to. A novel idea in the lounge is the ‘quiet room,’ a private space for waiting passengers to hold a small meeting or just to have a phone call.
Garuda Indonesia, a national airline with more than 50 domestic and international destinations, truly represents Indonesia by featuring local products, such as the art of weaving, to the global audience. This First Class Lounge successfully merges arts and the love of local products with sophisticated luxury. This is where the national pride stems from, and it is something that is difficult to express in words.