“TO HEAL THE NATURE” EDUTOURISM OF SWAMP CONSERVATION THROUGH WATER HYACINTH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FACILITIES IN RAWA PENING

• Main Author: Emelie Sulistya Putri, Joan
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/64984
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The condition of several lakes in Indonesia has decreased in function, one of which is Lake Rawa Pening. Rawa Pening's critical condition can be seen from the phenomenon of silting of the swamp due to the uncontrolled growth of water hyacinth. This has an impact on the water capacity of Rawa Pening which continues to decline, causing flooding in the surrounding community's rice fields and causing economic losses. As an effort to conserve Lake Rawa Pening, the contribution of architecture is to provide a research and development facility for water hyacinth as a means of education and recreation. This edutourism of swamp conservation is a fictitious project located in Kesongo Village, Tuntang District, Semarang Regency, directly adjacent to Lake Rawa Pening with a design area of 18,700 m2. This project was initiated by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in collaboration with the Semarang Regency Tourism Office with the aim of supporting a national program of activities related to saving priority lakes by providing a sustainable environment conservation facility for Rawa Pening. This project accommodates three main functions, namely a conservation function, an education function, and a recreation function. The three functions are presented through water hyacinth research and development facilities, auditorium, workshop space, exhibition hall, restaurant, and water tourism facilities. These facilities can answer the three design issues, namely, environmental conservation, local community participation, and the waterfront site context. The design approach applied to this project is “to heal the nature” which is realized through the use of environmentally friendly local materials, the application of stilt building structures, and the revival of tourism and local MSMEs. This strategy is carried out to help realize the recovery of the Rawa Pening area from an environmental, social, and economic perspective.