ARCHITECTURE OF BALI Format: Paperback

Acclaimed landscape and architectural designer Made Wijaya draws on his photographic archives, compiled over the past 30 years, to present a visual study of Balinese architecture: its origins, elements, variations and vagaries. The book opens with an overview of Balinese architecture in its human context – the village. It then looks at the basic elements of local architecture – the walled courtyard and the pavilion. Further chapters examine building materials, the Balinese love of ornamentation and the architectural hybrids resulting from other ethnic influences. Wijaya also examines how Balinese architecture has been incorporated in modern private houses and boutique hotels in Bali. Besides Wijaya’s own archival photographs, the book is illustrated with the work of acclaimed artists, photographers and illustrators.

Made Wijaya was born in Sydney, Australia. He arrived in Bali in 1973, having jumped ship and swum ashore in a rainstorm. A student of architecture, he intended the visit as a short break from his studies, but his fascination with Bali’s rich culture and tradition led him to stay. After various jobs teaching tennis and English, working as a tourist guide and photo-journalist, he began contributing to guidebooks before being asked to design a small private garden. Following a memorable trip to London in 1979, when he visited the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and explored some of the classic English country gardens, he received his first large-scale commission from renowned tropical architect Peter Muller, to transform the gardens at Bali’s legendary Bali Oberoi. The gardens today stand as testimony to his talents.