Portal:Indonesia/BOTW/17, 2007

Albert Frederik Aalbers (December 13, 1897–1961) was a Dutch architect who created elegant villas, hotels and office buildings in Bandung, Indonesia under Dutch colonial rule in the 1930s.

Albert Aalbers worked in the Netherlands between 1924 and 1930 and then migrated to the Dutch East Indies after which he returned to the Netherlands in 1942 due to World War II and political circumstances following Indonesian independence.

During his stay in Bandung, in a period when the city was dubbed the 'city of architecture laboratory' a number of his buildings were considered masterpieces. Aalbers' style was inspired by expressionist Frank Lloyd Wright and modernist Le Corbusier. In Bandung, the DENIS bank (the present-day Bank Jabar) in Braga Street and the Savoy Homann Hotel (last renovated by Aalbers) in Asia-Afrika Street, still carry Aalber's ocean wave ornamentation.

The Three-colors Villa was his last work in Indonesia. In World War II, the Netherlands was occupied by Germany and the Dutch Indies was occupied by Imperial Japan. The Japanese Occupation Army interned Aalbers and his family. Even during captivity he drew many sketches, including his dream of having a villa in a tropical environment with mountains in the background.(Read more...)