Toko Design

This is another project that I am working with an engineer named Hendra on. A toko is a small modular retail space that can be added to on the side or above for a second story. Often times people live on the second floor and have their shop on the first floor. Several of the villages have requested a toko as their community project that MC will fund. They will add on to it in the future. This was the original design that Hendra proposed. Today I am going to another toko that MC built to talk to the shop keepers and see what there feedback is. Currently the planter boxes are filled with trash and are not planted. I will see what the issues are and what suggestions they have for improvement. Doors can be added to the side bays, between the columns, when it is a corner lot and there is street access on both sides. They fill between the columns with cheap/poor quality brick, and plaster over it. This seems to be the preferred and probably cheapest building method here. If they were to expose the brick, they would have to special order high quality brick, so I have been told. This brick turns green and does not have square corners. Tokos typically do not have any plumbing or restroom facilities. I guess the question is, should the one that MC provides have plumbing, or not. With plumbing comes the need for septic, etc which becomes more complicated on a lean budget. I showed Hendra a book called "A Field Guide to Sprawl" which has pictures of bad American design and planning. We had a discussion as to whether modern or traditional is better. I explained why strip malls are bad and why Americans tend to be fat.

I showed Hendra these pictures to try to think about the many possibilities. I probably just annoyed him.