Abstrak : Jurnal Kajian Ilmu seni, Media dan Desain
Volume 2 Nomor. 4 Juli 2025
e-ISSN: 3032-1670; p-ISSN: 3032-2456, Hal 78-84
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62383/abstrak.v2i4.765
Available Online at: https://journal.asdkvi.or.id/index.php/Abstrak

Medan Art Creative Center in Medan City with a Neo- Vernacular
Approach
Cindy Priyani1*, Dwira Nirfalini Aulia2
1,2
Jurusan Arsitektur, Fakultas Teknik, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia
Korespondensi Penulis: mutiasalwa34@gmail.com
Abstract. Medan City is the 3rd largest metropolitan city in Indonesia with 70% of Medan's people being of
productive age. This shows that the city of Medan has the potential to develop in the creative industry, but the
lack of a platform to support the growth of creative ideas hinders this potential. A container is needed that meets
the aspects of comfort, openness and accessibility. Based on the existing problems, a view emerged to design the
"Medan Art Creative Center" with the theme approach that will be used to design this facility, namely NeoVernacular Architecture. Neo-Vernacular architecture is an architectural concept that incorporates elements of
surrounding culture into buildings by applying patterns or motifs typical of the place itself. Apart from that, the
use of a neo- vernacular theme is also in line with the building's function, namely as an arts and cultural facility,
where the aim of this project is to introduce the surrounding culture to local people and tourists from outside the
area.
Keywords: art, cultural, education, neo vernacular

1. INTRODUCTION
The Indonesian nation has now entered the 21st century, where human resources (HR) are
expected to improve their quality to face new challenges and problems [1]. The emergence of
the current era of globalization makes it easier for people to access a variety of information
more quickly, which is expected to change society's perspective on the education system in
Indonesia, as well as requiring increased skills, creativity, increased innovation, as well as
increased information and communication needs which have quite a large impact. on the
economy in Indonesia in the field of creative industries [2].
Data published by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy noted that in 2019 the
creative economy sub-sector managed to contribute around IDR 1,153.4 trillion to GDP. This
is very possible because Indonesia has reached a total of around 8.2 million creative economy
businesses, which are dominated by craft, fashion and culinary businesses [3]. Apart from that,
the sub-sectors of visual communication design, performing arts, film, as well as animation
and video, also have the fastest creative economic growth in Indonesia, supported by high
public interest in digital technology. Based on We Are Social data, it is noted that Indonesia
itself has a very high percentage of sales of creative industry video content. This can happen
because the number of internet users in Indonesia reached 73.7% in 2019, and of that human
population, 98, 5% are active in watching online videos. The city of Medan itself is the 3rd
largest metropolitan city in Indonesia with fairly rapid population growth. 70% of the people

Received: May 19, 2025; Revised: June 03, 2025; Accepted: June 27, 2025; Published: July 07, 2025;

Medan Art Creative Center in Medan City with a Neo- Vernacular Approach
of Medan are of productive age [4]. This shows that the city of Medan has the potential to
develop in the creative industry if viewed based on the number of human resources.
Economic growth in Medan also increases every year, where the creative industry is
one factor in increasing economic growth. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency,
226,233 unique MSEs have developed in the city of Medan. Based on data detailed by the
Medan Tourism Office, in March 2023, the turnover of MSMEs in the new Medan tourist
destination reached IDR 35 million, in May IDR 18 million, in June IDR 64 million, in July
IDR 83 million and in August IDR 56 million[5]. However, the main problem that prevents
creative industry activists from emerging is the lack of a platform to support the growth of
creative ideas due to an unsupportive environmental atmosphere. According to Kiswandono,
the existence of physical spaces that are innovative, diverse and tolerant can help arts activists
realize their creative ideas. Shopping centers and other commercial buildings also dominate
the city of Medan, thus forming the habit of residents to spend their free time in shopping
centers. It is feared that this could reduce the quality of human resources in the city of Medan
and reduce the readiness of human resources to face the future era of globalization.
Based on existing problems, a container is needed that meets the aspects of comfort,
openness and accessibility. Through the design of the "Medan Art Creative Center", it is hoped
that it can play a role in supporting the growth of the creative industry in the arts and digital
sub-sector in the city of Medan.
2. METHOD
The location selection method and project idea "Medan Art Creative Center in Medan City
with a Neo- Vernacular Approach" can be described in several stages as follows: The location
is located on the main road of Gatot Subroto so that it can be reached by the wider community,
easily accessible by pedestrians, public transportation and private transportation, location close
to several shopping centers such as Manhattan, Podomoro, and Plaza Millennium, and
Transmart Carefour, land area must be sufficient for all space requirements in accordance with
the planned facilities [6].
The method for designing the Medan Art Creative Center begins with looking for
information about the lack of facilities that accommodate creative arts activities in the city of
Medan. Then, the next step is to conduct surveys in strategic locations so that they are easily
accessible by public and private transportation so that they can be reached by the wider

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community [7]. After gathering information and finding a suitable location, the next step is to
analyze and adapt the design to a neo-vernacular architectural approach [8].
3. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The project in this research is entitled: Design of the Medan Art Creative Center in Medan
City with a Neo Vernacular Architectural Approach located on Jl. Gatot Subroto, Medan City,
North Sumatra. The design concept for the Medan Art Creative Center is Neo-Vernacular
Architecture [9]. The use of the neo- vernacular theme in this design is to highlight the Malay
tribe in Medan City and preserve the original tribe of Medan City. This Neo Vernacular
Architecture approach is applied to buildings by adding patterns and shapes adopted from the
strong Malay culture in the city of Medan [9]. For example, see Fig.1.

Figure 1 Site Location

Medan Art Creative Center users are divided into three, including: 1) Managers,
managers are users who are responsible for everything related to administration, management,
scheduling and maintenance of the arts and culture center building. ;2) Artists and students,
artists are users who are directly related to all activities related to art. For example, training and
developing artistic potential, introducing and directing artistic activities, and organizing artistic
performances. Performers of this art consist of artists, craftsmen and art and culture observers;
3) Visitors, visitors are users who come with the aim of recreation, enjoying and studying works

Medan Art Creative Center in Medan City with a Neo- Vernacular Approach
of art and culture. This group of visitors consists of the general public, students and tourists of
all ages [10] .
3.1 Basic Concept
The basic concept for designing the Medan Art Creative Center which is located on Jl.
Gatot Subroto in Medan City is Neo Vernacular Architecture. The use of a neo-vernacular
theme in this design is to harmonize the building's function with the surrounding culture [11].
This Neo-Vernacular Architecture approach is applied to buildings by adding patterns and
shapes adopted from Malay culture which is the original tribe of Medan. Space requirements
in designing the Medan Art Creative Center are divided into several groups, including
reception, management, main space, supporting and parking groups [12]. The concept of mass
and appearance aims to determine the basic form of mass that is suitable for use at the planned
site location [13]. The concept of the mass of the arts and culture center building is divided into
several zones, namely the arts and creative zone, management zone, restaurant zone, exhibition
zone, exhibition zone, open space zone and parking zone. The basic shape of this mass
composition is rectangular and 6-sided and modified to produce a shape of mass composition
that is in harmony with the zone divisions. see Fig. 2

Figure 2 Site Design Concept

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Zona Seni dan Kreatifitas
Zona Auditorium
Zona Restoran

3.2 Outdoor/Site Design Concept
The design location has three zones, namely the arts and creative facilities zone,
restaurant zone and exhibition zone. see Fig. 3

Figure 3 Exterior Concept
3.3 Interior Layout Concept
In this building there are several main activities. The space at the Medan Art Creative
Center facility is divided into 4 zones, including public zone, semi-public zone, private zone
and service zone. The following is a table of zone groupings in the rooms at the Medan Art
Creative Center facility. For example, see Fig. 4.

Figure 4 Interior Layout Concept

Medan Art Creative Center in Medan City with a Neo- Vernacular Approach
CONCLUSION
The Medan Art Creative Center facility is one of the facilities intended as a forum for
expressing talent interests in the arts, as well as increasing the knowledge of tourists both within
and outside the region regarding local culture and products in the city of Medan. The neovernacular architectural theme used in this arts and culture facility can be seen from the shape
of the roof used and the typical Malay ornaments which are intended to implement Malay
culture which is an indigenous tribe in the city of Medan.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research concerns the design of the Medan Art Creative Center in Medan City
using a Neo-Vernacular Architecture Approach. The author would like to thank the Department
of Architecture, University of North Sumatra for the guidance given to the author in writing
this research.
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