However, a heritage-related master’s programme was not available in her home country. Therefore, Anita decided to pursue her master’s degree at VU Amsterdam.
Scientific background
The VU programme gave Anita the academic foundation she needed. “I did a lot of reading and writing, which was very different from what I had been doing in my professional career. We also discussed many contemporary heritage issues in class. That really helped me gain a perspective I can use to critically reflect on my profession and on architectural discourse in general. It also simulated how the heritage industry operates, working with colleagues from other disciplines such as urban planning, art history, and archaeology. It’s an advantage to understand their way of thinking.”
Comparative study
Anita followed the programme during the pandemic and incorporated its consequences into her research. “My thesis was about the adaptive reuse of industrial buildings. I conducted a comparative study between Amsterdam’s Westergas, and a building compound called ‘M Bloc’ in Jakarta. Both places were heavily impacted at the time, as they were considered non-essential businesses.” Anita continues: “Heritage, culture, and art seemed like luxuries during that period. That gave me the idea to research how these places operated during the pandemic. In the Netherlands, government funding was used to cover staff salaries, but in Indonesia, that wasn’t the case. M Bloc’s strategy was to open an innovative supermarket that promoted local products and continued to serve a valuable social role within the community.”
PhD-student
After graduating, Anita worked as a researcher and curator in both Indonesia and the Netherlands. She later came across a PhD vacancy at the University of Amsterdam. “I’m now researching post-independence concrete architecture in Indonesia and will be living in Amsterdam again for my study,” she says. Anita concludes: “If someone had predicted a few years ago that I would become a PhD student at a Dutch university, I wouldn’t have believed them. It just shows how extraordinary your career path can become.”
