The Art-Society building in Batavia (Jakarta), which was opened in 1914, was designed by P.A.J. Moojen (1879-1955), one of the first professional architects working in the Dutch East Indies. Moojen, who received his training in Antwerp, was one of the founders of a contemporary Indonesian architecture and actively took part in the debate on style and architecture in the twenties. He designed, for instance, a (not realised) building for the Department of Education and Worship at Koningsplein and conducted the entries for international colonial exhibitions in Antwerp (1930) and Paris (1931). In the Art-Society building Moojen applied the newest techniques, steel roofs and reinforced concrete. The marked alternation of light and dark surfaces in the walls and the careful choice of materials, colours and details indicated a new direction in architecture in the Dutch East Indies. The powerfully built exterior shows similarities to the work of H.P. Berlage. The economic crisis of 1997 and the end of the ... : Bulletin KNOB, Bulletin KNOB 104 (2005) 6 ...