German student, Hubert Ernst Winkler, is recorded as having qualified in ‘Engineering, Independent Design and Construction’ before at the enrolling in the Architectural Association’s Department of Tropical Architecture (DTA) six-month, post-graduate course in 1956-57. He was an adherent of the Subud spiritual group and moved to Indonesia in 1962 to live and work with Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo (Bapak), the founder of the movement. Hubert took the name Ramzi and whilst supervising the construction of the new German embassy in Jakarta, also designed and oversaw the construction of a house for Bapak on Subud-owned land at Cilandak, South Jakarta (completed 1966). Later that year Bapak formed a company of Subud architects and engineers, called ‘International Design Consultants’ (IDC), led by Ramiz Winkler, together with Tom Pope (also a recent student at the AA Department of Tropical Studies) and Lamaan van Sommers. Alongside their work for the Subud community, the practice operated as one of the first foreign investment firms to be registered in Indonesia. Their first job was the renovation of the Australian Ambassador’s residence in Jakarta, followed by an increasing number of projects designing offices and factories for international firms, including some of the multinational pharmaceutical giants. Ramzi played a key role in the activities of the firm and one of his major projects was the design of a large factory complex for the large German pharmaceutical firm, Nattermann. By the mid-1970s, the practice had grown significantly, its largest project being the planning and design of a gated settlement for the township of Sorowako, housing foreign workers for INCO’s nickel mine, on the island of Sulawesi. On his retirement Ramzi moved to Western Australia.

Sources

• Architectural Association Student Register 1945-1972, AA Archives
• Department of Tropical Architecture, student listing, Otto Koenigsberger Collection, Box OK27, AA Archives
• Architectural Association Council Minutes Books, 25th February, 1957, p133. AA Archives
• Architectural Association Membership Register, 1961, 1969, 1979
• 'The Colombo Plan: Co-operative Economic Development in South and South-east Asia.’ Colombo Plan Information Unit, Volumes 13–14, 1968, p9
• Raymond van Sommers, A Life in Subud, Dawn Books, 2003
• Pope, M., ‘Salamah Pope’s Obituary (died August 30, 8:50pm),’ SubudVoice. No. 75, October 2017