On 11 September 2026, Manon Design Studio brought A Place Where Future Begins to SRT 3 Provinsi Bali in Tulamben, Karangasem. The programme invited students to talk about what they hope to become, explore possibilities they may not have encountered before, and express those ideas through design.
Built around the theme Ruang Harapan, the Manon Charity Event 2026 started from a simple thought: young people need room to imagine their future, but they also need an environment where those ideas can be heard, explored, and developed.
For Manon, this made the programme closely connected to architecture. Before a meaningful space can be designed, there must first be an understanding of the people who will experience it.
Why Every Future Needs Space to Grow
Aspirations can begin almost anywhere. A student may imagine continuing their education, pursuing a profession, developing a skill, or creating something of their own.
What differs is the environment around that aspiration.
A supportive environment can give someone room to ask questions, exchange ideas, practise, build confidence, and understand what may be possible. This was the thinking behind Ruang Harapan. Here, ruang was understood not simply as a physical room, but as an environment that supports learning, discussion, creativity, interaction, and growth.
The programme took place at SRT 3 Provinsi Bali, in Tulamben, Karangasem. Manon chose the school because its closely reflected the purpose behind A Place Where Future Begins. As part of Indonesia’s Sekolah Rakyat initiative, SRT 3 provides access to education for children from underprivileged families, making it a meaningful setting for a programme focused on aspiration, confidence, and the environments that can support young people as they grow.
Building Confidence Before Designing the Future
The programme start with sharing session. Manon Design Studio COO Asnayoni Mira spoke with students about confidence, personal potential, and the role those qualities can play when considering their future.
Students then added their aspirations to the Wall of Futures, giving individual hopes a visible place in the room.
The activity was intentionally simple. Its value came from asking students to put something that may have existed only in their thoughts into words they could see and share.
This reflects a principle that also guides Manon Design Studio: meaningful decisions begin with understanding people, their behaviours, and the context around them. Manon describes its design philosophy as being built around the relationship between people, space, identity, and nature.
From Future Aspirations to Future Spaces
The next step was exposure.
In A Dream of Becoming an Architect, Manon’s Head Studio, Jody Riski Setiadi Dirajuna, introduced students to the profession of architecture through conversation, questions, and a VR experience.
The aim was not to persuade every student to become an architect. It was to make one possible future more tangible.
Architecture can feel abstract when it is understood only through finished buildings. Through discussion and VR, students could see that the profession also involves observation, problem-solving, imagination, technology, and decisions about how people experience space.
Sometimes expanding what someone believes is possible begins simply by allowing them to see it more clearly.
Turning Aspirations into Sketches
During Design Your Future, the programme shifted from listening and exploration into making.
Students worked in small groups with Manon facilitators and began translating their ideas into sketches. The goal was not to produce polished architectural drawings. The sketch became a tool for thinking: a way to connect an aspiration with an environment, activity, or idea that could support it.
Selected students later presented their work and explained the thinking behind their sketches.
That step mattered.
The students were not simply completing an exercise prepared for them. They were given space to develop an idea and then speak for it themselves.
This follows the broader principle behind Manon’s Architecture Services. Good architecture begins by understanding the people behind a project, then translating those needs into spatial decisions that have a clear reason to exist.
What This Process Means for Manon Design Studio
A Place Where Future Begins was a community programme, but the thinking behind it is closely related to the way Manon approaches design.
Listen before deciding.
Understand before proposing.
Allow the people who will experience a space to become part of the conversation.
Only then should ideas begin to take form.
In professional practice, those conversations may involve a homeowner, developer, business owner, or hospitality operator. At SRT 3 Provinsi Bali, they began with students thinking about their own future.
The context was different, but the responsibility to listen remained the same.
A Place Where Future Begins is one expression of that principle: creating room for aspirations to be heard, needs to be understood, and ideas to be shaped together.
To learn how Manon Design Studio brings the same human-centered thinking into residential, hospitality, and commercial projects, explore our Architecture and Interior Design Services. If you are considering a project of your own, you can also start a conversation with our team.
