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Work Meets Play in Kaskus’s New Office
Lisa Siregar | November 18, 2011

Visitors to the Kaskus office are greeted by a toilet mounted on the wall, a tribute to the similarity of the company’s name to ‘kakus,’ the Indonesian word for latrine. The site offers a sleek, modern workspace for the company’s 60 staff and even boasts a stretch of artificial grass, which the company is considering turning into a putting green for golf aficionados. (JG Photos/Lisa Siregar) Visitors to the Kaskus office are greeted by a toilet mounted on the wall, a tribute to the similarity of the company’s name to ‘kakus,’ the Indonesian word for latrine. The site offers a sleek, modern workspace for the company’s 60 staff and even boasts a stretch of artificial grass, which the company is considering turning into a putting green for golf aficionados. (JG Photos/Lisa Siregar)
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It its latest move, Indonesia’s popular online forum Kaskus opted to go with the flow — and the flush.

After forging an approximately Rp 1 billion ($110,000) partnership with Djarum Group venture Global Digital Prima earlier this year, Kaskus has opened up its new digs in the Menara Palma building in Kuningan, South Jakarta. There, the company has put together an innovative and creative office space that nods to one of the unusual things its name evokes.

Right in the foyer between a restroom and the entrance to the company’s creative office, there’s a toilet — on the wall.

“Most people, when they hear the word ‘Kaskus,’ it reminds them of word ‘kakus’ [the Indonesian word for toilet],” said Lani Rahayu, Kaskus’s marketing and public relations director.

Instead of brushing off the toilet image, Kaskus decided to embrace it by installing an ornamental toilet on the wall, covered in white tiles to further conjure up the image of a restroom.

When a curious visitor lifts the lid, he or she finds a mirror at the bottom of the bowl. This unique interior design and decorative placement breaks the ice for visitors.

The new office is a symbolic milestone in Kaskus’s 12-year history. With the move, Kaskus is poised to launch new business strategies to make the most of its three million users, making the network the biggest online forum in the country.

The crew at Kaskus began moving into the new office last week, Lani said. The previous office could barely fit the staff of 60 and offered casual seating — people worked at whatever work station they chose. When all staff were at work in the old offices, it was crowded and hard to find space to squeeze in company founder and chief technology officer Andrew Darwis and chief executive Ken Dean Lawadinata, who prefer to sit and work among their staff.

But walking into the new two-story Kaskus office is akin to stepping into a playground. Its creative office, on the 11th floor, follows the concept of a treasure hunt. Visitors wind through a dimly lit lounge and long hallways before they finally arrive at the creative office.

The lounge is anything but dull. It features a mirror on one wall. Another wall is covered with artificial grass, which stretches across the floor. High heels are not advised for visits to this room.

After the employees have settled in from the move, Lani said they planned to provide golf clubs so that guests could practice putting in the lounge. Sitting in the corner of the room is a pile of toy guns, ready for play or stress relief.

Staff enter the lounge through a long hallway hidden behind the room. The hallway contrasts with the lounge’s seemingly futuristic tone with a Zen ambience of wooden tiles, walls and ceiling. The creative office itself is a spacious, open loft. There’s a programmer’s desk, a few closed-door meeting rooms and a games room.

To keep the creative juices flowing, Kaskus’s employees have access to a room with two 61-centimeter plasma televisions to play Xbox and PlayStation 3.

Creative, content, marketing and public relations teams all work together in the one room. The programming staff is set apart in a separate area, which has the best view of Kuningan.

“We really want the creative office to have a playful ambience,” Andrew said. “The marketing and sales office is the one that has the sense of a high-tech room.”

A floor below the creative team, the marketing and sales office is where the board of directors and corporate guests will hold their meetings.

The contemporary-designed room features funny and insightful quotes about the Internet, such as Homer Simpson’s “The Internet? Is that thing still around?” emblazoned all over the grayish walls. The upbeat and humorous sayings lift the tone of the serious atmosphere in the business part of the office.

Ken and Andrew have an office on the 10th floor, but it’s mostly empty, as both prefer to spend their time at the creative room upstairs.

In the coming year, Kaskus plans to transform itself into a social commerce Web site. Andrew said they were excited about the expansion.

Change is always been a part of Kaskus, which has grown from an online forum for Indonesian students overseas to an open forum for everyone. For years, Kaskus users have processed transactions among themselves, and the movement is an organic one.

Andrew said the company would soon launch a payment system to guarantee safe transactions for users.

“Buyers will transfer their money to us and after they receive the goods safely, sellers can claim their money in our account,” he said.

Kaskus also plans to hire about 100 more employees to help support its network. Since that’s the plan, the new office is one way to ensure that everyone has enough room and the founder and chief executive can still have their own office — if they can tear themselves away from the games room.