Rumah Kaca Hoya (Hoya Greenhouse), Kebun Raya Bogor

Kebun Raya Bogor, described by the Indonesian press as the oldest botanical garden in Southeast Asia, is now run by the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN). Since 1 January 2020 it has worked with a strategic partner, PT Mitra Natura Raya (MNR), which operates as KebunRaya.id and handles public services and outreach, while BRIN keeps responsibility for research and conservation.

The Hoya greenhouse grew out of that partnership. The project was conceived in 2023 and the building went up during 2024. It was opened on Monday 19 May 2025, as part of the garden's 208th anniversary, in the presence of BRIN chair Laksana Tri Handoko, MNR president director Michael Bayu A. Sumarijanto, researcher Sri Rahayu, BRIN's director of scientific collections and the German ambassador to Indonesia, Ina Lepel.

On the same day the four national botanical gardens of Bogor, Cibodas, Purwodadi and Bali held simultaneous tree plantings as a sign of their shared commitment to conservation.

Reports of the opening describe a modern glass building with a floor area of 497.5 m², without naming an architect or detailing its structure or climate equipment. In OpenStreetMap the building is mapped as a rectangular greenhouse building beside Jalan Astrid, in the Paledang district of central Bogor.

Inside, it is laid out as an exhibition and conservation gallery: visitors move past native Indonesian species, hybrids with distinctive colours and shapes, and exotic specimens gathered from other parts of the world. The greenhouse stands about 300 metres from Gate 3 of the garden and less than 300 metres from the Soedjana Kassan orchid house, which opened in 2023.

The greenhouse keeps more than 100 Hoya species represented by over 500 specimens, 80 of which were on display at the opening. The choice of genus is deliberate: according to BRIN, around 130 of the roughly 400 Hoya species known worldwide are native to Indonesia.

The collection showcases the work of BRIN researcher Sri Rahayu, who has described more than thirty new species and produced the Hoya variety 'Kusnoto' through selection of gamma-ray-induced mutants, work begun in 1996. It also includes Hoya biruensis, recently found in the Gunung Biru area of West Kalimantan and known only from very small populations. New hybrids are currently going through plant variety registration.

The greenhouse is inside Kebun Raya Bogor, some 300 metres from Gate 3, and is aimed as much at plant enthusiasts as at researchers, universities and schoolchildren. A visit combines easily with the nearby Soedjana Kassan orchid house and then the garden's large lawns, avenues and ponds. In 2025 the garden's anniversary was marked by four days of festivities, from 16 to 19 May, with tissue-culture workshops, plant sales and an exhibition of botanical art.