Tag: Sunanda Gnanasiri

A 2 unit cost effective rustic residence was conceived on a 170 square meter plot bordering a 6 meter residential street in Colombo suburb of Nugegoda, Sri Lanka. Exposed clay bricks were used for the ground floor 2 bedroom unit in an experimental capacity while exposed cement bricks were used for the 1st floor 2 bedroom unit. Ground floor was allocated with 2 car parking slots 1 each per unit paved with rough hand cut granite recycled from upcountry tea plantations. 1st Floor unit bedrooms have access to balconies which overlook front & rear gardens  while lounge areas of both units are provided with generous glazing with multiple timber framed glazed windows. 1st floor unit is accessed from open to sky external steel staircase, while different types of cement louver grill-works are used for boundary walls in keeping with the rustic textural theme of the project, a breeding ground of various ideas of the architect client used in his previous projects. Two floor  slabs use 1″ thick pre cast ferro cement permanent shuttering resting on pre-stressed pre cast concrete beams laid out at 2 feet intervals. Structural skeleton is Steel.

This house questions how do one live indoor outdoor life? How does one work with ideas and culture, with the light, the wind, the environment and the foot traffic in a specific place? How do you frame the surrounding environment around you within the architecture?  Outside environment is something that you can almost feel with the air passing through and having outside environment so immediate.

The site was as typical as suburbia could get: a street with a rhythm of roof tiled, plastered brick boxes built to the limit of the road setbacks. Site is bounded by existing houses on two sides with a main neighbourhood street on east side. The density and potential proximity of neighbouring houses was an issue to address. In a neighbourhood of older detached houses ranging from one to two storeys the narrative of the house began as a shell for a tall living room. Pagoda house wraps its transparent inner spaces with a shell of un-plastered cement brick set into the frame of a raw concrete structure. The rear of the house contains the living dining room and kitchen on the ground floor, with bedrooms above.

The Architecture today is dominated by the overstimulated visual forms. These visual forms are most of the time not sympathetic to their surroundings. They dominate & compete with the surrounding whether it’s in a cityscape or rural landscape. They do not follow the rhythms of nature. A heavy concrete structure built on a marshy go against the rhythms of nature. A structure in hot dry zone should have lot of shade to protect from heat.  Structure in hot humid climate should have shade as well as cross ventilation. When you recognize forces of nature – climate, topography, etc… built structures blend with their context and do minimum harm to it. Santani is a place where the built structures recognize the importance of being contextual.