The Geoffrey Bawa Award for Architecture
EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF THE VERY FIRST GEOFFREY BAWA AWARDS FOR ARCHITECTURE 2007/08 BY ADA
Text and photography courtesy of: The Geoffrey Bawa Trust
Background
In taking on the job of administering the estate of Geoffrey Bawa the members of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust committed themselves to furthering cause of good architecture in Sri Lanka. In the past they have done this by offering travel scholarships to students, organizing exhibitions, publishing books and running workshops. To extend and augment these activities the Trust decided in 2007 to inaugurate a four yearly cycle of awards for architecture.
The Award has been modeled on the international award which is run by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. This was inaugurated by HRH the Aga Khan in 1977 and, having now completed ten of its three-year cycles, is now acknowledged to have had an enormous effect on architecture in the developing world. Geoffrey Bawa acted as an adviser to Aga Khan and served as a juror. In 2001 he received the Aga Kan’s Special Award for a Lifetime’s Achievement in Architecture, being only the third person, and the first non-Moslem, to be thus honoured in thirty years.
Launch
The Award was launched on 23 July 2007, Geoffrey Bawa’s birthday, at a press conference in Colombo. Advertisements were placed in the press inviting building owners, architects and designers to nominate buildings for consideration. To qualify, buildings had to have been built in Sri Lanka during the previous ten years and to have been in use for at least one year. Candidates were required to submit data sheets along with A2 panels of drawings and photographs which described the building.
Final Judging
The final judging took place on 28 April 2008 after extensive short listing and technical reviews. For this Architect de Vos was replaced on the jury by Architect Jayantha Perera, the President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects. Having listened to the reports of the Technical Committee and after careful deliberation, the judges agreed unanimously to select one overall winner and give commendations to two others.
Reflections of the Judges
The judges were impressed by the number and overall standard of the entries and were encouraged by the fact that so many of the submissions had been designed by small and young practices. At the same time there was disappointment that the Award had failed to attract work from the more established practices or from public institutions – in particular it was sad that not a single post-Tsunami school had been submitted.
The buildings submitted had, in the main, been designed in a contemporary idiom which sought to reflect Sri Lankan traditions without aping them, and most of them appeared to prioritise the need to design for human comfort in a sustainable way. It may be that building codes in Sri Lanka need to be tightened, and it was disappointing that many schemes failed to take into account the needs of fire safety, wheelchair accessibility or health and safety.
The overall impression given by the total cross-section of submissions was that, despite the problems which face the country, its architects are managing to design buildings of high quality, and their achievements compare very favorably with those of other countries in the region. The nine short-listed schemes were all of high quality and most of them fully merited their selection. The judges found it difficult to choose an overall winner, and all three of the premiated schemes had strong qualities. In the final analysis, the overall winner was selected because it was distinctive on a number of levels, and because it took risks and was experimental.
The Technical Reports
A Technical Committee was appointed to inspect the short-listed projects and draw up technical reports to assist the judges in their deliberations. The committee comprised Eugenie Mack and Channa Daswatte, both members of the Lunuganga Trust, and Professor David Robson, one of the award judges and was assisted by C. Anjalendran who is an adviser to the Trust.
A panel consisting of Eugenie Mack, David Robson and Anjalendran carried out the inspections between 14 and 18 March 2008. Each visit had duration of about 2 hours. The panel met with the architect, the client or their representatives and had the opportunity to talk to a variety of building users. They were courteously and graciously received in all nine buildings, and were able to ask penetrating questions and explore the buildings thoroughly.
The technical reports used a list of criteria based on three basic questions: does the building fulfill its purpose? does it stand up and keep out the weather? is it a thing of beauty which gives pleasure to those who encounter it? These were expanded to make a checklist of twelve criteria which defined a level playing field for the purposes of comparison. It should be stressed, however, that no attempt has been made to ‘score’ the schemes or to apply any quantitative assessment. It was also clear that certain criteria had less relevance to some projects than to others.
Project: The Thicket, Mandawala, Gampaha
Architect: M.M.G. Samuel
The client wished to create a country estate which would serve as a refuge from the travails of the city. After a four year search he and his architect found an old pineapple estate and within a year succeeded in remodeling it to create a five acre country garden. An existing house on the site is currently being converted to serve as a residence. The site has a formal walled entrance opening directly onto a main road and service entrance which is reached from a side road A number of simple structures have been constructed, including a pavilion, a dog kennel, a carport, staff quarters and a bathing well.
The garden has been planned successfully to exploit the existing contours and is already a place of great physical beauty. It packs few surprises, however, and almost the whole of the garden can be seen in one panorama from the central section of the driveway. The composition was laid out in record time and there seems to be no expectation that it will grow or change in the future. It fits well into its neighborhood and has been sited discretely behind an attractive stone wall which incorporates a new bus shelter.
The various buildings have been designed in an elegant but rugged manner with careful details which hold out the promise of low maintenance. An attractive nocturnal lighting system has been installed. Garden details such as seats, planters, terraces have all been carefully and tastefully designed for comfort, low-maintenance and pleasing appearance.
As a private pleasure garden, this is a rare project in this day and age and its unique character has been born out of the collaboration of an enlightened client and an inventive architect.
Project: Visitor Centre for the Minneriya National Park
Architect: Sunil Gunawardena
The Visitor Centre functions as the main entry point for to the Minneriya National Park. Visitors leave their vehicles and enter the centre on foot to purchase tickets for the park. They can also view a small exhibition, climb to an elevated platform to watch birds, watch a film in a small auditorium or use the toilets which open directly into the jungle. The centre also contains offices and staff facilities. The various building elements are scattered over a small area of forest and are connected by a system of paths and raised walkways.
A dramatic main entrance loggia is formed by large gently sloping roof supported on a forest of slender black columns which spring from heavier stone-finished concrete bases of differing heights. Beyond it the main building contains the ticket office, the exhibition spaces and the viewing platform on three separate levels. The toilets are placed on the ground some thirty meters away to the west, and the auditorium is some forty meters away the south.
The raised walkways have been constructed from rough pre-cast planks and have not been provided with canopies or handrails. They are slippery in wet weather. No provision is made for disabled people or wheelchair users. When it’s raining it is impossible to access the ticket office or the toilets without getting wet.
The buildings have been carefully sited and blend well into the jungle. No trees were cut and a minimum amount of earth movement was required. The construction uses a combination of exposed brick work, fair-faced concrete and timber in a manner which suggests ancient ruins which have been unearthed from the jungle and the centre is imbued with a sense of romance and mystery. The original lighting system proved to be inadequate and has been replaced by unsightly fluorescent tubes.
Visitors leave their cars and thus experience a small part of the jungle at first hand rather that through the windscreen of a vehicle. This approach adds drama and theatricality to what would otherwise be a mundane pit-stop and visitors are offered a memorable scenographic experience of the park they are about to enter. The design is imbued with intellectual and poetic qualities but fails to address simple functional issues such as shelter and safety.
Project: Bus Stand and Shopping Complex in Dambulla
Architect:Architects Co-Partnership
This project creates a central bus terminal and shopping centre for the rapidly expanding town of Dambulla. The site is located on the Matale road, a few hundred meters to the south of the main Dambulla junction and the town’s main street.
The design exhibits a fresh approach to the design of a transport interchange by providing a generous and airy public concourse protected by an oversailing lightweight roof umbrella. Sadly, through no fault of the architect, the bus operators have failed to use the centre in the way that it was intended. Through-buses and small private buses continue to use open bus halts along Dambulla’s main street and pick up and drop passengers on the main road in front of the terminus. There is no provision for trishaw pickups.
Within the bus terminal the concourse and queuing lines were planned for buses which entered front-ways into their bay. Inexplicably all of the buses now enter backwards which means that their doors are located diametrically opposite the head of the queue. Most people now ignore the queuing bays opt to wait outside the concourse in the bus lane. The shops which face the bus bays seem to be heavily used, but these have been allowed to encroach out into the concourse, thus blocking circulation.
The basic idea to create a large oversailing umbrella roof is sound and the interiors are light and well ventilated. The structure is elegant and efficient. The design is environmentally successful and demonstrates that a large public building can be designed to achieve high levels of comfort with minimal expenditure of energy. Details have been carefully designed to stand up to wear and tear.
The design was fresh and innovative and held out the promise of a much needed modern facility for the townsfolk of Dambulla. It ought to have produced a public building of real distinction, but it has been compromised by those who are responsible for running it, and serves as a reminder of the fact that, without effective operating and maintenance regimes, even the best of designs will fail.
Project: Holiday Bungalow at Ginigathena for Prabhoda Sumanasekera
Architect: Palinda Kannanagara
The house is located in a deep valley below the Ginigathena to Hatton road at a height of about 800 meters above sea-level and occupies a bluff of land on the left bank of the river enjoying spectacular views in three directions. The plan consists of three linked elements: a central block containing the main bedroom and the glass dining pavilion, a cranked west wing containing the main sitting room and two guest bedrooms and the east wing, containing the kitchen and staff room. The three elements are linked by a long corridor which is defined by a solid stone wall. The entrance is located between the central block and the west wing and opens onto a small swimming pool.
The main buildings are covered by flat concrete roofs supported on concrete frames. The limit of the internal envelope is expressed by an upstand beam which is designed to contain roof planting, and a thin slab cantilevers beyond this to provide shade and rain protection. The dining pavilion projects out into the valley from the main body of the house as a sleek steel framed pavilion. The simple palette of materials, rubble externals walls, plain white internal walls, polished cement floors, links the house to its site. The interiors have a Spartan elegance and the projecting dining room is handled with great elegance.
As well as framing the different views, the house involves its occupants with the ever changing pattern of weather. It functions mainly as a belvedere, and little thought has been given to developing the landscape or connecting the house to its immediate surroundings.
This is a highly innovative design which succeeds in applying a modern architectural idiom to a time-honoured typology: it slips effortlessly into the long Sri Lankan tradition of estate bungalows. The views are exploited with great subtlety: the different rooms are allocated different parts of the panorama and windows function almost as wall paintings. It combines pragmatic functionality with an uplifting sense of spatial poetry.
Project: Boulder Garden Nature Resort
Architect:Lalyn Collure (with Sarathchandra Ramanayake)
The project was the brainchild of its owner Sarathchandra Ramanayake who grew up at Kalawana on the edge of the Sinharajah Forest and dreamt of creating a nature resort amongst its rocks and caves.
Visitors arrive at a clearing and enter the hotel via a series of staircases and cobbled alleys. The main guest rooms are arranged in three tiers across the north facing slopes of a hill and can be accessed directly from the reception through gaps in the boulders. A further staircase leads up to the restaurant which shelters under a single overhanging boulder. Beyond this lies a swimming pool which is almost entirely hemmed in by huge rocks. The hotel and its surroundings form a part of continuum and it is hard to determine where the buildings end and the jungle begins: it is totally hidden from view and can truly be said to touch the ground lightly.
The principle rooms are enclosed within rubble walls and offer all the normal creature comforts, albeit in a rustic manner which makes them somewhat dark and claustrophobic. There is no air-conditioning and the rooms are fitted with external exhaust fans which effectively reduce the humidity and deter the mosquitos. At night the public spaces are dimly lit as a deliberate ploy to reduce light pollution and encourage wildlife. No provision is made for visitors in wheelchairs, though, given the nature of the site, this would hardly be possible.
The hotel offers an enjoyable experience even during the heaviest of rain and the dawn chorus of birds is a highlight of any stay. The architect has blended the buildings into their setting and has respected the existing boulder formations and jungle. The staircases and walkways have been designed to merge with their surroundings and the flooded cobble spaces are particularly successful.
The design relates perfectly to a long Sri Lankan tradition of building amongst boulders, while offering something which is totally innovative. Such a successful marriage of the traditional and new is all too rare and is to be applauded. This is a brave idea which has helped to chart a new direction for Sri Lankan tourism. It highlights the enormous beauty of Sri Lanka’s natural environment and experiments with new ways of placing buildings in a sensitive location.
Project: Saffron Beach Villa, Habraduwa
Architect: PWA Architects
The house is placed discretely away from the beach edge behind a stand of palm trees, and fits inconspicuously into the roadside environment of Habraduwa. A series of enclosed courtyards along the northern boundary create a buffer zone between the house and the busy road; a second zone contains the principal service elements; a third zone contains a large carp pond and the open staircase; the fourth zone, defined by a simple duo-pith roof, contains the main living spaces. An entrance corridor bridges the outer two zones and deposits visitors at the crossroads of the plan presenting them with an axial view of the sea.
The house relies almost entirely on natural ventilation and has developed strategies to achieve high levels of natural daylighting, while at the same time providing shade and protection from wind and rain. It responds very directly to changing light and weather conditions.
The fittings and built-in furniture have been designed in a cool minimalist manner and act as a perfect foil to the pure white interiors. Generous and well-located storage provides a practical back-up to the minimalist design approach.
The buildings employ a simple concrete frame with plastered infill walls and the roof covering consists of lapped aluminum sheets. The minimalist detailing sometime fails to live up to the design intentions: the timber handrails have warped and their fixings are not strong enough; the staircase treads consist of simple planks with unprotected ends and are showing signs of bowing.
The landscape has been conceived with great restraint: the garden is ordered by a transverse terrace which links the house to the beach, and the swimming pool is framed dramatically by a long raw concrete wall. The enclosed courtyards are particularly successful, providing cool havens away from the beach.
The architects have broken away from traditional ‘tropical’ design conventions to create a house which is light, airy and modern. It deals successfully with the constraints of the site and fully exploits its opportunities, to create a successful pleasure pavilion. The cool elegance of the interiors provides a foil to the lush tropical landscape.
Project: Showroom and Offices for Suzuki Maruti
Architect: Nela de Zoysa
The building was commissioned to serve as the showroom and main office for a car importer and is located on an awkwardly shaped and restricted site opposite the Kanatta Cemetery. The plan turns the site shape into a virtue and uses its acute angle corner to generate an imposing entrance. The main sales floor had to be raised up because of poor soil conditions and this suggested that a semi-basement be excavated to provide car storage. Cars are displayed around the outer perimeter of the main floor, and the sales teams are located around the inner perimeter. An upper mezzanine floor houses the offices. The car circulation is carefully conceived with ramps serving both the basement and the main showroom. The glazed west and south facades act as a shop window for the cars, while the cantilevered roof canopies and supporting structures echo the scale of the trees of the nearby cemetery.
The showrooms are light and airy and provide an excellent working environment. Great care has been lavished on artificial lighting and the building looks well at night. Although the main floor is raised, wheelchair users can use the car ramp.
The air-handling plant is located in two towers which double up on the sales floors as consultation suites, though the mezzanine offices are cooled by unsightly wall units.
The structure is innovative and elegant in concept though somewhat crude in execution. The white interior provides an appropriate backdrop to the cars on display, though the applied metal cladding to the structure on the lower level is out of keeping with the main parti. There is little landscaping and the external spaces are disappointing.
The building has a simple functional elegance and develops an aesthetic which is wholly appropriate to the image of mass-produced economy cars, though, in the final analysis, it lacks subtlety. It does demonstrate, however, a high level of professional skill in dealing with a sensitive and difficult site and the exacting needs of a commercial client. The design is appropriate to its function and to its setting and makes an important contribution to townscape.
Project: Nalin Indrasena House, Nawala
Architect: Shyamika de Silva
This compact town house was built on a restricted plot of 8 perches and turns its back on the street to look into a small garden court. The cellular accommodation is contained within a two storey zone and the main living space takes the form of a monumental cube of space which opens fully to the garden. The flat roof serves as a garden terrace. The three levels are connected by an elegantly sculptural, though slightly vertiginous, spiral staircase.
This seemingly simple box incorporates a structural system of considerable sophistication which has eliminated visible columns or downstand beams. The two-storey high sliding-folding glass screen has been designed with great ingenuity and is of local manufacture. The environmental design strategy exploits the huge volume of the living room and a ventilation shaft operates as a wind catcher. The roof overhang and the position of the trees ensure that there is no rain penetration. As a result the house is cool and full of light, and seems to require minimal inputs of energy.
The architecture is elegantly minimal. Minimalism comes at a price, however, and the design raises questions about the vulnerability of pure white surfaces and about the need of individuals to colonise their own space. The kitchen, bathrooms and two bedrooms, though well designed, are cramped, and one feels that too much has been sacrificed to enhance the main living space. This approach would have been more successful if more storage space could have been incorporated.
The garden court has been simply but effectively landscaped. The roof garden represents a lost opportunity and would have benefited from more canopies and more planting.
When it was designed in 1999 this was a totally revolutionary proposition for Sri Lanka. It was innovative on a number of levels – spatially, environmentally and structurally – and offered a potent alternative to prevailing tropical-regionalist practices while exploring the problem of building a naturally ventilated house on a small urban plot. The design is intellectually ambitious: both client and architect deserve to be congratulated for taking risks and for asking important questions about how we live in Sri Lanka..
Project: The Bedsitter, Miriswatte, Pilyandela
Architect: Prasanna Jayalath
This small house occupies the street frontage of a much bigger site. It is intended to serve as the architect’s temporary home and will later become his office.
The house is entered via a trapezoidally shaped courtyard which terminates in a reflecting pool. It is conceived as a simple pavilion and contains a main living space, a partially screened sleeping area, a cooking area and an enclosed bathroom. The bathroom is located at the furthest corner from the sleeping area. The main living space opens towards the entrance court and the busy road and turns its back on the large garden to which it has no direct access. The kabook court contains a single self-conscious tree and the rear garden has yet to be landscaped.
Although described and planned as a ‘bedsitter’ the house has a plinth area of 140 sq.m. and would easily accommodate a substantial family home.
The building appears to be a simple prism, though in fact it has a low-pitched roof which is hidden behind deep eaves beams. This means that the walls are offered no shade or weather protection. The roof traps a cushion of static warm air and the unshaded kabook courtyard also acts as a source of radiant heat. The sleeping space contains only one window and has no cross-ventilation. The bathroom and kitchen are lit from tiny porthole windows which admit very little light or air. Significantly, the architect states in his notes that “the use of sunshades would have disrupted the design”.
The architect has created a compact and stylish house for himself and his wife. However, in pursuing a fashionable image, the design seems to ignore practical environmental issues. The furniture and fittings show simple and tasteful elegance in keeping with the general aesthetic of the design.
Laiyn Collure & Shyamika Silva win at the Geoffre Bawa Awards 2007/2008 for excellence in Architecture
On Thursday, July 24, 2008 not one, but two architects walked away with the coveted Geoffrey Bawa Award 2007/2008 for Excellence in Architecture, at a glamorous presentation held at the Galle Face Hotel. Lalyn Collure (winning submission-Bouider Garden Nature Resort), and Shyamika silva (winning submission – Nalin Indrasena’s House) each Received the top award, while Nela De Soyza (Suzuki Maruti Complex) and Palinda Kannangara (An Estate Bungalow) received commendation for their work.
This elegant and special event, hosted by the Geoffrey Bawa trust, saw architects of 9 properties vying for this the award, which models itself according to the principles of the world-renowned Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
According to Lalyn Collure, whose design for the Boulder Garden Nature Resort has been widely acclaimed by architects and the public alike, “the Boulder Garden Resort was an exciting opportunity to create something innovative and different, and I am honoured that the esteemed panel of jurists thought so highly of the project.”
According to Shyamika Silva, whose winning submission – Nalin Indrasena’s House – has been recognized for achievement for its minimalist design and contemporary elements, “to walk away with this prestigious award is a significant achievement for me, and this is made much more special since we were given an unparalleled compliment of being recongnised at the inaugural award presentation.”
The two architects were presented with the highly coveted trophy, the design of which was inspired by an obelisk placed on top of a gate post at Bawa’s Lunuganga Estate. Made from solid paramara wood and Ebony, the design emulated similar elements found in the great gardens of Europe – particularly Italy – for which Bawa had a particular fondness. The two winners also shared the one million rupee prize money that was awarded.
Meanwhile, Nela de Zoysa was commended for her design of the Suzuki Maruti Complex, a building conceptualised to showcase the exhibits in a hi-tech, yet minimalist surroundings. Also walking away with a commendation for his work was Palinda Kannangara, for an Estate bungalow hideout designed to allow its owners to live amidst the green and enjoy nature to the fullest.
Heading the judging panel, Ms. Sunethra Bandaranaiyake, (Trustee – Geoffrey Bawa trust, and Chairperson – Sunera foundation) added that choosing a single winner was an immensely difficult task. “Each of the 9 short – listed properties is very special in design, and technical expertise. The judges were highly impressed by the standards being adhered to. We are sure that Bawa himself would have been immensely proud to see how our young architects are now more conscious about the aesthetic beauty of a building.”
Further commenting on the significance of holding an awards ceremony of this caliber, she added that the Geoffrey Bawa award 2007/2008 for Excellence in architecture provides talented architects with an excellent platform on which to showcase their designs. “Additionally, these awards will showcase that we have excellent architects who are committed to creating world class designs.”
Each of the 9 shot-listed submissions was selected by an eminent panel of judges, and was subjected to an intense technical assessment. The judging panel comprised of Ms. Sunethra Bandarnaiyake, Archt. C. Anjalendran, Prof. David Robson, Prof. Senaka Bandaranayake, Archt. Jayantha Perera, Archt. Channa Daswatte, and Ms. Eugenie Mack.
Text and photography courtesy of: The Geoffrey Bawa Trust
Background
In taking on the job of administering the estate of Geoffrey Bawa the members of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust committed themselves to furthering cause of good architecture in Sri Lanka. In the past they have done this by offering travel scholarships to students, organizing exhibitions, publishing books and running workshops. To extend and augment these activities the Trust decided in 2007 to inaugurate a four yearly cycle of awards for architecture.
The Award has been modeled on the international award which is run by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. This was inaugurated by HRH the Aga Khan in 1977 and, having now completed ten of its three-year cycles, is now acknowledged to have had an enormous effect on architecture in the developing world. Geoffrey Bawa acted as an adviser to Aga Khan and served as a juror. In 2001 he received the Aga Kan’s Special Award for a Lifetime’s Achievement in Architecture, being only the third person, and the first non-Moslem, to be thus honoured in thirty years.
Launch
The Award was launched on 23 July 2007, Geoffrey Bawa’s birthday, at a press conference in Colombo. Advertisements were placed in the press inviting building owners, architects and designers to nominate buildings for consideration. To qualify, buildings had to have been built in Sri Lanka during the previous ten years and to have been in use for at least one year. Candidates were required to submit data sheets along with A2 panels of drawings and photographs which described the building.
Final Judging
The final judging took place on 28 April 2008 after extensive short listing and technical reviews. For this Architect de Vos was replaced on the jury by Architect Jayantha Perera, the President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects. Having listened to the reports of the Technical Committee and after careful deliberation, the judges agreed unanimously to select one overall winner and give commendations to two others.
Reflections of the Judges
The judges were impressed by the number and overall standard of the entries and were encouraged by the fact that so many of the submissions had been designed by small and young practices. At the same time there was disappointment that the Award had failed to attract work from the more established practices or from public institutions – in particular it was sad that not a single post-Tsunami school had been submitted.
The buildings submitted had, in the main, been designed in a contemporary idiom which sought to reflect Sri Lankan traditions without aping them, and most of them appeared to prioritise the need to design for human comfort in a sustainable way. It may be that building codes in Sri Lanka need to be tightened, and it was disappointing that many schemes failed to take into account the needs of fire safety, wheelchair accessibility or health and safety.
The overall impression given by the total cross-section of submissions was that, despite the problems which face the country, its architects are managing to design buildings of high quality, and their achievements compare very favorably with those of other countries in the region. The nine short-listed schemes were all of high quality and most of them fully merited their selection. The judges found it difficult to choose an overall winner, and all three of the premiated schemes had strong qualities. In the final analysis, the overall winner was selected because it was distinctive on a number of levels, and because it took risks and was experimental.
The Technical Reports
A Technical Committee was appointed to inspect the short-listed projects and draw up technical reports to assist the judges in their deliberations. The committee comprised Eugenie Mack and Channa Daswatte, both members of the Lunuganga Trust, and Professor David Robson, one of the award judges and was assisted by C. Anjalendran who is an adviser to the Trust.
A panel consisting of Eugenie Mack, David Robson and Anjalendran carried out the inspections between 14 and 18 March 2008. Each visit had duration of about 2 hours. The panel met with the architect, the client or their representatives and had the opportunity to talk to a variety of building users. They were courteously and graciously received in all nine buildings, and were able to ask penetrating questions and explore the buildings thoroughly.
The technical reports used a list of criteria based on three basic questions: does the building fulfill its purpose? does it stand up and keep out the weather? is it a thing of beauty which gives pleasure to those who encounter it? These were expanded to make a checklist of twelve criteria which defined a level playing field for the purposes of comparison. It should be stressed, however, that no attempt has been made to ‘score’ the schemes or to apply any quantitative assessment. It was also clear that certain criteria had less relevance to some projects than to others.
Project: The Thicket, Mandawala, Gampaha
Architect: M.M.G. Samuel
The client wished to create a country estate which would serve as a refuge from the travails of the city. After a four year search he and his architect found an old pineapple estate and within a year succeeded in remodeling it to create a five acre country garden. An existing house on the site is currently being converted to serve as a residence. The site has a formal walled entrance opening directly onto a main road and service entrance which is reached from a side road A number of simple structures have been constructed, including a pavilion, a dog kennel, a carport, staff quarters and a bathing well.
The garden has been planned successfully to exploit the existing contours and is already a place of great physical beauty. It packs few surprises, however, and almost the whole of the garden can be seen in one panorama from the central section of the driveway. The composition was laid out in record time and there seems to be no expectation that it will grow or change in the future. It fits well into its neighborhood and has been sited discretely behind an attractive stone wall which incorporates a new bus shelter.
The various buildings have been designed in an elegant but rugged manner with careful details which hold out the promise of low maintenance. An attractive nocturnal lighting system has been installed. Garden details such as seats, planters, terraces have all been carefully and tastefully designed for comfort, low-maintenance and pleasing appearance.
As a private pleasure garden, this is a rare project in this day and age and its unique character has been born out of the collaboration of an enlightened client and an inventive architect.
Project: Visitor Centre for the Minneriya National Park
Architect: Sunil Gunawardena
The Visitor Centre functions as the main entry point for to the Minneriya National Park. Visitors leave their vehicles and enter the centre on foot to purchase tickets for the park. They can also view a small exhibition, climb to an elevated platform to watch birds, watch a film in a small auditorium or use the toilets which open directly into the jungle. The centre also contains offices and staff facilities. The various building elements are scattered over a small area of forest and are connected by a system of paths and raised walkways.
A dramatic main entrance loggia is formed by large gently sloping roof supported on a forest of slender black columns which spring from heavier stone-finished concrete bases of differing heights. Beyond it the main building contains the ticket office, the exhibition spaces and the viewing platform on three separate levels. The toilets are placed on the ground some thirty meters away to the west, and the auditorium is some forty meters away the south.
The raised walkways have been constructed from rough pre-cast planks and have not been provided with canopies or handrails. They are slippery in wet weather. No provision is made for disabled people or wheelchair users. When it’s raining it is impossible to access the ticket office or the toilets without getting wet.
The buildings have been carefully sited and blend well into the jungle. No trees were cut and a minimum amount of earth movement was required. The construction uses a combination of exposed brick work, fair-faced concrete and timber in a manner which suggests ancient ruins which have been unearthed from the jungle and the centre is imbued with a sense of romance and mystery. The original lighting system proved to be inadequate and has been replaced by unsightly fluorescent tubes.
Visitors leave their cars and thus experience a small part of the jungle at first hand rather that through the windscreen of a vehicle. This approach adds drama and theatricality to what would otherwise be a mundane pit-stop and visitors are offered a memorable scenographic experience of the park they are about to enter. The design is imbued with intellectual and poetic qualities but fails to address simple functional issues such as shelter and safety.
Project: Bus Stand and Shopping Complex in Dambulla
Architect:Architects Co-Partnership
This project creates a central bus terminal and shopping centre for the rapidly expanding town of Dambulla. The site is located on the Matale road, a few hundred meters to the south of the main Dambulla junction and the town’s main street.
The design exhibits a fresh approach to the design of a transport interchange by providing a generous and airy public concourse protected by an oversailing lightweight roof umbrella. Sadly, through no fault of the architect, the bus operators have failed to use the centre in the way that it was intended. Through-buses and small private buses continue to use open bus halts along Dambulla’s main street and pick up and drop passengers on the main road in front of the terminus. There is no provision for trishaw pickups.
Within the bus terminal the concourse and queuing lines were planned for buses which entered front-ways into their bay. Inexplicably all of the buses now enter backwards which means that their doors are located diametrically opposite the head of the queue. Most people now ignore the queuing bays opt to wait outside the concourse in the bus lane. The shops which face the bus bays seem to be heavily used, but these have been allowed to encroach out into the concourse, thus blocking circulation.
The basic idea to create a large oversailing umbrella roof is sound and the interiors are light and well ventilated. The structure is elegant and efficient. The design is environmentally successful and demonstrates that a large public building can be designed to achieve high levels of comfort with minimal expenditure of energy. Details have been carefully designed to stand up to wear and tear.
The design was fresh and innovative and held out the promise of a much needed modern facility for the townsfolk of Dambulla. It ought to have produced a public building of real distinction, but it has been compromised by those who are responsible for running it, and serves as a reminder of the fact that, without effective operating and maintenance regimes, even the best of designs will fail.
Project: Holiday Bungalow at Ginigathena for Prabhoda Sumanasekera
Architect: Palinda Kannanagara
The house is located in a deep valley below the Ginigathena to Hatton road at a height of about 800 meters above sea-level and occupies a bluff of land on the left bank of the river enjoying spectacular views in three directions. The plan consists of three linked elements: a central block containing the main bedroom and the glass dining pavilion, a cranked west wing containing the main sitting room and two guest bedrooms and the east wing, containing the kitchen and staff room. The three elements are linked by a long corridor which is defined by a solid stone wall. The entrance is located between the central block and the west wing and opens onto a small swimming pool.
The main buildings are covered by flat concrete roofs supported on concrete frames. The limit of the internal envelope is expressed by an upstand beam which is designed to contain roof planting, and a thin slab cantilevers beyond this to provide shade and rain protection. The dining pavilion projects out into the valley from the main body of the house as a sleek steel framed pavilion. The simple palette of materials, rubble externals walls, plain white internal walls, polished cement floors, links the house to its site. The interiors have a Spartan elegance and the projecting dining room is handled with great elegance.
As well as framing the different views, the house involves its occupants with the ever changing pattern of weather. It functions mainly as a belvedere, and little thought has been given to developing the landscape or connecting the house to its immediate surroundings.
This is a highly innovative design which succeeds in applying a modern architectural idiom to a time-honoured typology: it slips effortlessly into the long Sri Lankan tradition of estate bungalows. The views are exploited with great subtlety: the different rooms are allocated different parts of the panorama and windows function almost as wall paintings. It combines pragmatic functionality with an uplifting sense of spatial poetry.
Project: Boulder Garden Nature Resort
Architect:Lalyn Collure (with Sarathchandra Ramanayake)
The project was the brainchild of its owner Sarathchandra Ramanayake who grew up at Kalawana on the edge of the Sinharajah Forest and dreamt of creating a nature resort amongst its rocks and caves.
Visitors arrive at a clearing and enter the hotel via a series of staircases and cobbled alleys. The main guest rooms are arranged in three tiers across the north facing slopes of a hill and can be accessed directly from the reception through gaps in the boulders. A further staircase leads up to the restaurant which shelters under a single overhanging boulder. Beyond this lies a swimming pool which is almost entirely hemmed in by huge rocks. The hotel and its surroundings form a part of continuum and it is hard to determine where the buildings end and the jungle begins: it is totally hidden from view and can truly be said to touch the ground lightly.
The principle rooms are enclosed within rubble walls and offer all the normal creature comforts, albeit in a rustic manner which makes them somewhat dark and claustrophobic. There is no air-conditioning and the rooms are fitted with external exhaust fans which effectively reduce the humidity and deter the mosquitos. At night the public spaces are dimly lit as a deliberate ploy to reduce light pollution and encourage wildlife. No provision is made for visitors in wheelchairs, though, given the nature of the site, this would hardly be possible.
The hotel offers an enjoyable experience even during the heaviest of rain and the dawn chorus of birds is a highlight of any stay. The architect has blended the buildings into their setting and has respected the existing boulder formations and jungle. The staircases and walkways have been designed to merge with their surroundings and the flooded cobble spaces are particularly successful.
The design relates perfectly to a long Sri Lankan tradition of building amongst boulders, while offering something which is totally innovative. Such a successful marriage of the traditional and new is all too rare and is to be applauded. This is a brave idea which has helped to chart a new direction for Sri Lankan tourism. It highlights the enormous beauty of Sri Lanka’s natural environment and experiments with new ways of placing buildings in a sensitive location.
Project: Saffron Beach Villa, Habraduwa
Architect: PWA Architects
The house is placed discretely away from the beach edge behind a stand of palm trees, and fits inconspicuously into the roadside environment of Habraduwa. A series of enclosed courtyards along the northern boundary create a buffer zone between the house and the busy road; a second zone contains the principal service elements; a third zone contains a large carp pond and the open staircase; the fourth zone, defined by a simple duo-pith roof, contains the main living spaces. An entrance corridor bridges the outer two zones and deposits visitors at the crossroads of the plan presenting them with an axial view of the sea.
The house relies almost entirely on natural ventilation and has developed strategies to achieve high levels of natural daylighting, while at the same time providing shade and protection from wind and rain. It responds very directly to changing light and weather conditions.
The fittings and built-in furniture have been designed in a cool minimalist manner and act as a perfect foil to the pure white interiors. Generous and well-located storage provides a practical back-up to the minimalist design approach.
The buildings employ a simple concrete frame with plastered infill walls and the roof covering consists of lapped aluminum sheets. The minimalist detailing sometime fails to live up to the design intentions: the timber handrails have warped and their fixings are not strong enough; the staircase treads consist of simple planks with unprotected ends and are showing signs of bowing.
The landscape has been conceived with great restraint: the garden is ordered by a transverse terrace which links the house to the beach, and the swimming pool is framed dramatically by a long raw concrete wall. The enclosed courtyards are particularly successful, providing cool havens away from the beach.
The architects have broken away from traditional ‘tropical’ design conventions to create a house which is light, airy and modern. It deals successfully with the constraints of the site and fully exploits its opportunities, to create a successful pleasure pavilion. The cool elegance of the interiors provides a foil to the lush tropical landscape.
Project: Showroom and Offices for Suzuki Maruti
Architect: Nela de Zoysa
The building was commissioned to serve as the showroom and main office for a car importer and is located on an awkwardly shaped and restricted site opposite the Kanatta Cemetery. The plan turns the site shape into a virtue and uses its acute angle corner to generate an imposing entrance. The main sales floor had to be raised up because of poor soil conditions and this suggested that a semi-basement be excavated to provide car storage. Cars are displayed around the outer perimeter of the main floor, and the sales teams are located around the inner perimeter. An upper mezzanine floor houses the offices. The car circulation is carefully conceived with ramps serving both the basement and the main showroom. The glazed west and south facades act as a shop window for the cars, while the cantilevered roof canopies and supporting structures echo the scale of the trees of the nearby cemetery.
The showrooms are light and airy and provide an excellent working environment. Great care has been lavished on artificial lighting and the building looks well at night. Although the main floor is raised, wheelchair users can use the car ramp.
The air-handling plant is located in two towers which double up on the sales floors as consultation suites, though the mezzanine offices are cooled by unsightly wall units.
The structure is innovative and elegant in concept though somewhat crude in execution. The white interior provides an appropriate backdrop to the cars on display, though the applied metal cladding to the structure on the lower level is out of keeping with the main parti. There is little landscaping and the external spaces are disappointing.
The building has a simple functional elegance and develops an aesthetic which is wholly appropriate to the image of mass-produced economy cars, though, in the final analysis, it lacks subtlety. It does demonstrate, however, a high level of professional skill in dealing with a sensitive and difficult site and the exacting needs of a commercial client. The design is appropriate to its function and to its setting and makes an important contribution to townscape.
Project: Nalin Indrasena House, Nawala
Architect: Shyamika de Silva
This compact town house was built on a restricted plot of 8 perches and turns its back on the street to look into a small garden court. The cellular accommodation is contained within a two storey zone and the main living space takes the form of a monumental cube of space which opens fully to the garden. The flat roof serves as a garden terrace. The three levels are connected by an elegantly sculptural, though slightly vertiginous, spiral staircase.
This seemingly simple box incorporates a structural system of considerable sophistication which has eliminated visible columns or downstand beams. The two-storey high sliding-folding glass screen has been designed with great ingenuity and is of local manufacture. The environmental design strategy exploits the huge volume of the living room and a ventilation shaft operates as a wind catcher. The roof overhang and the position of the trees ensure that there is no rain penetration. As a result the house is cool and full of light, and seems to require minimal inputs of energy.
The architecture is elegantly minimal. Minimalism comes at a price, however, and the design raises questions about the vulnerability of pure white surfaces and about the need of individuals to colonise their own space. The kitchen, bathrooms and two bedrooms, though well designed, are cramped, and one feels that too much has been sacrificed to enhance the main living space. This approach would have been more successful if more storage space could have been incorporated.
The garden court has been simply but effectively landscaped. The roof garden represents a lost opportunity and would have benefited from more canopies and more planting.
When it was designed in 1999 this was a totally revolutionary proposition for Sri Lanka. It was innovative on a number of levels – spatially, environmentally and structurally – and offered a potent alternative to prevailing tropical-regionalist practices while exploring the problem of building a naturally ventilated house on a small urban plot. The design is intellectually ambitious: both client and architect deserve to be congratulated for taking risks and for asking important questions about how we live in Sri Lanka..
Project: The Bedsitter, Miriswatte, Pilyandela
Architect: Prasanna Jayalath
This small house occupies the street frontage of a much bigger site. It is intended to serve as the architect’s temporary home and will later become his office.
The house is entered via a trapezoidally shaped courtyard which terminates in a reflecting pool. It is conceived as a simple pavilion and contains a main living space, a partially screened sleeping area, a cooking area and an enclosed bathroom. The bathroom is located at the furthest corner from the sleeping area. The main living space opens towards the entrance court and the busy road and turns its back on the large garden to which it has no direct access. The kabook court contains a single self-conscious tree and the rear garden has yet to be landscaped.
Although described and planned as a ‘bedsitter’ the house has a plinth area of 140 sq.m. and would easily accommodate a substantial family home.
The building appears to be a simple prism, though in fact it has a low-pitched roof which is hidden behind deep eaves beams. This means that the walls are offered no shade or weather protection. The roof traps a cushion of static warm air and the unshaded kabook courtyard also acts as a source of radiant heat. The sleeping space contains only one window and has no cross-ventilation. The bathroom and kitchen are lit from tiny porthole windows which admit very little light or air. Significantly, the architect states in his notes that “the use of sunshades would have disrupted the design”.
The architect has created a compact and stylish house for himself and his wife. However, in pursuing a fashionable image, the design seems to ignore practical environmental issues. The furniture and fittings show simple and tasteful elegance in keeping with the general aesthetic of the design.
Laiyn Collure & Shyamika Silva win at the Geoffre Bawa Awards 2007/2008 for excellence in Architecture
On Thursday, July 24, 2008 not one, but two architects walked away with the coveted Geoffrey Bawa Award 2007/2008 for Excellence in Architecture, at a glamorous presentation held at the Galle Face Hotel. Lalyn Collure (winning submission-Bouider Garden Nature Resort), and Shyamika silva (winning submission – Nalin Indrasena’s House) each Received the top award, while Nela De Soyza (Suzuki Maruti Complex) and Palinda Kannangara (An Estate Bungalow) received commendation for their work.
This elegant and special event, hosted by the Geoffrey Bawa trust, saw architects of 9 properties vying for this the award, which models itself according to the principles of the world-renowned Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
According to Lalyn Collure, whose design for the Boulder Garden Nature Resort has been widely acclaimed by architects and the public alike, “the Boulder Garden Resort was an exciting opportunity to create something innovative and different, and I am honoured that the esteemed panel of jurists thought so highly of the project.”
According to Shyamika Silva, whose winning submission – Nalin Indrasena’s House – has been recognized for achievement for its minimalist design and contemporary elements, “to walk away with this prestigious award is a significant achievement for me, and this is made much more special since we were given an unparalleled compliment of being recongnised at the inaugural award presentation.”
The two architects were presented with the highly coveted trophy, the design of which was inspired by an obelisk placed on top of a gate post at Bawa’s Lunuganga Estate. Made from solid paramara wood and Ebony, the design emulated similar elements found in the great gardens of Europe – particularly Italy – for which Bawa had a particular fondness. The two winners also shared the one million rupee prize money that was awarded.
Meanwhile, Nela de Zoysa was commended for her design of the Suzuki Maruti Complex, a building conceptualised to showcase the exhibits in a hi-tech, yet minimalist surroundings. Also walking away with a commendation for his work was Palinda Kannangara, for an Estate bungalow hideout designed to allow its owners to live amidst the green and enjoy nature to the fullest.
Heading the judging panel, Ms. Sunethra Bandaranaiyake, (Trustee – Geoffrey Bawa trust, and Chairperson – Sunera foundation) added that choosing a single winner was an immensely difficult task. “Each of the 9 short – listed properties is very special in design, and technical expertise. The judges were highly impressed by the standards being adhered to. We are sure that Bawa himself would have been immensely proud to see how our young architects are now more conscious about the aesthetic beauty of a building.”
Further commenting on the significance of holding an awards ceremony of this caliber, she added that the Geoffrey Bawa award 2007/2008 for Excellence in architecture provides talented architects with an excellent platform on which to showcase their designs. “Additionally, these awards will showcase that we have excellent architects who are committed to creating world class designs.”
Each of the 9 shot-listed submissions was selected by an eminent panel of judges, and was subjected to an intense technical assessment. The judging panel comprised of Ms. Sunethra Bandarnaiyake, Archt. C. Anjalendran, Prof. David Robson, Prof. Senaka Bandaranayake, Archt. Jayantha Perera, Archt. Channa Daswatte, and Ms. Eugenie Mack.
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