Name & Location: “The Pavilion” Residential Extension @ Bamunakotuwa, Kurunegala,

Sri Lanka Cost: 30,000 US$ approx.

Built area: 1900 sqft

Unlike yesterday , giving prominence to the privacy factor in designing residencies has become one of the main concerns of persons living in both Urban and Suburban Societies. While creating privacy becomes the sole factor in designing residencies, there is very little or no concern for interaction between human beings and their natural surroundings. This has even contributed negatively towards the Psychological Dimension of persons living within such environments. Introvercy, self-centeredness, ignorance and weak human interrelations can be identified as some of these negative aspects.

Having to respond towards designing residential environment with respect to the need of privacy it is also the Social Responsibility of the Architect to contribute towards creating a healthy society. Therefore The Architect in certain situations is faced with the challenge of designing for both privacy and openness simultaneously.

The Extension to the house at Bamunakotuwa speaks about a residence located in the suburban environment. The site in which the residence is located is bordered by a mangrove swamp reservation of “Nabadana Wewa” at the rear, residences centered within 01 Acre of land plot either side and the “Wariyapola Kalugamuwa” express road which is one of the shortest routes from Colombo to Anuradhapura at the front boundary. Though the surrounding is not yet dense, the need for privacy was also the primary concern of its users due to the busy atmosphere of the road in front and the increasing litter of commercial activities developing along the other side of the road. Therefore the designer’s main idea has been to take the main activities and visual links towards the rear of the site. In doing so the designer has cleverly handled the residential building itself as a façade diluting the transition between the busy and the calm.

The residence is around 70 feet set back from the main road. The entrance to the site is a naturally formed entry that has been carved through by retaining the existing natural green buffer between the Main Road and the site boundary. Therefore the residence is invisible from the express road until the user reaches at the entrance. The in between space is a warm and welcoming forecourt turfed and landscaped with natural elements such as boulders that has been beautifully converted into benches as found from the surrounding itself centralizing a Sudu Araliya Tree (Plumeria), enhancing a private and calm interactive space. The entrance to the building is offset to the entrance of the site avoiding visual axis from the road towards the inner part of the residence. The buildings front façade is designed as a solid wall with narrow openings to avoid visual permeability towards the inner part of the building. Even the entrance is set back with a caved exposed.

brick lobby space in front that serves as a pause promoting a different mindset before entering into the residence. In terms of plan form, the building has been manipulated in a manner that main spaces that need large openings such as the living and dining spaces have been located at the rear facing the lush greenery. This has enabled the designer to have large openings at most of the rear façade enabling to create a pavilion like space linking with the exterior when all windows have been opened up. This provides the user with the opportunity to extend activities within the living and the dinning towards the elevated garden space that overlooks the coconut plantation and the mangrove swamp reservation beyond.

The residence is also rich in spatial progression and a series of surprised spaces and different volumes. One who enters the premises through the natural entry, walks through the natural rubble path way arched with Ranawara (Senna auriculata) & Kolong (Haldina cordifolia) Trees leading from the entrance to the site to the residence lobby, enters through the main timber paneled double door that focuses directly towards a Buddha Statue that is back dropped by a cement wall and glass façade providing glimpses of the environment beyond that one is just about to experience. Turning left one is warmly welcomed into the studio type living area which is both physically and visually linked towards the turfed platform enriched by the shade of Mango, Cashew and Coconut Trees. To the right the experience is to open dining space back dropped by a featured wall. Timber Attic Space is visually connected to the main space which is used as a private library.

Even the finishes have contributed towards bringing in the natural surrounding into the residence. The main feature of the building is its horizontal façade which is out of natural exposed bricks. The 18 feet high ridge wall with engraved rectangles carrying the faces of “Yoga” Hermits and the double timber paneled door which adds a featured back drop to the living cum dining area while contributing towards the quality of space. The façade is combined together with cut cement and pure white rendered walls. Exposed natural calicut tiled roof supported by the coconut rafters stained in black, texturizes the earthly atmosphere. The natural cement cut and polished floor reflects the lush greenery at the outside which creates an illusion in extending the space and earthly ambiance.

Exterior garden is 03 feet elevated from the existing ground which is a multifunctioning interactive open space and stepping down towards the coconut plantation which runs to the reservation of the Nabadana Wewa (Tank). The view from the living and dining is embraced with the natural breeze blows through the Nabadana Wewa (Tank) and the western sunset seeping through the coconut verticals which enhances the earthly finishes of the space. The rear exterior is a combination of cement and rough plastered columns painted in black that disappears into the environment contributing towards the pavilion quality and again diluting boundaries between the “IN” and “OUT”.