VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE OF SRILANKA

BY,
V.NIVETHITHA.
The architecture of Sri Lanka displays a rich variety of architectural forms and styles.
Buddhism has had a significant influence on Sri Lankan architecture, since it was I
Introduced to the island in the 3rd Century BCE.
N
Traditionally, Indian and East Asian architecture have been the most significant
forms of foreign influence on Sri Lankan architecture and both have played a T
significant role in shaping it. Architectural influences from Southeast Asia
have also had an impact on the development of Sri Lankan architecture. R
Techniques and styles developed in Europe, transported to the country via
colonialism, also played a major role in the architecture of Sri Lanka later on. O
Significant buildings include the stupas of Jetavanaramaya and Ruwanvelisaya in the D
Anuradhapura kingdom and further in the Polonnaruwa Kingdom(11th–13th centuries).
The palace of Sigiriya is considered a masterpiece of ancient architecture and ingenuity, U
and the fortress in Yapahuwaand the Temple of the tooth in Kandy are also notable for
their architectural qualities. C
Ancient Sri Lankan architecture is also significant to sustainability, notably Sigiriya T
which was designed as an environmentally friendly structure.
I
Monasteries were designed using the Manjusri Vasthu Vidya Sastra, a manuscript
which outlines the layout of the structure. The text is in Sanskrit but written in O
Sinhala script. The script is believed to be from the 5th century, It is exclusively about
Buddhist monasteries and is clearly from the Mahayana school. The text shows much N
originality and there is nothing similar in the existing Indian treatises, which deal only
with Hindu temples.
ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT SRILANKA

• BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE IN SRILANKA

CAVE TEMPLE
• THE EARLIEST EVIDENCE OF RUDIMENTARY CAVE TEMPLES ARE
FOUND IN MIHINTALE, A UNIQUE FEATURE IN THESE CAVES WAS
THE USE OF A DRIP LEDGE CARVED ALONG THE TOP EDGE OF THE
ROCK CEILING WHICH STOPPED RAIN WATER RUNNING INTO THE
CAVE. WITH TIME DOORS, WINDOWS AND WALLS OF BRICK OR
STONE WERE ADDED. THE ROOF AND WALLS WERE PLASTERED
WHITE AND FINISHED WITH DECORATIVE PAINTINGS, THESE ARE
EVIDENT IN THE CAVE TEMPLES OF DAMBULLA. Dambulla Cave Temple
• CAVE COMPLEXES
OF DAMBULLA, SITULPAHUWA, MULKIRIGALA ARE SIGNIFICANT
CAVE TEMPLES WHICH DEMONSTRATE RUDIMENTARY
ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENTS OF THE ISLAND. THE KALUDIYA
POKUNA, MIHINTALE CAVE TEMPLE WAS CONSTRUCTED WITH
BRICK WALLS, GRANITE WINDOW OPENINGS, AND CEILINGS.
THE GAL VIHARA, POLONNARUWA AND THE CAVE TEMPLES
OF DAMBULLA WERE INITIALLY CONSTRUCTED AS CAVE TEMPLES,
LATER ON THE CAVE TEMPLES WERE CONVERTED TO IMAGE
HOUSES.
• THE DAGOBAS OR STUPAS OF SRI LANKA ARE SIGNIFICANT TO THE ARCHITECTURAL AND ENGINEERING DAGOBAS AND
DEVELOPMENT IN THE ISLAND, STUPAS DESIGNED AND CONSTRUCTED IN SRI LANKA ARE THE LARGEST BRICK
STRUCTURES KNOWN TO THE PRE-MODERN WORLD DEMALA MAHA SEYA, WHICH WAS NEVER COMPLETED, HAD A STUPAS
CIRCUMFERENCE OF 2,011 FEET (613 M), JETAVANARAMAYA AT THE TIME OF ITS COMPLETION WAS THE LARGEST
STUPA CONSTRUCTED IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD AT 122 M IN HEIGHT. JETAVANARAMAYA WAS ALSO THE THIRD
TALLEST BUILDING IN THE ANCIENT WORLD, ABHAYAGIRI DAGABA (370 FT) AND RUWANWELISAYA (300 FT) WERE
ALSO SIGNIFICANT CONSTRUCTIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD.

• THE CONSTRUCTION OF STUPAS WERE CONSIDERED ACTS OF GREAT MERIT, THE PURPOSE OF STUPAS WERE MAINLY
TO ENSHRINE RELICS OF BUDDHA. THE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS ARE CONSISTENT WITHIN MOST OF THE STUPAS,
ENTRANCES TO STUPAS ARE LAID OUT SO THAT THEIR CENTRE LINES POINT TO THE RELIC CHAMBERS. STUPA DESIGN
IT IS ADMIRED FOR ITS STRUCTURAL PERFECTION AND STABILITY, STUPAS SUCH AS JETAVANARAMA, ABHAYAGIRI,
AND MIRISAVETI STUPA WERE IN THE SHAPE OF A PADDY HEAP. OTHER SHAPES SUCH AS THE BUBBLE(RUWANWELI),
POT AND BELL DEVELOPED LATER, IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE STUPA AT NADIGAMVILA WAS IN THE SHAPE OF AN
ONION.

• AN ORNAMENTED VAHALKADA WAS ADDED TO STUPA DESIGN AROUND THE 2ND CENTURY; THE EARLIEST IS AT
CHAITYA. THE FOUR VAHALKADAS FACE THE CARDINAL POINTS, ORNAMENTED WITH FIGURES OF ANIMALS,
FLOWERS, SWANS AND DWARFS. THE PILLARS ON EITHER SIDE OF THE VAHALKADA CARRY FIGURES OF LIONS,
ELEPHANTS, HORSES OR BULLS, DEPENDING ON THE DIRECTION OF THE STRUCTURE.

• THE STUPAS WERE COVERED WITH A COATING OF LIME PLASTER, PLASTER COMBINATIONS CHANGED WITH THE
REQUIREMENTS OF THE DESIGN, ITEMS USED INCLUDED LIME, CLAY, SAND, PEBBLES, CRUSHED SEASHELLS, SUGAR
SYRUP, WHITE OF EGG, COCONUT WATER, PLANT RESIN, DRYING OIL, GLUES AND SALIVA OF WHITE ANTS.THE FINE
PLASTER AT KIRI VEHERA USED SMALL PEBBLES, CRUSHED SEASHELLS MIXED WITH LIME AND SAND WERE USED IN THE
STUPAS FROM THE 5TH TO 12TH CENTURIES.
Ruwanveliseya,
Anuradhapura
• THE VATADAGE IS CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF ANCIENT SRI LANKA'S
MOST PROLIFIC ARCHITECTURAL CREATIONS; THIS DESIGN REPRESENTED A VATADAGE
CHANGING PERSPECTIVE OF STUPA DESIGN INDEPENDENTLY WITHIN THE
ISLAND. EARLY PROVINCIAL VATADAGES HAVE BEEN IN THE FORM OF A
SQUARE LATER IT DEVELOPED INTO A CIRCULAR FORM ENCLOSING THE
DAGOBA. POLONNARUWA, MEDIRIGIRIYA AND TIRIYAYA VATADAGES STILL
HAVE THEIR CIRCLES OF SLENDER, GRACEFUL PILLARS. THE VATADAGE ROOF
WAS OF A SOPHISTICATED DESIGN UNIQUE TO ANCIENT SRI LANKA, IT IS A
THREE-TIERED CONICAL ROOF, SPANNING A HEIGHT OF 12–15 M,
WITHOUT A CENTRE POST, AND SUPPORTED BY PILLARS OF DIMINISHING
HEIGHT. THE WEIGHT WAS TAKEN BY A RING BEAM SUPPORTED ON THE
INNER ROW OF STONE COLUMNS, THE RADIATING RAFTERS MET IN A
CARTWHEEL-LIKE DESIGN. THE ORNAMENTAL QUALITIES OF THE
POLONNARUWA VATADAGE ARE HIGHLY VALUED AND SCHOLARS
Vatadage, Polonnaruwa
MAINTAIN THAT THE POLONNARUWA VATADAGE REPRESENTS THE BEST
ARCHITECTURAL WORK OF THE POLONNARUWA PERIOD.
 MEDITATION HOUSES
• THE MEDITATION HOUSES FOUND IN THE FOREST MONASTERIES
IN RITIGALA AND ARANKELE ARE UNIQUE TO SRI LANKA, EACH HOUSE
CONSIST OF TWO RAISED PLATFORMS, LINKED TO EACH OTHER BY
A MONOLITHIC STONE BRIDGE. THE OUTER PLATFORM IS OPEN TO
THE SKY, LARGER AND HIGHER THAN THE INNER PLATFORM. THESE
MEDITATION HOUSES ACHIEVED A VERY HIGH DEGREE OF
PERFECTION IN THEIR ARCHITECTURE, THE DESIGN COMBINED
SQUARE AND RECTANGULAR SHAPES AND YET
MAINTAINED SYMMETRY, INDICATING THE ARCHITECTS'
SOPHISTICATED KNOWLEDGE OF GEOMETRY. THE STONE MASONRY
IS ALSO OF A VERY HIGH STANDARD. THE BASEMENTS OF THESE
BUILDINGS WERE CONSTRUCTED OF MONUMENTAL BLOCKS OF
STONE, CUT TO DIFFERENT SIZES, CAREFULLY DRESSED AND VERY
FINELY FITTED TOGETHER. THE BRIDGE CONNECTING THE TWO
PLATFORMS WAS FORMED OUT OF A SINGLE SLAB OF STONE. SOME
SUCH SLABS MEASURED 15 FEET (5 M) BY 13 FEET (4 M). THE SIDES
HAVE BEEN CUT WITH PRECISION WHERE THE JOINTS BETWEEN THE
SLAB AND THE STONE MOULDING OF THE PLATFORMS ARE HARDLY
PERCEPTIBLE.
VAULTED ROOF SHRINE
• The brick shrine with vaulted roof, as
seen
at Thuparama, Lankatilaka and Tivan
ka Pilimage, is also considered unique
to Sri Lanka. The Thuparama is almost
intact today and gives an idea of the
manner in which the vaulted roof was
created. The principles of the true
arch were known to the ancient Sri
Lankans, but the horizontal arch was
considered a safer method of
construction.
 COLONIAL PERIOD
• WITH THE ARRIVAL OF WESTERN COLONISTS TO SRI LANKA, THEY
ESTABLISHED THEIR OWN FORMS OF ARCHITECTURE TO THE
ISLAND. THIS IS EVIDENT IN THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE PERIOD AS
WELL AS IN FORMS ON INFLUENCE IN MODERN ARCHITECTURE.
• VERY FEW BUILDINGS OF THE PORTUGUESE ERA SURVIVES, BUT
MANY BUILDING FROM THE DUTCH ERA COULD BE FOUND ON Dutch ramparts of the Galle fort
THE COASTAL PARTS OF THE ISLAND. FOR EXAMPLE, THE OLD
TOWN OF GALLE AND ITS FORTIFICATIONS BUILT BY THE DUTCH
IN THE YEAR 1663 MAKE UP A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE.
HISTORIC BUILDINGS, SUCH AS OLD CHURCHES, CAN BE FOUND
IN MANY SRI LANKAN CITIES AND TOWNS.
• MANY BRITISH-ERA BUILDINGS CAN BE FOUND AT COLOMBO
FORT AND VARIOUS OTHER PARTS OF COLOMBO.
• MANY IMPORTANT HISTORIC BUILDINGS WERE BUILT BY THE
COLONIAL GOVERNMENTS. THESE WERE OFTEN BUILT IN A
EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURAL STYLE THAT WAS IN FASHION AT THE The Neo-baroque style Old Parliament Building,
TIME, SUCH AS THE PALLADIAN, RENAISSANCE CLASSICISM, which is now the Presidential Secretariat
OR NEO-CLASSICAL STYLES
OTHER ARCHITECURE
 SKY SCRAPERS

• THE NINE-STORIED LOVAMAHAPAYA (3RD CENTURY BCE) WOULD HAVE BEEN AN ELEGANT BUILDING. IT
HAD AN EXPOSED WOODEN FRAME SUPPORTED ON STONE PILLARS. IT WAS PLASTERED IN WHITE, WITH
SHINING COPPER ROOF TILES AND A PINNACLE AT ITS APEX. IT HAD LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS
OR CHUMBAKAM MADE OF AMBER AND TOURMALINE. ITS RAFTERS WERE MADE OF TALIPOT PALM. IT
ROSE TO A HEIGHT OF 162 FEET (49 M) AND HAD APPROXIMATELY 179,316 SQUARE FEET (16,659 M2) OF
FLOOR SPACE. IT COULD SEAT 9000 MONKS. ROLAND SILVA REMARKED IN 1984 THAT SUCH AN
EXTENSIVE FLOOR SPACE WOULD STAGGER THE DESIGNERS IN SRI LANKA "EVEN TODAY". THE DOMINANT
ELEMENT IN THESE BUILDINGS, WAS THE TILED ROOF SUPPORTED BY TIMBER BEAMS AND RAFTERS. THE
ROOFS WERE TILED, FROM AS EARLY AS THE 3RD CENTURY BCE, WITH RED, WHITE, YELLOW, TURQUOISE
AND BROWN TILES. THERE WERE ALSO TILES MADE OF BRONZE.
• FIVE ROYAL RESIDENCES HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED. THEY
ARE VIJAYABAHU'S PALACE IN THE INNER CITY AT ANURADHAPURA, PALACES
THE PALACES OF NISSANKA
MALLAAND PARAKRAMABAHU IN POLONNARUWA, THE PALACE
OF SUGALA IN GALABADDA IN THE UVA PROVINCE,
AND PARAKRAMABAHU'S PALACE IN PANDUWASNUWARA NEAR
HETTIPOLA, WHEN HE WAS RULING OVER MALAYA RATA.
• GROUND PLAN ALL THE PALACES HAD THE SAME GROUND PLAN.
EACH WAS SET IN A RECTANGULAR AREA ENCLOSED BY GALLERIES
WITH AN ENTRANCE FROM THE EAST. A SPACIOUS COURTYARD IN
FRONT ACTED AS A RECEPTION ROOM, WHERE SITTING WAS NOT
ALLOWED. A FLIGHT OF STEPS LED TO A CENTRAL BUILDING WHERE
THERE WAS AN IMPOSING PILLARED HALL WITH A DAIS AT THE END.
AROUND THE ROYAL COMPLEX WERE OVER FIFTY SMALL CELLS, IN
TWO OR THREE ROWS. THE HALL IN NISSANKA MALLA'S PALACE
WAS 133 FEET (41 M) BY 63 FEET (19 M). THE FLOORS OF THE UPPER
STOREY IN PARAKRAMABAHU'S PALACE WERE OF CONCRETE.
A Royal Palace in Polonnaruwa
[PANDUWASNUWARA] PALACE HAD GOOD PROVISION FOR
VENTILATION AND THERE WERE SOAKAGE PITS FOR DRAINAGE.
ROCK PALACES

There was a palace on top of Sigiriya rock as well. The outlines, layout and several detailed features of this Sky
Palace are still visible. There was an upper palace that ran parallel to the lower one, but at a much higher
elevation. It had a viewing gallery. The innermost royal abode, which was originally a storeyed structure, had a
magnificent 360 degree view of the city gardens and countryside below. There was a series of successive
courtyards, chambers, and terraces connected by stairs and paved pathways.

POOL DESIGN

Kuttam Pokuna in Polonnaruwa provides one of the best examples of the construction of a royal bath. A flight of
long narrow steps led to an oblong shaped pond that had graduated gangways. The water was conducted by
underground pipelines from the canal nearby and led into the bath by two makara gargoyles. A stone water lock
acted as water locking valve and an exit for used water. There is also a now-ruined changing room. Other
magnificent pool designs in hydro engineering in the ancient Sri Lanka.

AUDIENCE HALLS

Polonnaruwa also has the remains of two magnificent audience halls. They are the public audience halls
of Parakramabahu and council chamber of Nissanka Malla. Parakramabahu's council chamber was a three-
tiered oblong structure built on a broad terrace, facing north, and consisted of an entrance provided with two
flights of steps, having a gangway in between at ground level. The pillars in the council halls at Polonnaruwa are
square at the bottom, octagonal in the middle and square again at the top.
HOSPITALS
• SOME IDEA OF HOSPITAL ARCHITECTURE CAN BE INFERRED FROM THE MONASTIC HOSPITALS AT MIHINTALE AND
POLONNARUWA. THIS HOSPITAL PLAN CAN BE SEEN AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, COLOMBO. THERE WAS AN INNER AND
OUTER COURT AND THE RECTANGULAR INNER COURT HAD A SERIES OF CELLS, TOILETS AND BATH, WITH AN EXIT AT ONE
END. ONE CELL HAD A MEDICINAL BATH. ALAHENA HAD LONG DORMITORIES INSTEAD OF CELLS. THE OUTER COURT
ACCOMMODATED A REFECTORY, A HOT WATER BATH, STOREROOMS AND DISPENSARY. A WALL CORDONED OFF THE
HOSPITALS. THE PROVISION OF TWO OPEN COURTS IN ADDITION TO WINDOWS ENSURED MAXIMUM VENTILATION AND
FREE CIRCULATION OF AIR WITHIN THE BUILDING ITSELF.

HOUSES
• A HOUSE DATED TO 450 BCE, BUILT OF WARICHCHI (WATTLE AND DAUB) HAS BEEN DISCOVERED NEAR KIRINDI OYA.
ANOTHER HAS BEEN FOUND AT ADALLA, WIRAWILA, AND AT VALAGAMPATTU EVIDENCE HAS BEEN DISCOVERED OF HOUSES
DATING FROM 50 CE TO 400 CE. THE KITCHEN UTENSILS ARE STILL THERE. IN MEDIEVAL TIMES, THE RICH HAD LARGE HOUSES
BUILT OF STONE, MORTAR AND LIME, WITH TILED ROOFS AND WHITEWASHED WALLS. THERE WERE ROOMS AND
APARTMENTS WITH DOORS AND WINDOWS. THE WINDOWS HAD FANLIGHTS. THE DOORS HAD KEYS, LOCKS, AND HINGES.
THE HOUSES HAD COMPOUNDS OR COURTYARDS AND BALCONIES. THERE WERE SEPARATE ROOMS FOR POUNDING PADDY,
A STOREROOM OR ATUVA FOR PADDY, AND SHEDS FOR KEEPING CHARIOTS. LATRINES ARE ALSO MENTIONED. ALL HOUSES
HOWEVER HAD SMALL KITCHENS.
 POST INDEPENDENCE
• IN THE 1960S, 70S, AND 80S, ARCHITECTS LIKE GEOFFREY BAWA WERE LEADING TRENDS IN WHAT IS TODAY KNOWN GLOBALLY AS
‘TROPICAL MODERNISM’. THE STYLE EMPHASIZES BRINGING TOGETHER ELEMENTS FROM DIFFERENT TIMES AND PLACES IN ORDER TO
CREATE SOMETHING NEW AND ORIGINAL, WITH A LOCAL AESTHETIC. BAWA HAS HAD A TREMENDOUS INFLUENCE ON DESIGN AND
CONSTRUCTION IN SRI LANKA AND MANY OF HIS TRADEMARK EMBELLISHMENTS HAVE NOW BECOME TYPICAL IN SRI LANKAN HOMES
AND BUILDINGS. THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN INDOORS AND OUTDOORS ARE OFTEN ERASED, MOVED, OR MADE MORE SUBTLE, IN
BAWA'S WORK. OLDER SRI LANKAN INFLUENCES, LIKE REFLECTING POOLS, COLONNADED PASSAGES, AND TERRA-COTTA-TILED ROOFS,
ARE FUSED WITH THE MODERNIST EMPHASIS OF FLOWING SPACES AND CLEAN LINES. HIS WORK HAS ALSO BEEN A SIGNIFICANT
INFLUENCE ON ARCHITECTURE ACROSS SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA.
• BAWA'S LEGACY IS FELT IN THE WORK OF MANY SRI LANKAN ARCHITECTS, WHO CONTINUE THE TRADITIONS OF TROPICAL
MODERNISM. ARCHTIECTS, LIKE CHANNA DASWATTE, CONTINUE TO DESIGN IN THIS STYLE, PAYING CLOSE ATTENTION TO HOW THE
DESIGNED ENVIRONMENT INTERACTS WITH THE CLIMATE AND THE NEEDS OF THE USERS.
• BY THE 2000S AND 2010S, THERE IS ALSO A PRESENCE OF POSTMODERNISM, CREATING MODERN MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE,
THROUGH THE INCORPORATION OF HISTORICAL SRI LANKAN CULTURAL ELEMENTS TO CONVEY MEANING AND CONTEXT. THE NELUM
POKUNA MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA THEATRE IN COLOMBO, BY KAHAWITA DE SILVA & ASSOCIATES, IS AN EXAMPLE OF USING A HISTORICAL
LANDSCAPE DESIGN FEATURE, THE NELUM POKUNA IN POLONNARUWA, TO CREATE A MODERN NATIONAL MONUMENT TO CELEBRATE
THE COUNTRY'S ARTS.SEVERAL OF BUILDINGS THAT ARE PROPOSED/UNDER-CONSTRUCTION LIKE THE ALTAIR RESIDENTIAL
TOWERS, KRRISH SQUARE AND ITC COLOMBO ONE HAVE POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNS.
• BY THE 2010S THE IDEA OF SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE HAS APPEARED IN SRI LANKA, THE 186M(610 FT) TALL CLEAR POINT
RESIDENCIES BUILDING WHICH IS EXPECTED TO BE THE WORLDS TALLEST VERTICAL GARDEN AND USE HARVESTED RAINWATER, RECYCLED
BATHROOM SINK AND SHOWER WATER WITH A DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM TO WATER THE PLANTS.THE PLANTS NATURALLY COOL THE
BUILDINGS AND CLEAN THE AIR THUS REDUCING THE NEED FOR AIR CONDITIONING.
 AR.GEOFREY BAWA

PHILOSOPHY

•Highly personal in his approach, evoking the

pleasures of the senses that go hand in hand
with the climate, landscape, and culture of
ancient Ceylon(Present day Sri Lanka).

•Brings together an appreciation of the

Western humanist tradition in architecture
•with needs and lifestyles of his own country.

•The principal force behind TROPICAL

MODERNISM.
•Work with a sensitivity to site and context.

•His designs break down the barriers between

inside and outside, between interior design and
landscape architecture.

•He reduced buildings to a series of

scenographically conceived spaces separated
by courtyards and gardens.

•His ideas are providing a bridge between the

past and the future, a mirror in
which ordinary people can obtain a clearer
image of their own evolving culture
GEOFFREY BAWA
RUHUNU UNIVERSITY, MANTARA
Street Address Ruhunu University

Location Matara, Sri Lanka

Architect/Planner Geoffrey Bawa

Client Ministry of Education

Date 1980-1988
Century 20th
Decade 1980s
Building Type Educational

Building Usage University

•On the south coast near Matara

•covered an area of thirty

hectares and spanned across two
hills with views across a lake
towards the southern ocean.

•The campus required 50, 000

square metres of buildings to
accommodate total of 4,000
students.

•built by a Dutch contractors

•Took eight years to complete.

SITE PLAN
DESIGN OF THE UNIVERSITY

Bawa’s design deployed over

fifty separate pavilions linked by
a system of covered loggias on
a predominantly orthogonal grid
and used a limited vocabulary
of forms and materials borrowed
from the Porto-Sinhalese
building traditions of the late
Medieval Period, but it exploited
the changing topography of the
site to create an ever varying
sequence of courts and
verandahs, vistas and closures.
The result was a modern
campus, vast in size but human
in scale.
 MASSING

•Bawa placed the vice

chancellor's lodge and a guest
house on the western hill and
flooded the intervening valley to
create a buffer between the road
and the main campus.

•wrapped the buildings of the

science faculty around the
northern hill and those of the arts
faculty around the southern hill,
using the depression between
them for the library and other
central facilities. Central valley with library
Buildings were planned
orthogonally on a north-south
grid but were allowed to 'run
with site'.

Natural features such as rocky

outcrops were incorporated
into the bases of buildings or
became focal features of the
open spaces.

The limited architectural

vocabulary clearly derives
from Porto- Sinhalese traditions
Exterior view showing terraces and
juxtaposition of buildings with each other
and landscape
•Pavilions, varying in scale and
extent, are connected by
covered links and separated by
an ever-changing succession of
garden courts.

•Everywhere there are places to

pause and consider, to sit and
contemplate, to gather and
discuss.

•The main routes either cut

uncompromisingly across the
contours or meander horizontally
along them.
Exterior view from street level
showing use of stone and concrete
in façade
•Views are carefully
orchestrated in a
scenographic sequence that
conceals and reveals in turn,
playing the northern views of
jungle and distant hills against
the southern views of the lake
and the ocean beyond,
always referring back to the
picturesque hump-backed
bridge that connects the
entrance across the lake to
the central valley and acts as
the linchpin of the whole Exterior view to sprawling elevation
composition.
•Ruhunu is remarkable in that it
is composed from a series of
fairly simple and, in the main,
unremarkable buildings - about
fifty in total - all built with a
limited palette of materials
and a limited vocabulary of
standard details.

•The construction is
straightforward, comprising
walls of plastered brick on a
concrete frame and roofs of
half-round tile laid on
corrugated cement sheeting.
Buildings are aligned carefully
to minimize solar intrusion and
mitigate the effects of the
south-west monsoon.

Few of the spaces are air-

conditioned and the buildings
rely for the most part on
natural ventilation.
Exterior view showing large Exterior detail showing
dimensions and triple story passage to planted
covered entrance portico courtyard
Exterior view showing building's
wrapping terraces and position
on a hill

Exterior view of façade showing stilt

support frame
Exterior view showing drive way
to entrance

Exterior view to covered walkways

Exterior view showing weathered
façade

Exterior view showing wooden piers

supporting beam construction pitched roof
33RD LANE HOUSE, COLOMBO,
SRI LANKA
Variant Names Geoffrey Bawa's House

Street Address 33rd lane, Bagatelle Road

Location Colombo, Sri Lanka
Architect/Planner Geoffrey Bawa
Date 1960-1998
Century 20th
Decade 1960s
Building Type Residential
Building Usage Private residence
Adaptive re-use;
Keywords
courtyard house
WHAT IS SO SPECIAL IN 33RD LANE HOUSE…..
•The house in 33rd Lane is an essay in
architectural bricolage.

Elements salvaged from old buildings in

Sri Lanka and South India were artfully
incorporated into the evolving
composition.
•1958 Bawa bought the third house in a
row of four small houses.

•He converted it into a pied-à-terre

with living room, bedroom, tiny kitchen
and room for a servant.

•After some time he bought the fourth

and this was colonized to serve as
dining room and second living room.

•Ten years later the remaining

bungalows were acquired and added
into the composition and the first in the
row was converted into a four-storey
tower.
•Over a period of forty years the houses were subjected to continual
change.

•Although the plan form of the whole might at each stage have been
thought to be simply the result of an arbitrary process of stripping away and
adding, any accidental or picturesque quality has always been tempered
by a strong sense of order and composition.

• It was here that Bawa developed his interest in architectural bricolage.

FIRST FLOOR PLAN SECOND FLOOR PLAN
SECTION
Door by Ismeth Ismeth Raheem Door to stairway
Carport and main corridor
Sitting room and courtyard

Pool court with horse's head

The main part of the house is an evocation of a lost world of
verandahs and courtyards assembled from a rich collection of
traditional devices and plundered artifacts and the new tower
which rises above the car port rises from a shady nether world to
give views out across the treetops towards the sea
The final result is an introspective labyrinth of rooms and garden courts
which together create the illusion of limitless space. Words like inside and
outside lose all meaning: here are rooms without roofs and roofs without
walls, all connected by a complex matrix of axes and internal vistas.
A building can only be understood by moving around and
through it and by experiencing the modulation and feel the
spaces one moves through it and by experiencing the
modulation and feel of the spaces one moves through it end
by experiencing the modulation and feel of the spaces one
moves through- from the outside into verandah, than rooms,
passages, courtyards.
Architecture cannot be totally explained but must be
experienced.

Geoffrey Bawa
 Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre by Kahawita De
Silva & Associates

Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
ARCHITECTS

• THERE WERE ARCHITECTS TO ATTEND TO THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT. A CAVE INSCRIPTION REFERS TO A "CITY ARCHITECT".
BUILDING WAS DONE SCIENTIFICALLY, USING SUPERIOR INSTRUMENTS. FOR EXAMPLE, SOME STONE SLABS WERE SO
PRECISELY CUT THAT THE JOINTS ARE HARDLY VISIBLE AND NOTHING COULD BE INSERTED BETWEEN THE SLABS. ASHLEY DE
VOS POINTS OUT THAT THIS WOULD REQUIRE SOPHISTICATED INSTRUMENTS EVEN TODAY. LIFTING AND PLACING OF
SLENDER STONE SLABS, TWENTY FEET LONG, WOULD HAVE NEEDED KNOWLEDGE OF STRUCTURAL MECHANICS. DE VOS
ALSO SUGGESTS THAT SRI LANKA MAY HAVE HAD THE FIRST PRE-FABRICATED BUILDINGS IN THE WORLD. SOME SECTIONS OF
THE MONASTIC BUILDINGS WERE PREPARED SEPARATELY AND THEN FITTED TOGETHER.

ARTISTRY

• THERE WAS ARTISTRY IN ADDITION TO TECHNICAL FINESSE. THIS IS ILLUSTRATED IN THE ELEGANTLY EXECUTED STONE PILLARS
DATING FROM THE 8TH CENTURY. THEY ARE IN VARIOUS DESIGNS. THE LOTUS-STALK PILLARS OF THE NISSANKA LATHA
MANDAPAYA ARE UNIQUE IN SOUTH ASIAN ARCHITECTURE. LIME MORTAR WAS USED IN BRICKWORK ONLY WHEN THERE
WAS A STRUCTURAL RISK SUCH AS A VAULT OR AN ARCH.
WATER

• THERE WERE ISLAND PAVILIONS SURROUNDED BY WATER CALLED SITALA MALIGAWA. THERE WERE PONDS
WITH LOTUSES. THE ROYAL GARDENS IN POLONNARUWA HAD DOZENS OF INDIVIDUALLY NAMED PONDS
IN DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES. SIGIRIYA HAD AN OCTAGONAL POND. POLONNARUWA HAD ONE
RESEMBLING THE COILS OF A SERPENT AND ANOTHER LIKE AN OPEN LOTUS. KUTTAM
POKUNA IN ANURADHAPURA HAD A GRADUATED SERIES OF PONDS GOING FROM SHALLOW TO DEEP.
ESSENTIAL FACILITIES WERE NOT FORGOTTEN: THE NANDANA GARDENS HAD A LARGE GLEAMING
BATHROOM.

AIR COOLING

• THERE WAS AN AIR COOLING METHOD IN THE ANCIENT PERIOD. A DRIED BUFFALO SKIN WAS FIXED
ABOVE THE ROOF OF THE BUILDING. WATER DRIPPED ONTO IT FROM SEVERAL PIPES, CREATING THE EFFECT
OF RAIN AND SENDING IN A COOLING BREEZE. PICTURES ON WALLS WERE CHANGED ACCORDING TO
THE SEASON; COOLING PICTURES FOR THE HOT SEASON AND WARMING PICTURES FOR THE COOL
SEASON.
BUILDING MATERIALS

• BUILDERS WORKED WITH A VARIETY OF MATERIALS, SUCH AS BRICK, STONE AND WOOD. CORBELLED AND CIRCULAR BRICK ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
WERE CONSTRUCTED. ROCK FACES WERE USED AS SUPPORTING WALLS FOR BUILDINGS. THE PLATFORM CARRYING THE MIRROR WALL AT SIGIRIYA AND
THE BRICK FLIGHT OF STEPS STAND ON STEEP ROCK. AROUND THE 6TH CENTURY, THE BUILDERS HAD MOVED FROM LIMESTONE TO THE HARDER GNEISS. THE
VATADAGE IN POLONNARUWA HAD WALLS THAT WERE CONSTRUCTED OF STONE TO THE HEIGHT OF THE UPPER STOREY. THE LOWEST STEP OF AN
IMPOSING GRANITE STAIRWAY THAT LED TO THE UPPER STOREY OF PARAKRAMABAHU'S PALACE CAN STILL BE SEEN. METICULOUS DETAILING HAD BEEN
DONE IN THE LEAF HUTS USED BY THE FOREST MONKS OF THE 5TH CENTURY.

TIMBER

• IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE, HOWEVER, THAT THE ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE WAS NOT STONE ARCHITECTURE. THE STONE REMAINS SEEN ARE MISLEADING. IT
WAS PRIMARILY TIMBER ARCHITECTURE, WITH MUD OR MASONRY WALLS. THERE WERE SOPHISTICATED WOODEN BUILDINGS FROM THE 3RD CENTURY.
SIGIRIYA HAD AN ELABORATE GATEHOUSE MADE OF TIMBER AND BRICK MASONRY WITH MULTIPLE TILED ROOFS. THE MASSIVE TIMBER DOORPOSTS
REMAINING TODAY INDICATE THIS.
• THE TIMBER CARRIED THE LOAD. FRAMES WERE MADE OUT OF WHOLE TRUNKS OF TREES. THE GATEHOUSE AT THE EASTERN ENTRANCE
TO ANURADHAPURA BUILT IN THE 4TH CENTURY BC USED WHOLE TREES. THE PALACES AT POLONNARUWA AND PANDUWASNUWARA SHOW VERTICAL
CREVICES IN THE BRICKWORK WHERE WOODEN COLUMNS, CONSISTING OF ENTIRE TRUNKS OF TREES, CARRIED THE LOAD OF THE UPPER FLOORS AND
ROOF. THESE OPENINGS STILL RETAIN THE SPUR STONES UPON WHICH THE WOODEN COLUMN ONCE STOOD.
• THE TEXT OF THE MANJUSRI SILPA DESCRIBES METHODS FOR THE CUTTING AND SEASONING OF WOOD. MATURE TREES WERE SELECTED AND CUT IN THE
NEW MOON WHEN THE SUGAR CONTENT IN TIMBER WAS LOWER, SO THAT DESTRUCTIVE WOOD BORING INSECTS WERE NOT ATTRACTED TO THE TIMBER.
THE STONE REMAINS SHOW THAT SOUND CARPENTRY TECHNIQUES WERE EMPLOYED. THE AXE, ADZE AND CHISEL WERE THE COMMON TOOLS USED IN
TIMBER WORK. SADDHARMARAT-NAVALI MENTIONS TWO PRACTICES OF CARPENTRY. OIL WAS APPLIED TO TIMBER TO PREVENT DECAY, AND WOOD WAS
HEATED TO STRAIGHTEN
SRI LANKA CAN BE AFFECTED BY A MULTITUDE OF NATURAL DISASTERS SUCH AS CYCLONES,
MINOR
EARTHQUAKES, TSUNAMI, FLOODS AND LANDSLIDES. ALTHOUGH IT IS RELATIVELY EASIER TO
AVOID THE SITES PRONE TO FLOODS AND LANDSLIDES, THE BUILT ENVIRONMENTS MUST HAVE
SUFFICIENT ROBUSTNESS AGAINST CYCLONES AND EARTHQUAKES.
• REAL EXAMPLES ARE DRAWN FROM THE TSUNAMI RECONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT
IN VARIOUS PARTS OF SRI LANKA WHERE ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS SUCH AS
COMPRESSED STABILIZED EARTH BRICKS AND BLOCKS, RAMMED EARTH, CHIP CONCRETE BLOCK
SAND MICRO CONCRETE TILES HAVE BEEN USED.

BUILDING MATERIALS:
THE PRESENT TREND IN THE SRI LANKAN HOUSING INDUSTRY IS TO USE CONVENTIONAL BUILDING
MATERIALS SUCH AS BRICKS, CEMENT SAND BLOCKS, CONCRETE AND TIMBER ETC. FOR PERMANENT
HOUSING.
EARTH CAN BE USED FOR CONSTRUCTION OF WALLS IN MANY WAYS.
VAASTHU CULTURE
BROAD FIELD OF SCIENCE, WHICH INCLUDES THE CONSTRUCTION OF
HOUSES, PUBLIC, AND RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS AS WELL AS DIRECT
SURROUNDINGS.
IT TAKES INTO THE ACCOUNT OF ENERGY FLOW, HUMAN HEALTH
ASPECTS AND COLOR COMBINATIONS THAT HAVE BEST EFFECTS ON
THE RESIDENTS OF THE HOUSE.
AN EXAMPLE OF STUPA
• AVOIDING BUMIDOSA – LAND/SOIL QUALITIES THAT
WILL MAKE THE CONSTRUCTION FAULTY.

• COMPARING THE HOROSCOPE AND DESIGNS.

• PLACING OF DOORS AND WINDOW ACCDG. TO THE CORRECT NATURAL DIRECTION.

• PLACING THE HOUSE TO GET THE MAX. SUNLIGHT AND AIR.

• PLACING ROOMS ACCDG. TO CORRECT DIRECTIONS.
• ESP. THE CORRECT PLACING OF THE KITCHEN