Archt. Kosala Weerasekara

The client is couple who are in the field of design and both love to live amidst nature. The design approach focuses on getting the perfect synthesis with the nature while framing the views of the beautiful surrounding natural setting. Also it focuses on reducing the foot print and growing more trees, to help dissolve barriers between inside and outside by making light weight structures , reducing mass , and allowing for natural ventilation and light as possible. At the same time reducing the need for maintenance by making it ruin gracefully.

Project is a renovation of a studio office. Helium is a design studio which provides advertising and printing solutions. The approach was to transform a typical building space to a unique design studio while giving an eye catching character to the interior and exterior. The project faced many challenges, mainly the limited availability of space to facilitate the requirements of the client with a very tight budget. Our main objectives for this project were to maximise usage of space for workstations, product displays and storage, while providing a friendly environment for customers as well as staff as well as a robust interior which would require less maintenance.

The residence is located in the outskirts of the Colombo district, designed for a family of four. The key requirements of the client was to design a space which was timeless , a space to lay back and relax in as well as a safe and interesting environment for their children to grow up in. The house was designed as an escape from the busy monotonous life that the family experiences from their day to day activities. Hence a natural life, an experience of connecting with both oneself and the natural environment. The setting of the residence makes it possible to reintegrate the pre-existing alignments of the land and to therefore conserve as many existing trees as possible.