Traditional house with the influence of details and concepts associated with an ancient colonial architecture in Sri Lanka. Wallawwa, a colonial manor house in Sri Lanka, has been an all-time favorite inspiration of the architectural community. Inspired by the architectural structure of Wallawwa, this design, despite its traditional cover, well for a modern indoor lifestyle. Incorporation of elements of Wallawwa in this design conveys grandeur, sophistication and simplicity and creates a lovely spacious home with favorable light and ventilation.
This is a single story house with 5 bedrooms, dining area, TV lounge, kitchen, separate garage, service, servants' quarters along with 2 courtyards in a 1-acre land area and 4000 sq. house area.
The site is located in Kurunagala away from the busy congested urban setting and the site has an innate calm atmosphere. The design of the new house is done in a way to reflect the grandeur and simplicity of the old house and to celebrate the old way of life.
The entrance of the house has a long veranda which is an element of the traditional Sri Lankan house. The design responds to the natural levels of the ground by incorporating two raised floor level to the single story house. The first raised floor of the house consists of a living area and a courtyard. The second raised floor level encompasses another courtyard, a dining area, TV lounge, kitchen and 5 bedrooms including the master bedroom with a separate garage, service area and servants’ quarters have been incorporated into the design.
The veranda and the two raised floor levels are also a good filtering mechanism to determine the visitors who are allowed into the house. The raised floor levels also separate the visitor area from the private area and clearly demarcates what is private and accessible to the visitors. The living area opens to one courtyard in the first raised floor level and the five bedrooms open to the courtyard in the second raised floor level. This helps making the space visually larger and more spacious, which gives a sense of freedom.
The courtyard is a frequently used feature of the colonial architecture that are being applied to modern houses. Two courtyards, one for each floor levels, are used to give more light and ventilation to the house. White washed walls, wooden doors, windows and the ceiling as well as the light colour titanium floor enhances the simplicity of the design making it more elegant.
Traditional Sri Lankan houses were usually very minimalistic and consumed a very small building space as the lifestyle oriented around the outdoor activities. The interior of the traditional Sri Lankan houses used to be small and gloomy. To suit the design for the modern lifestyle of the client, the design uses certain elements of Colonial architecture to make the structure large and spacious in combination with the precious lighting system.
