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Architects: Read Studio
- Area: 323 m²
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:Madhushan de Silva
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Manufacturers: AJAX Engineering, Roca, Venus Tiles
Brief. The brief was for a 4-bedroom house on 40 perch land, with all the service areas and related amenities. The question was how to organize the brief through connections, overlaps and separations of spaces to create the right matrix. We were taken on a tour to see the client’s existing house, and to see the little rituals that have been developed over the years that they would want to bring to the new house; it was a great insight and a briefing.
Inspiration. Seeing the site with tall trees with canopies was inspiring. We aimed to incorporate the garden into the overall experience in various nuances: physical presence, visual and physical connections, shade and shadows, breeze and rustle, quality of light etc.
Unique features. The program was vertically organized, taking up a small footprint instead of spreading out on the site. Ground level and lower ground combined to create a solid base that embraces the ground and merges with the landscaping
The ground level is a self-sufficient mini version of the house, an accessible level that could function by itself, with a small living dining kitchen, bedroom, ensuite, and study.
Level one is the main “living” space. It has some unique conditions making it an exciting space: it’s covered and shaded, breeze crosses through, open from all sides, eye level at the canopy and foliage level of the trees. Yet the sunken veranda with a parapet feels covered, private, and contained
It’s a flexible space with an external staircase, making it independent. It’s exciting to think about what could take place here, what you would do here, how you could use this place, whether you would keep the doors open or close them partly, whether you would sit on the ledges and logs or lean onto the parapet, or bring in some furniture….
It’s a tropical living space compatible with the Sri Lankan cultural and climatic contexts, how we live, celebrate, get together, hang out and play. When children come, this is instinctively the play area of choice.
The upper level is the private sleeping quarters of the house, quietly retreating among the tree tops.
Materiality & structure. Working with off-form concrete needs extra coordination and precision from the construction point of view. The local team of bass men [self-learned builders] was trained to devise ways of streamlining the concreting process for a uniform finish. However, the client was on board to accept the off-form product as it is, respecting the material’s process and nature.
The monolithic concrete casting of the house creates a charm of its own in its imperfection. The joinery adds color and texture, timber brings warmth, and a combination of vintage and contemporary furniture elements adds character to the spaces.
The house’s structure works with a staircase, a vertical riser as the main shear walls, and two sets of slender columns in the periphery to bring the roof loads down. The slender columns create a repetitive vertical rhythm that resonates with the tall tree trunks of the garden.
Garden experience _ The ground plane was resurfaced and sculptured using the soil from excavations to create soft mounds and meandering paths in the garden. Instead of a manicured structured garden, the garden grows naturally, with a variety of typical home garden trees, fruit-bearing trees, edible plants, herbs, aromatics, medicines, vegetables etc.
The soft edges of permeable paving merge with the landscape. Each level experience the garden differently: In the tree tops, the birds come to feast on the caterpillars, woodpeckers peck on the Kaju tree, and squirrels chase each other in a morning ritual. That’s the sounds and visuals you wake up to in the morning.
