Asian Architecture Essay

Asian Architecture [ARC 2213/2234] PROJECT 1: CASE STUDY

Recreating the past to suite the present context: The Incorporation of traditional features of the Kandyan Manor House in Geoffrey Bawa’s Ena de Silva House

NAME:

MELISSA ANNE MEI HONG LI

STUDENT ID:

0320729

LECTURER:

MR. KOH JING HAO

SUBMISSION DATE:

28TH JUNE, 2016

Table of Contents

i. List of Figures

2

1.0 Abstract

3

2.0 Introduction

5

2.1 Aim and objectives of study

3.0 The existing context of the Ena de Silva house

7

4.0 Analysis of the features of a traditional Kandyan manor house

9

4.1 Design of the Courtyard 4.2 Design of the Roof

5.0 Adaptation of these features in the Ena de Silva House

14

5.1 Adaptation of the Courtyard 5.2 Adaptation of the Pitched Roof

6.0 Conclusion

19

7.0 List of References

21

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List of Figures

Figure 4.0: Division of site into grids – Pada-Bedum-Chakre

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Figure 4.1: Suitable placement of the building on site

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Figure 4.2: Centralized courtyard with the spaces of the house placed around it

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Figure 4.3: Maduwanwela Walawe ground floor plan showing its additional courtyards

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Figure 4.4: Pitched roof of the Ekneligoda Walawe

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Figure 4.5: View of the interior courtyard of the Ekneligoda Walawe

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Figure 5.0: Interior view of the main courtyard at the Ena de Silva House

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Figure 5.1: Ground Floor Plan of the Ena de Silva House with courtyards highlighted

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Figure 5.2: Smaller indoor courtyard at the Ena de Silva House

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Figure 5.3: Roof umbrella – basic triangular shaped roof at the Ena de Silva House

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1.0 Abstract Having realized that the ideologies of the International Style did not suit the present context of Sri Lanka, architect Geoffrey Bawa sought to create a new style of architecture that was reminiscent of local traditions yet responsive to the present situations faced by the locals. Hence the purpose of this paper is to understand how Bawa achieved this unique approach to architectural design through his use of local vernacular elements originating from traditional Kandyan Manor houses to design a house for client Ena de Silva that fit in beautifully with its context.

Literature reviews were conducted to give insight into the context during the time of commission of the Ena de Silva house. They also focus on 2 significant features of the traditional Kandyan Manor house: the Courtyard and Roof whilst also providing reasoning behind their creation. Thereafter, they indicate the manner in which Bawa and his partner Danish architect Ulrik Plesner incorporated these features to fit into the context of the city of Colombo.

Upon further analysis, it was found that the Kandyans designed the courtyard based on their strong cultural and religious beliefs. In the case of the Ena de Silva house, Bawa and Plesner did not incorporate the courtyard with the sole purpose of recreating past traditions but also made use of it to enhance the features of the existing site. The roofs of Kandyan Manor houses were designed with the sole purpose of protection from the tropical elements. Yet as time passed many derivations of the roof were seen due to several influences. Hence, Bawa and Plesner simplified the design of the roof to its most generic triangular shape perceiving it to be like an ‘umbrella’ that provides protection from the elements.

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Therefore, it becomes clear that the unique design strategies used by the architects make the Ena de Silva House one that evokes the notion of modernism through contextual response with a sense of familiarity towards local tradition.

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2.0 Introduction A post independent Sri Lanka witnessed many changes after having succeeded in detaching itself from the grasp of Colonialism that had governed the island for many years. Among other aspects, architecture too experienced change as the locals sought to find a style pertaining to Nationalism. This was also the very period that saw the work of Sri Lanka’s most famous architect Geoffrey Bawa reach its prime.

From Jayawardane (1986), it is understood that the historical significance of Bawa’s work for Sri Lanka lies in its reflection of the political, economic and cultural status during the 50’s and 60’s due to the emergence of independence from Colonialism. In order to do so, he sought inspiration from local traditional building forms and techniques that were unique to the country. Achieving this at a professional level as an architect implied that his work took a sharp ideological twist from the then prominent references of the International Style that had begun to spread throughout Europe and subsequently to other parts of the world.

A complete twist however, was difficult to achieve as defined by the constraints of global capitalism; yet one manages to see the interpretation of these local traditions in the form of their aesthetic and technical content in the contemporary context of the late 50’s and early 60’s. The manner in which Bawa attempts to achieve such a change is explored in this paper through the analysis of the Ena de Silva house. The house was designed during the height of Bawa’s collaboration with Danish Architect Ulrik Plesner and is significant as it was to be the first among many important collaborative projects.

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2.1 Aim and Objectives The paper aims to create an understanding of how Bawa struck a balance between designing the Ena de Silva house in response to its context while at the same time interpreting influences of local traditions, specifically that of the traditional Kandyan manor house by fulfilling a list of objectives which are stated as follows: 1. To review existing context at the time of the commissioning of the Ena de Silva house.

2. To analyze the significant features of a traditional Kandyan Manor House.

-The Courtyard -The Roof 3. To explore how these features have been adapted into the Ena de Silva House to suit its context.

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3.0 The existing context of the Ena de Silva house Sri Lanka’s population during this period consisted mainly of peasant folk who continued to build using local indigenous methods passed down from generations, whilst majority of the country’s state buildings were built by engineers and a few architects. This is due to the fact that the Profession of the ‘Architect’ was formally constituted in 1957 (Jayawardane, 1986). Thus, Bawa's clientele consisted of less than 5% of the population and comprised the urban upper middle classes.

In 1960, the Ena de Silva house was commissioned by the de Silva family who belonged to the urban upper class of Colombo. At the time, Ena de Silva was one of the most prominent batik artists in the country and her husband Osmund worked as a government official whilst their son was a talented visual artist (Setiawan, 2010). According to Robson (2002), they wanted to build their house on a site of about 750 sqm in Alfred Place - a suburban area in the heart of Colombo. Robson (2002) also reveals that Ena de Silva having been born in Kandy, requested that there be influences of the Kandyan traditional style amidst the incorporation of modern features in the design. Inspired by these requests, Bawa decided to draw upon influences of the traditional Kandyan Manor House better known as the Kandyan Walauwe.

With the increase in the urban development of Colombo, plot sizes for housing reduced considerably thus making the typical colonial house of that time inadequate in terms of visual and aural privacy for residents. The smaller areas of accommodation for residences also meant that proper methods of ventilation and natural sunlight were difficult to achieve. The site also offered little in terms of natural features and the views out from the house were limited due to the presence of upcoming development.

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In terms of local climate, Sri Lanka possesses distinct climatic variations caused by its unique topography-the central hill country is surrounded by the flat low country. Naturally this results in higher temperatures within the low country compared to the central hill country. Consequently the island is divided into climatic regions pertaining to rainfall patterns. Its Central, Western and South-Western regions fall under the wet zone and are subject to the South West Monsoon. Colombo is located in the Western region and hence can experience heavy rainfall during the monsoon period.

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4.0 Analysis of the features of a Traditional Kandyan Manor House The term ‘Walauwe’ in Sinhalese means ‘Manor House’ for ‘Aristocratic dwelling’ and was a term guarded with a great amount of pride during the Kandyan period. It was used to identify houses of high government officials who were termed ‘elites’ (Wijetunge, 2011).

Moreover, Wijetunge (2011) affirms culture as the most significant factor in determining a Kandyan Walauwe’s built form, whilst other factors like climate and economy became secondary.

According to Wijetunge (2011), the culture of the Kandyan people was heavily based on the philosophical doctrine of Buddhism and the religious beliefs of Hinduism. These beliefs are informed from the ancient teachings of Mayamatha and influenced site selection, design and construction of a house as the house was metaphorically considered a microcosm of the cosmos (Wijetunge, 2011).

4.1 Design of the Courtyard Orientation and zoning termed ‘Pada-Bedum-Chakre’ and ‘Bhoomi-nagechakra’ respectively were most important in order to obtain a successful design. As shown in Figure 4.0, the site was divided into equal vertical and horizontal squares called ‘Pada.’

For placement of the building, the site was classified into four sections. The outer-most section was called ‘Perethapada’ (area of the Spirits), the first inner, ‘Manushyapada’ (area of humans) the second inner, ‘Devapada’ (area of Gods) and the inner-most section ‘Brahmapada’ (area of Brahma). Of these four sections, ‘Manushyapada’ and ‘Devapada’ were most suitable for the placement of the building (Wijetunge, 2011). Figure 4.1 shows the placement of a building in these two sections.

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Figure 4.0: Division of site into grids – Pada-Bedum-Chakre

Figure 4.1: Suitable placement of the building on site

Wijetunga (2011), further states that it was also important to orientate the main door of the house towards the North, South or East according to ‘Bhoominage’ (the earth serpent) of the site. If the door was placed at the head of the ‘Bhoominage,’ it would bring death to the chief occupant of the house, if placed at the tail, it would take away the occupant’s wealth but if placed at the stomach or center, prosperity would prevail and it would bring the occupants great wealth (Wijetunge, 2011). This meant that ideal forms of the house plan would have to be square or rectangular.

Just as in the case of the site, this generic plan was also divided into more Pada. The courtyard of the house with its open views to the sky was placed at the center-most

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square; thus becoming one of the most prominent features of the Kandyan Manor House.

This further ensured that prominence was given to the ‘Brahmapada’ area. Maintaining this notion, all other functional spaces came to be placed around and opened out to the central courtyard via an austere, open, well-lit and airy passageway as shown in Figure 4.2.

Figure 4.2: Centralized courtyard with the spaces of the house placed around it

Another important fact to be considered, is that the elite Kandyan families at the time were quite large. Therefore their dwellings were usually built by connecting two or more of the generic plans mentioned above together to form extended versions. This connection allowed for smaller courtyards to be created in the Wallawe in addition to its main centralized courtyard. An example of this is the Maduwanwela Walawe; where repetitive use of the generic plan resulted in the formation of smaller courtyards as shown in Figure 4.3.

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Figure 4.3: Maduwanwela Walawe ground floor plan showing its additional courtyards.

(Wijetunge, 2011)

4.2 Design of the Roof The roof of the traditional Kandyan Walauwe was given due emphasis and was designed in response to the climatic conditions of Kandy. According to Wijetunge (2011), it was designed with a steep slope in order for protection from rain allowing water to easily flow off. Figure 4.4 shows a view of the Ekneligoda Walawe with its low pitched roof. Ample insulation from the heat was provided by the roof and its covering materials i.e. clay half round tiles. The impermeable nature of these clay tiles also meant that dampness caused during rainy days was prevented.

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Figure 4.4: Pitched roof of the Ekneligoda Walawe.

(Wijetunge, 2011)

The presence of the courtyards and open linking passageways meant that parts of the interior of the house were exposed to the elements. This problem was solved by the low wall height and long eaves to provide protection for the walls from heavy rain while also cutting out excessive glare from the sun (Wijetunge, 2011). This is shown in Figure 4.5.

Figure 4.5: View of the interior courtyard of the Ekneligoda Walawe (Wijetunge, 2011) 13 | P a g e

5.0 Adaptation of these features in the Ena de Silva House The main problem Bawa and Plesner faced during the design of the Ena de Silva house was accommodating a program similar to that of a Kandyan Walauwe into the very compact site at Alfred Place. Therefore instead of simply replicating the features of the Kandyan Walauwe, Bawa decided to use them in order to respond to the limitations faced by the immediate context.

5.1 Adaptation of the Courtyard Bawa’s first response was to turn the house on itself and resurrect the courtyard-a feature that had been discouraged by the British during their occupation of Sri Lanka (Kunkel, 2015). Very much like the Walauwe, the Ena de Silva house sits on a rectangular site contained by a high surrounding boundary wall on three sides and is opened up by a short fourth side to face Alfred Road. This high wall accounted to the lack of good views looking outward whilst also providing privacy. This along with the lack of natural features surrounding the site prompted Bawa to create his own connection to nature by adding the courtyard surrounded by open verandahs and making sure that the interior spaces had views looking into it giving the occupants their own little oasis within the surrounding urban context. The existence of a large temple tree and vegetation in the courtyard as shown in Figure below, shows the architects’ care given to nature so that it may in turn provide shade and a comfortable temperature amidst the warm tropical heat.

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Figure 5.0: Interior view of the main courtyard at the Ena de Silva House (Archnet: Osmand and Ena de Silva House, 2014)

While the Walauwe had a series of smaller courtyards in a clustered organization due to the combination of two or more basic generic plans, the Ena de Silva house has five smaller courtyards as shown in Figure 5.1, but deviates slightly as they are organized in a sequential manner resulting in a series of open and enclosed spaces. By doing so, the architects created individualized courtyards in which each space is orientated to its own courtyard bringing about the idea of functionality so that different programs are determined for different courtyards (Setiawan, 2010).

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Figure 5.1: Ground Floor Plan of the Ena de Silva House with courtyards highlighted (Archnet: Osmand and Ena de Silva House, 2014)

Furthermore, these smaller courtyards facilitate water ponds as shown in Figure 5.2, to help reduce the temperature of the interior spaces surrounding them. Therefore this connection between the courtyards and enclosed spaces creates a sense of depth that transforms the smallness of the site to openness and transparency.

Figure 5.2: Smaller indoor courtyard at the Ena de Silva House (Archnet: Osmand and Ena de Silva House, 2014) 16 | P a g e

5.2 Adaptation of the pitched roof The roof of the Ena de Silva house was quite significant as it was the first time Bawa and Plesner decided to intentionally design the roof as a visual element so that it would become prominent in the architecture of the island. According to Setiawan (2010), having designed flat roofs in previous projects, Bawa realized the character of Sri Lankan architecture was best expressed through the pitched roof, clad in half-round clay tile.

Setiawan (2010) further reveals that by taking various shaped roofs characteristic to various types of architecture down to their basic elemental triangular shape, he proposed a simplified shape for the roof as shown in Figure 5.3, to strengthen his notion of the roof as a shelter or ‘umbrella,’ an idea which again refers back to the simple buildings in rural Sri Lanka.

Moreover, the use of the pitched roof also provides a practical answer to address the issue of the persistent torrential rains in the island.

Figure 5.3: Roof umbrella – basic triangular shaped roof at the Ena de Silva House (Setiawan, 2010)

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The architects were mindful in order to create gaps in between the roof and the walls of the Ena de Silva house. The presence of the elongated eaves of the roof meant that the interior verandahs and other spaces opening out to the courtyards were well protected from the elements.

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6.0 Conclusion Through the analysis of the Ena de Silva house, it is clear that Architects Geoffrey Bawa and Ulrik Plesner approached this particular project based on the sensibilities to their client and given site. The client, Ena de Silva envisioned not just a home that depicted influences of past traditions of the Kandyan lifestyle but also one that needed to be appropriate to the modern times.

Upon analyzing the courtyard and roof of the Kandyan Walauwe, an understanding of the ideologies and beliefs of the early Kandyan societies is achieved. It is clear that the contexts and times during which the Kandyan Walauwe was built were much different to the contexts of the Ena de Silva house in city of Colombo that was part of a post independent Sri Lanka.

For Bawa, it was not just a simple matter of replicating Kandyan traditions in the Ena de Silva house as per the client’s request. He along with Plesner recognized that while they were strong traditional elements, the presence of these courtyards surrounded by the shaded verandahs and characteristic pitched roofs were an appropriate response to site context. Therefore, these elements were used with a modern sensibility – they were not governed by traditional rules, but by site and program oriented circumstances.

“Modernity allows one to construct his or her own identity by looking back to the past that may seemingly be unrelated and yet forge a new connection” (Setiawan, 2010, p. 75).

This implies that the notion of modernity can be brought about by connecting traditions of the past with present contextual elements. This statement is quite relevant to Geoffrey Bawa and his style of architecture. The most significant impression that Bawa’s architecture instills within his client is the sense of familiarity of certain features that takes 19 | P a g e

his client back to the past while they at the very same time remain firmly grounded to their present context.

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7.0 List of References Archnet: Osmand and Ena de Silva House. (2014). Retrieved May 22, 2016, from Archnet.org: http://archnet.org/sites/2996/publications/2900 Jayawardene, S. (1986). Bawa: A Contribution to Colonial Regeneration. Mimar 19: Architecture in Development(19). Retrieved April 28, 2016 Kunkel, P. (2015, July 23). Spotlight: Geoffrey Bawa. Retrieved April 28, 2016, from Archdaily: http://www.archdaily.com/770481/spotlight-geoffrey-bawa Robson, D. (2002). Geoffrey Bawa: The Complete Works. London: Thames and Hudson. Retrieved April 28, 2016 Setiawan, A. B. (2010). Modernity in Architecture in Relation to Context. Georgia Institute of Technology. Arief B. Setiawan. Retrieved May 3, 2016 Wijetunge, N. R. (2011). Kandyan Elitism as an Eastern Brand of Elitism and Formulating Kandyan Elite Domestic Architecture. Built Environment-Sri Lanka, 09-10(01-02), 21-36. Retrieved May 20, 2016

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