Nipuni Piumika - MSc Architecture - Year 02 - 2022

CONTENTS

YEAR 2

THESIS PROJECT ENVIROMENTAL AWARENESS RESORT

URBAN DESIGN PROJECT TOURISM DEVELOPMENT FOR DIGANA

MANAAGEMENT, PRACTICE & LAW

CASE STUDY OF A PERSONALIZED HOUSE AT THALANGAMA

YEAR 1

CONSERVATION PROJECT Old admiration building Dissertation

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC OPEN SPACES IN COLOMBO THAT FOSTER SOCIAL INTERACTION

HOUSING PROJECT

COMMUNITY HOUSING PROJECT AT SLAVE ISLAND

CONSERVATION AND HERITAGE THEORY

USE OF HERITAGE PROPERTIES FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES AND ITS IMPACT ON THE CONSERVATION OF GALLE FORT

FINE ART INFLUENCE AND APPLICATION IN ARCHITECTURE

A COMPARATIVE STUDY COVERING USAGE OF COLORS FOR EXPRESSIVE PURPOSES IN THE RELIGIOUS PLACES OF SRI LANKA

2

Thesis project environmental awareness resort

Year 2

Urban design project Tourism development for digana

Year 2

Management practice & law

CASE STUDY OF A PERSONALIZED HOUSE AT THALANGAMA

1

CONSERVATION PROJECT Old admiration building

ELEVATION

FRONT ELEVATION

1

Dissertation

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC OPEN SPACES IN COLOMBO THAT FOSTER SOCIAL INTERACTION

As a result of population growth and the transition from rural to economic and industrial sectors, urban sprawl has become particularly widespread in developing countries. Meanwhile, the open spaces in the city of Colombo are spaces that have undergone many changes in history, influenced by lifestyle and urban innovations. Many urban spaces, despite the dedicated costs, are underused by people due to improper reception and planning or perhaps mismanagement. On the other hand, there are some spaces where officers do not pay attention to them, however they are always used by individuals who are referred to as target locations for users. In general, the most important factors considered in this study were the quality of the urban open space and the factors and characteristics affecting the quality of the parks selected as a case study and its most important features. In urban planning and landscaping, open spaces should be designed with the utmost care and quality, and these are the spaces that attract people from the community.

Compared to other countries, the use of urban parks by the general population in Sri Lanka is generally limited due to low-income levels, busy lives, existing park facilities and petty crime. Even in Colombo and the suburbs, land tenure plays an important role in the tradition of living in separate family homes. However, there is a tendency to change the pattern of land leasing by introducing taller buildings with more flats to make more land available for commercial and industrial purposes. As a result, the use of parks is on the rise, and it is proposed to maintain access to urban parks.

Problem statement

Although many people have done researches on public spaces, they have not done a proper study on the main design features required for public interaction in Colombo public spaces. Public places lack the functionality to achieve its objectives of community interaction. Although it is creating an esthetical quality it should contains combination between nature circulation and the surrounding with architecturally essence. If it is not it will demolish the interaction in the place. It also directly affects the people who comes to those places

Critical argument

Community interaction with public spaces is very important because there are different ways of happening of interaction in public outdoor spaces. The interaction is happening under the commercial and activity base. Public spaces are very important to be a systematic system of society. Public spaces are a feature of sustainable architecture. By improving the essence in public spaces, we can increase the status of the society, community up liftmen, and increase the quality of life. The architectural essence that applies to these outdoor spaces is very important. Many researchers had been done about public spaces and the necessity of access for everyone in the society. However, a developing city as Colombo and suburbs nearby rather focus on the physical and economic growth than the social development. Open spaces having a different aspect to consider through nature through community and architecturally. Each three will depend on each other. In fact, the functionality and circulation are the main points which influence for the interaction of above three points. If the connectivity of this proses will not happen it cannot fulfill the objective of the open space and the land value.

Criteria for selecting case studies. The main intention of the research study is to identify the architectural characteristics in public spaces. By using a real-life example, an attempt will be made to connect the theoretical part of the research with practical issues, and it was studied how two public spaces function well within the main city. Here I have chosen two outdoor public spaces in the same fabric in the Colombo area. All of them are in busy urban context, which provide the gathering facility. Various other factors like climate, technology, economy, and regulations are not considered here. Diyatha is a man made public space and studies how to create it as a public space. Beddagana Wetland Park is a natural public space and study how to transform a natural topography into a public space that creates a community interaction. Sites selected for case studies are most famous and widely used public spaces in Colombo.

CONCLUSION

Under this research, design elements and user behavior patterns in public spaces in the Colombo urban area were thoroughly analyzed while evaluating the characteristics of a place which encourage the social interaction. The detailed analysis followed by the collected data through questionnaire, self observations, a survey based on secondary data and photographs were used to draw the conclusion of this study.

First of all, four fundamental factors for a properly functioning public space were identified. The factors were, (i) access and relation, (ii) activity and usage, (iii) image and comfort and (iv) sociability. The selected two public parks, Diyatha Uyana and Beddagana Wetland Park were comparatively analyzed under each section. According to the findings, Diyatha Uyana was identified as the highest rated public space in all aspects compared to Beddagana Wetland Park. Even though both parks were located in the same urban fabric, the architectural characteristics were different from one another in most aspects. Analyzing the user’s responses for the questionnaire in relation to the architectural characteristics of the parks, four main conclusions were drawn.

The first conclusion was based on the aspect of access and relation where it was found that users are more attracted into public places that are open towards the main road. In addition to having easy access from the public transport system, it was also analyzed that people tend to get attracted towards a place, if they see other people enjoying the space. Therefore, a public space should always have a minimum one activity overlooking a road or another publicly accessible road. As for, it will attract more users towards the park increasing the opportunity of social interaction within the community. In addition, a public space should always be open from many sides, without boundaries. As per the analysis, even though both parks were located in the same urban area, people had different opinions about the parks related to its location and accessibility. In most scenarios, it is commonly discussed that having a car park can increase the user engagement. But when analyzed about these two parks, it was shown that even though both parks had provided car park facility, majority of the people tend to visit Diyatha Uyana as it is visible from the main road capturing a person’s eyes and attracting them towards the space.

The second conclusion which was based on activity and usage plays an important role in social interaction. It is a commonly discussed fact that public spaces should be enjoyable for every person regarding their age, disabilities, religion, or any other factor. The same conclusion can be implied in here as well. Mostly families who often visits public parks with people from different age groups would look forward to a place that can be equally enjoyable for each member of the family. Furthermore, having activities in public spaces provide with a chance to have a conversation with strangers, and play with them in case of children’s parks. As per the research conducted, most users preferred to visit Diyatha Uyana as it was considered as a family place. In contrast, Beddagana has a certain visitor category limiting its audience. The third conclusion covers one of the most important aspect in a public space, specially in a developing country as Sri Lanka. Image and comfort is a vast topic that not only covers the factor of providing an aesthetically pleasing or a comfortable features in a public place. It goes more towards providing a secured environment where people can be themselves without facing any judgments. Overall, in the study conducted, Diyatha Uyana was marked as a secure public place compared to Beddagana Park. But most younger generations’ users respond towards freedom in both places showed unsatisfactory. With the transformation happening every day, it was implied that designing of public place should focus on image and comfort by increasing the security of an environment through spatial planning while providing with the required freedom for the users to enjoy themselves. The freedom and safety increase a person’s confident in themselves to engage with other people without any hesitation. Lastly, the final conclusion was based on sociability which can be also implied as a combination of all the topics discussed above. The overall connectivity between every space of the park should have a proper planning system as it is the core of the whole functionality of a public space. In compared to the analyze done on both parks, the main reason behind Diyatha Uyana standing out as a public space was discussed to be it’s connectivity between spaces. Most visitors of Diyatha Uyana enjoy the transition from one space to another as it flows like a river. Therefore, having a proper connected system in a public place, where users can experience the environment without worrying about the space can be named as a perfect public space.

Therefore, it can be said that studying architectural characteristics of a public place can give the overall impression of the space. A better planned and designed place always attracts more users and make an engaging community.

Year 1

housing project

Community housing project at slave island

Floor plans

Floor plans

1

Conservation & Heritage Theory

Use of Heritage properties for commercial purposes and its impact on the conservation of Galle Fort

Year 1

Fine art influence and application in architecture

A COMPARATIVE STUDY COVERING USAGE OF COLORS FOR EXPRESSIVE PURPOSES IN THE RELIGIOUS PLACES OF SRI LANKA