Browsing by Author "Silva, KD"

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item: Conference-Abstract
Beyond form: emulating vernacular in resettlement housing
Silva, KD
Emulating formal and spatial attributes of extant local building types in the construction. of new habitats is a ubiquitous feature in resettlement housing programs. Merging with the local place and culture as well as providing a familiar environment for the displaced that facilitates the start of their new phase of life with some continuity of the life before the displacement are aspects of the rationale for this approach. While this may be of some worth, adaptation of formal features of vernacular buildings for resettlement housing is inherently a dead-end path bound to bring failure both in the design of the settlement as well as in the resettlement objectives. It also shows the limited understanding of the vernacular building process, the complexities of the resettlement process, and the intricately intertwined nature of the two processes. This presentation will argue that it is this understanding that is critical for the success in resettlement housing than mere emulation of vernacular architectural forms and languages. Furthermore it is this understanding that will facilitate the vernacular building traditions a future ' continuity. The presentation will (a) articulate the central themes in vernacular building process and resettlement process; (b) frame a housing provision strategy that is based on the connections between the above processes; and (c) illustrate this premise based on several case studies of resettlement housing around the world
item: Article-Full-text
Impacts of global climate change on the future ocean wave power potential: A case study from the indian ocean
(Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2020) Karunarathna, H; Maduwantha, P; Kamranzad, B; Rathnasooriya, H; Silva, KD
This study investigates the impacts of global climate change on the future wave power potential, taking Sri Lanka as a case study from the northern Indian Ocean. The geographical location of Sri Lanka, which receives long-distance swell waves generated in the Southern Indian Ocean, favors wave energy-harvesting. Waves projected by a numerical wave model developed using Simulating Waves Nearshore Waves (SWAN) wave model, which is forced by atmospheric forcings generated by an Atmospheric Global Climate Model (AGCM) within two time slices that represent “present” and “future” (end of century) wave climates, are used to evaluate and compare present and future wave power potential around Sri Lanka. The results reveal that there will be a 12–20% reduction in average available wave power along the south-west and south-east coasts of Sri Lanka in future. This reduction is due mainly to changes to the tropical south-west monsoon system because of global climate change. The available wave power resource attributed to swell wave component remains largely unchanged. Although a detailed analysis of monthly and annual average wave power under both “present” and “future” climates reveals a strong seasonal and some degree of inter-annual variability of wave power, a notable decadal-scale trend of variability is not visible during the simulated 25-year periods. Finally, the results reveal that the wave power attributed to swell waves are very stable over the long term.
item: SRC-Report
Preserving small historic townscapes in Southern Province, Sri Lanka : identifying core-elements of towns' identities based on residents' and visitors' cognition of these towns
Silva, KD
This study addresses the issue of preservation and revitalization of small historic towns in the southern province of Sri Lanka. The origin of these towns, dispersed over the Galle and Matara Districts, goes back to the period of colonial domination of the Maritime Provinces of the island in the 18th and 19th century. The changes occurred within these towns are much slower compared to the another parts of the country, but now they are faced with increased pressure for growth and change, and hence needs preservation efforts to retain their identity while achieving the desired growth. The study argues that preservation activity, in this context, has to be a culture-supportive activity while dealing with the change of the culture due to development and its resultant stress. Approach to culture-supportiveness desires the identification of core and peripheral aspects of the culture and the cultural landscape. The core-elements of a culture and the cultural landscape need preservation while the peripheral elements can be allowed to change. In order to identify these core/peripheral elements, the study proposes to adopt environmental cognitive theory and cognitive mapping technique. Accordingly the study analyzes the cognitive maps collected from both the residents and visitors of the selected towns and identifies the elements of these southern small towns that are worth preserving