FARU Journal

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Adaptations and Negotiations of Local People towards‘Development’: Case of Hambantota, Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2013-12) Mariyathas, S; Sooriyagoda, K
“Planners, designers and architects are not paying attention in knowing how things work in cities. On the contrary, they have gone to great pains to learn how cities have to work and what have to be good for people" (Jacobs, 1961). This has wade them create cities in a way which thy found 'ideal' to achieve what thy (mis)understood as ‘development ’. Furthermore, the trend of the recent city development in many parts of the world including Sri Lanka has been ‘changing the existing according to what power wants'. All of which do not seem appropriate to the socio-cultural spaces that are produced by the local people in their daily life. The local people, therefore, adapt various strategies to transform what is given into how it can be lived. This research examines such adaptation process and the responsive negotiations of local people towards development' in the case of Hambantota, Sri Lanka.
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An Agent Based Simulation for Home Interior Designing
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2013-03) Mohotti, WA; Kulawansa, KADT
Interior design is the art of making a space both comfortable and aesthetically pleasing; this is achieved mainly by applying interior design principles. Human involvements in the field of interior design do not produce a perfect design and do not apply all relevant techniques in the field of interior design. Furthermore, designing interior space by getting the service of an interior designer consumes a considerable amount of time and money. This agent based simulation solution for the interior designing process, using agent technology can help to address the highlighted issues. There are several agents for different elements in the interior spaces in this technology, such as a chair agent, a table agent, a light agent, a fan agent etc. According to architectural principles, these agents will consist of different properties. By considering the individual properties, these agents adjust the required elements in the proper order using interior design techniques. The Final output is obtained by communicating between different agents. By implementing this kind of agent base interior designing system, normal clients as well as interior designers can be facilitated, as agent technology has both power and control.
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An Alternative Approach to Assess The Residential Population Resilience to Urban Flooding
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2020-11) Kalpana, LDCHN; Jayasinghe, AB; Abenayake, CC; Wijayawardana, PNP
Community resilience assessments and minimizing the anticipated disruptions to vulnerable communities, is a broad topic in disaster studies. In common practice, most of the indicator-based resilience assessment studies rely on statistical aggregation methods of tabular data collected for macro administrative units, as it is readily available in most of the countries. However, this method confronts severe drawbacks in converting such data into micro-scale geospatial units. To address those issues, this study proposes to utilize the Dasymetric Mapping Technique in the geospatial population resilience assessments, as it is capable of identifying the micro level impact to the population distribution as a pixel representation. In order to geospatially demonstrate the population exposure, the study has selected three major flooding events occurred in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The results revealed a great applicability of the proposed method as a statistical approach which estimates the exposed population by over 90% accuracy. Therefore, the proposed method is recommended to be utilized as an efficient tool of community resilience assessment as it is highly accurate in downscaling the spatial distribution of population data.
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Analysing The Morphological Changes In Vernacular Domestic Architecture Of Kerala, India Since 1947
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2010-12) Bhooshan, BS; Kini, MK
This paper discusses morphological changes in the vernacular domestic architecture in Kerala since 1947 (Independence of India from colonial rule) and identify the changes and analyses the reasons behind these changes. The study focuses on the gradual and vernacular architectural developments happened within the study region owing to several factors like social and political reforms and related, government initiated land reforms, migration to other parts of India and to foreign countries in search of better jobs and income, related economic factors, colonisation, change in technology and work expertise, change in materials, change in lifestyle, global exposure through channels and other communication system, climatological factors etc. The vernacular domestic architecture has undergone tremendous transformation owing to these factors and can be identified with specific typologies emerging. The major questions posed here are, 1. Can visual memory of Vernacular transferred to the contemporary architecture be considered vernacular or even designed vernacular? 2. What is the essence of Vernacular? Can we decipher the Diacritical mass that makes something remain vernacular and something cross the borderline? 3· Vernacular is ever evolving. Is there a stop point for a continuing vernacular construction practice? How do we define the tipping point, if any?
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An Analysis Of Daylighting Performance Of Learning Spaces In Local Government Sector Schools In Kandy
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2021-12) Wijesundara, A; Gamage, W
Natural lighting creates a pleasant environment, promotes healthier conditions and saves energy, and is an important factor in the design of education institutions. Many research indicates the positive impacts of better daylighting integration in educational spaces for student's health and wellbeing. For this research, an in-depth lighting integration analysis was carried out in three typical classrooms in Berrewaerts college Kandy, Sri Lanka. A field study comprised of a questionnaire-based survey and measurement of illuminance was combined with daylight simulation using Autodesk Ecotect 2011 & Autodesk Revit The study reveals that lack of awareness in integration of natural light with the design can either result in increasing the negative effects of excessive daylight exposure or lack of adequate daylighting. In upper levels and east facing classrooms the main problems were associated with high levels of daylight such as excessive shadow and light patches, uneven light distribution and color distribution and impede perception of objects and text. At ground floor level and south facing classrooms, when natural light is not properly integrated with the design resulted in uneven light distribution, non-uniformity of light resulted in difficulty in reading at work plane and impede the visual perception of objects and text.
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Analysis Of Relationship Between Urban Sprawl And Its Driving Factors: A Case Of Small And Medium Town In Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2021-12) Manesha, EPP; Jayasinghe, A
Measuring the level of urban sprawl is a challenging task that lacks a clear universal method. Therefore, it is worthwhile to investigate whether results differ with the methods utilized, to compute the level of urban sprawl. Consequently, this paper will also contribute to overcome the two limitations of emerging researches. Frist, Recent studies have utilized various methods to measure urban sprawl. However, the results of these studies were not compared and contrasted. Second, empirical studies have given less attention to identify the relationship between the level of urban sprawl and its driving factors such as urban form, urban landscape, population density, built-up density, accessibility, etc. Hence, this study supposes to quantify urban sprawl and identify the key factors influence on the level of urban sprawl. The study was conducted using the Expansion Intensity Index, Shannon’s Entropy value and Landscape Metrics. Ten small and medium towns were selected in the Sri Lankan context- The study able to demonstrate the influence of type of urban form, type of street pattern and changes in the accessibility of center compare to periphery area on the level of urban sprawl.
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Applicability of Centrality Measures to explain Vehicular flow in Colombo Municipal Council Area, Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2013-12) Gunawardana, C; Jayasinghe, A
Traffic congestion has become a major issue for all of the cities in the acrid. Sri Lanka also incurs 1.5% of GDP due to massive financial and man-hour loss due to traffic congestion. Thus, this sets the importance of understanding how development and design of future built environment influence travel demand and traffic flows. Traffic flow modeling enables us to envisage traffic flows in urban models require the acquisition and analysis of large quantities of data such as the network topology, its traffic flow data, vehicle fleet composition, emission measurements and so on. Data acquisition is an expensive process that involves household surveys and automatic as well as semiautomatic measurements performed all over the network. Currently Sri Tanka and most of the Developing Countries follows these conventional Traffic Flow models, which identified as expensive affair and inefficient method. Therefore, predicting or understanding traffic flow has become an emerging challenge for Sri Tanka in this context. areas. Yet most of the current conventional Given this background this study focused on an emerging set of research literature that are employed in transport planning applications in developed countries. Those researches have based on network centrality parameters that revealed successful results in measuring traffic flow. Yet, all above studies based on developed countries and there are none or very limited applications with refining to the emerging rides in developing world where such research need the most. Therefore, this study looks a! the applicability of centrality measures to access the traffic flows in Sri Lankan context. Accordingly, the objective of this research is to study the applicability of centrality measures to explain vehicular flow in Colombo municipal council area. In this study we employed three centrally measures such as Degree. Betweenness and Closeness, which are borrowed from the domain of complex network analysis. Centrality values have men computed by axial map which generated using motorable road network of the CMC. Then it calculated using UCT-Dep/h 'nap and ArcCIS software applications. Generated Centrality values have been evaluated using actual traffic flow data along the CMC road network. Correlation analysis indicates that actual traffic flow values has a significant correlation with Degree (0.337 with significant at the 0.05 level). Betmennes(0771 with significant at the 0.01 level) and measures. Multiple regression analysis results was Closeness (0.742 with significant at the 0.01 level) centrally indicated that centrally measures hare capabilities to explain over 7S% of the variation of actual Traffic flow values. Therefore, the study suggests that Centrality Measures can scree as an alternative method to identify and predict traffic flow pattern of cities. Accordingly method developed in this study van be consider as robust and dynamic planning tool that will offer promise for spatial and transport planners to overcome emerging challenges and changing needs in the built environment.
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Application of ArcGIS Model Builder and Python Scripting for urban Flood Modeling
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Bandara, DMPD; Mahanama, PKS; Warusavitharana, EJ
Accurate projection of flood extents in urban catchments has become a challenging task. Accurate data on inundation is useful for identifying flood risk areas and developing flood management strategies to mitigate the negative consequences. Owing to high costs of sophisticated flood simulation modeling software, currently, the required flood data for different studies and projects in Sri Lanka is collected through gauging stations, GPS devices and participatory based mapping approaches. However, these methods are highly time consuming and limited in accuracy. Hence, this paper presents an integrated model that simulates flood prone areas, flood levels and flood water accumulation time in urban areas using ArcGIS model builder and Python scripting. The model was calibrated and validated considering part of the urbanized area beside Kelani River. The results indicated that there is a high level of consistency between the observed and simulated results. Accordingly, the model presented in this paper can be used to simulate the flood inundation information in urban areas in a relatively fast, inexpensive and accurate manner
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Architectural Heritage & Urban Identity Between Nostalgia & Reality: The Case Of Bahrain
(2010-12) El-Masri, S
The rich architectural heritage of Bahrain has been subject to dilapidation and destruction as a result of rapid urbanisation and its complex physical, social and economic dimensions. The two major cities of Muharraq & Manama have been undergoing profound changes facing serious challenges and problems that are threatening whatever left of the fine organic traditional urban ■≫ ■ Large scale developments, high-rise buildings, shopping centres and infrastructure expansions; coupled with political and economic changes; manifest these intricate processes of urban transformations. Remarkably enough, all these come at a time when globalization has dominated all aspects of life with its cliches, challenges and possible potentials. In such a complex situation, an important question could be asked of how urban identity could be sustained in fast-transforming cities? The paper focuses on sustaining the urban identity of panama and Muharraq that goes beyond the mere nostalgic romanticism to realistic futurism by employing a combination of observation and participation qualitative research methods. It aims to provide a holistic approach integrating between the various scenarios of restoration, new functional rehabilitation, in-fill and new development. Hence it examines not only the physical aspects but expands the discussion to a wide range of issues and their interrelations including appropriate land-use systems and building regulations, financial resources and incentives, education and heritage, urban and architectural practices, and stakeholders* involvement and institutional developments. The paper acknowledges that the approach should filter between short-term solutions and far-sighted strategies, between private interests and public good, between market efficiency and social welfare, between bottom up approaches and top down ones, between physical development and heritage protection and between large scale and small-scale developments. Based on this discussion, comprehensive policy measures are to be addressed focusing on the possibilities of turning the "wicked” challenges into "potential” opportunities
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Architecture of Emptiness: Human Flows as Generators Of Shapes In Future Architecture
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2013-12) Frdz, AM; Jorge, PF
In this article we will try to discuss the existence of a series of haptic and perceptual indicators that allow us to correlate certain spaces as the most adequate for determined activities in an almost unconscious manner. These 'potential’ or 'aprioristic' spaces would be nodes or intersections of a map of invisible flows that would demonstrate an underpinning in which future cities could be established upon. Diminishing the contemporary architecture's mass would be a way through which the above mentioned flows could be materialized. We are not suggesting an 'organic shaped architecture, only an architecture that is free from its Cartesian bonds, allowed to express itself a an ordered recreation of the chaos that is hidden below the corseted geometric systems that define today's architecture and urban planning. The human body would no longer be defined in its movements by architecture. By the contrary, architecture would be moulded, in its form and logic, by the human reason and shape.
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Bordering On Vernacular-The Tradition Of The Oriyur Shrine
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2010-12) Thilagam, LT; Balasubramanian, V
The vernacular of a place is encoded in the architecture of the built form and enriched by the cultural practices of the people. This study explores the history and tradition of the Britto cult centered at the Shrine of St John de britto at Oriyur in the Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Devar district of Tamilnadu, South India. The religio-cultural context of the shrine and festival originating from the martyrdom in 1969 of John de Brittto, today has cut across religious affiliations and is more of a vernacular tradition connecting the local castes and communities. It is this mystic aspect of the Oriyur shrine, built and supported by traditional practices that this study intends to explore
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Brasilia: 50 Years
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2010-12) Porto, CE
Claudia Estrela Porto Brasilia, Brazil's capital was officially inaugurated on April 21,1960. Past fifty years of the event, this article seeks to rescue key moments in the history of the city, the Master Plam contest won by urban planner Lucio Costa in 1957 until the establishment of the great metropolis, today. Presented as a great historical overview, the text also shows some possible relations between the colonial experience of Brazil and that of India and Sri Lanka
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Brunei Kampong Ayer: An Analysis Of The Structure And The Conditions Of 183 Evolution Of A Borneo Malay Urbanism
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2010-12) Leblanc, R
For the past 15 years Kampong Ayer, Brunei's famous water villages and former empire's capital has been left to decay slowly. Debates about its future are held far from its inhabitants and away from Brunei’s population that all have their roots in it. This paper attempts to show that this static phase of the village history, with centralized external forces holding its development and planning its redevelopment, has not occurred during 1300 years of history. This does not follow the traditional pattern of urban development of the Vernacular Southeast Asian Coastal Cities [VSEACC], thus any decision made with this new process will dramatically change the face of Kampong Ayer. I argue that Kampong Ayer is an example of a unique type of city that existed during the historical period from the 7th century to the end of the 20th century. The raison d'etre of these cities were to be polities and trading centres, connected with outside world, points of exchange between people, goods, ideas, between seas, rivers and land. There is no research in the urban discipline about the structure of the VSEACC, I propose to use the anthropological model of urban definition developed by 0'Connor(i983) as framework of analysis of its structure and evolution. As he postulates, in Southeast Asia, urban fabrication is a corollary of social structures. To describe the urban form it is then necessary to understand these structures and spatialise them. This will set the background for a brief sketch of the history of Brunei Kampong
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Building numbers : the case of post Tsunami housing In Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2009-12) Munasinghe, H
Top-down approach used to build housing for the Tsunami victims in Sri Lanka evolved around the number of houses destroyed. The selection of land and the number of units to be built were donor-biased decisions. This Building-Numbers may have satisfied the donors and builders for quantification of their achievements but not necessarily the recipients for various reasons. Many recipients have left those houses and some never occupied theirs. Enlarging schism between man, society and place, and further displacing the settler as a result are defined here as the research problem. We have studied a few housing projects in the Southern Province, using a multidisciplinary approach framed by sociocultural based settlement planning and morphologically oriented house types. We used qualitative research methods to collect field data. Our findings suggest that building of settlements that are beyond mere collections of numbers could have had more success in term of resurrecting the lost villages
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Colour as a Tool to Manipulate Indoor Thermal Perception in Tropical Upland Climate; A Field Experiment Implemented in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Welitharage, M; Hettiarachchi, A
Incorporating warm colours in the interiors of tropical uplands characterissed by a cold climatic condition, was hypothesised to help the inhabitants to perceive the indoor thermal environment as comparatively warmer, compensating the heating costs to a considerable extent. A preliminary field experiment was executed to investigate the impact of a warm colour (red - Cranberry Zing) and a cool colour (Duck egg blue) on indoor thermal perception in tropical upland climate with reference to Thalawakele, Sri Lanka. Substantiating the hypothesis, participants consistently perceived the red room to be comparatively warmer (90% - warm and 10% - slightly warm) while the blue room was perceived to be even cooler by 93.5% (64.5% - cool/ 29% - slightly cool) and neutral by 6.5%. Ability of red colour to induce a comparatively warm ‘perceived’ indoor thermal condition against the ‘real’ thermal condition in tropical upland climate could be potentially developed as an alternative hybrid remedy for energy conservation.
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Colour Associated Thermal Perception (CTP): Evidence From An Experimental Research Design Implemented In Sri Lanka.
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2013-12) Hettiarachchi, A; De Silva, N
Colours have been hypothetically recognized to alter perceived temperature. and thus differentiated as warm colours and cool colours, even though not satisfactorily supported via scientific inquiry. Given that this association could be generalized, the current investigation proposes its integration to create the optimal perceived thermal milieu demanded by human activities in built environment eventually working as a potential hybrid approach for energy conservation. In order to comprehend the logic behind warm-cool dichotomy of colour perception and to provide scientific explanation on its nature, emergence and significant factors, an experimental research design was adopted with reference to red and blue associated thermal perception (RTP and BTP). It was affirmed that a warm RTP and a cool BTP can be generalized. Colour blind subjects were found to perceive the same suggesting possibilities of CTP beyond visual perception. Colour associated thermal perception was found to be more of a psychological response. One’s psychological state triggered by colour stimuli, preference to exposed coloured environment and the preconceived, learnt ideologies molded by educational background were found to have a significant impact on both RTP and BTP. Further, BTP was found to have relationship with subject's age, and the surface temperature of blue work station while subjects' favorite colour was significant for RTP. Accordingly, CTP was found to emerge as a subtle, complex combination of several layers; psychological, learnt, external as well as certain un-revealed factors.
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Comparative study of environmental & planning law and disaster management law relating to the construction industry in Sri Lanka for sustainable development
(2009-12) Abeynayake, DTE
This research will enable to gain basic understanding of Environmental Law & Planning Law relating to the construction industry; and analyse of new physical planning and disaster management rules and regulations in Sri Lanka . Laws governing protection of environment conservation and the use of natural resources in Sri Lanka are largely based on legislative enactments .There are many physical planning legislation in Sri Lanka such as Housing and Town Improvement Ordinance No. 19 of 1915 Urban Development Authority (UDA) Law No 41 of 1978 ,Town and Country Planning Ordinance No. 16 of 1946 ,Municipal Council Ordinance and Urban Council Ordinance, Pradeshiya Sabahas Act of 1987 etc for protection of the environment. Accordingly a set of building regulations are set out in the Schedule to the Ordinances. The objective of the laws are to promote planning of economic, social and physical development and its implementation in the urban areas. The Sri Lanka Parliament enacted two Acts namely Tsunami (Special Provisions) Act No.16 of 2005 and Disaster Management Act No. 13 of 2005 for rehabilitation . These two Acts specially mentioned planning and recovery techniques and management law of Sri Lanka. In the post tsunami reconstruction work, the government has given high priority to rebuild human settlement and shelters. These relevant legislation are related to rehabilitation and reconstruction strategies in tsunami affected areas through environmental protection. However there are various discrepancies, loopholes in these legislation. Objectives of the research are comparative study of existing environmental and Planning law relating to the construction industry in SriLanka, Analyse disaster management legislation and recommend improvements to the Construction Law practices in order to make planning procedure more effective. Every professional in the construction industry including the quantity surveyors architects, town planners, engineers should be well aware of the environmental and planning law and abide by them in order to better protect the environment by the impact of construction project as well as create a country with better living conditions in future.,
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Competencies Expected of Graduate Quantity Surveyors by the Sri Lankan Construction Industry
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Yogeshwaran, G; Perera, BAKS; Perera, KTPK
Quantity surveying is one of the prominent professions in the construction industry. With the increasing complexity in construction projects, competencies of QSs have become utmost significant. Moreover, new opportunities of the quantity surveying profession reinforce the need to upgrade the competencies of graduates. However, the quantity surveying education system has not attempted to cater the needs of the industry, thus lagging behind the perceived level of achievement. Hence, this study aims at identifying the gap in competencies required by professional organisations and those possessed by graduate QSs. This study employed a hybrid survey approach. Firstly, external and internal desk studies were conducted to identify the competencies required by professional bodies and the competencies possessed by graduate QSs respectively, which was then analysed using the thematic analysis technique. Secondly, three expert interviews were conducted to validate the findings of the desk reviews. Finally, Bloom’s Taxonomy was used to identify the level of competencies possessed by graduate QSs. The analysed data revealed that the graduates possess all competencies required by the professional organisations, except Capital allowance, Corporate recovery and insolvency and Special assessment. Further, they possess Building surveying, Property development and Surveying and levelling, beyond the requirements of the professional organisations.
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Connectivity Analysis as an Alternative Predictor of Transit Demand: A Case Study of the Railway Network, Sri Lanka
(2013-03) Jayasinghe, A; Pathiranage, N
Rapidly increasing traffic congestion in urban and suburban roads raises the urgent need for an efficient railway service in Sri Lanka. In studies on rail transportation planning, however, travel demand has often taken a back seat to design and engineering features; perhaps due to the lack of adequate data availability. Taking its cues from this insufficiency, this study explores the potential of using “Connectivity Analysis” to serve as an alternative methodology of travel demand forecasting. The connectivity of railway stations in termsof railway and road access were computed separately by using ‘Connectivity Analysis’ and by analysing the relationship with travel demand for stations within the railway network of Sri Lanka. Results revealed a significant correlation between transit demand and the connectivity of railway stations, such that connectivity values have the capability to explain over 77% of the variation in rail transit demand. Therefore the study suggests that the “Connectivity Analysis” method can serve as an alternative predictor of transit demand, in the absence of good, quality data on trip-making and employment trends.
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Construction and Demolition Waste Management Gaps in Construction Industry
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Karunasena, G; Ranjan, H; Rathnayake, U
Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste is one of the fastest growing waste stream in Sri Lanka due to the construction boom after three decade of war. Thus, C&D waste management has become an environmental problem due to the lack of treatment and uncontrolled land filling. Thus, this study is focused on identifying the gaps which need to be addressed in C&D waste management. Survey approach and interviews were used to gather information. Consequently, ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts involved in C&D waste management. The collected data was analysed using content analysis technique. The findings revealed that the major gaps exist in C&D waste management as lack of capacity to handle an enormous quantity of waste, difficulty in estimating the quantity and composition of waste, lack of dumping sites and coordination among different parties involved, financial incapability and lack of technical people. Therefore, the study proposed seven areas for improvements as institutional and legal framework, fund allocation, site waste management plan, waste management hierarchy, supportive environment and monitoring, evaluation and reporting.

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