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ContemporarySpaces|TheArchitect

HO ME

CO NTAC T

NE WS & E VE NT S

B OOK R E VIE W

C ONTE NT S

PRO D UC T AND IN TE RIO R

PR OD U CT S

EDIT ORIAL
P ROF I L E

FEA TU RE
PR OJE C TS

HE R I TAG E
S HOR T T AKES

H OU SE S

I NTERV I EW

S PO TLIG HT

ST UDE N T' S PA GE

Contemporary Spaces
June 2008

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ATimelessBeauty
by Greca M Durant | Photography by Sanka Sammana
When Amali and Buddhika Kariyawasan contracted Archt K B Menaka Mangalanatha, Amali clearly outlined what she wanted for a house: airy, sunlit, with a very big white hall. She also
wanted to see different colours whenever she moved around the house, and to give her lots of flexibility, since she liked changing the colours of her soft furnishings and ornaments
according to her moods. The couple loves to travel abroad, and brings home interesting objects to match what they already have at home or in storage.

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Archt Mangalanatha magically built the house in a recordbreaking nine months! The Kariyawasans second child was born soon after the family moved in and another big project was
about to commence which needed meticulous attention: the familys very own shopping mall, to be built next to their residence.
The site, abutting a busy dusty road, was a rectangle plot that offered absolutely no views to the surroundings. The house thus had to be designed as inward looking to extract any
sensuality that the site had to offer. It has a usable area of 5,250 sq ft, and exudes a contemporary compatibility. The interlocking pairs of stonefinished blocks used in the front yard and
the elegantlooking reused Kabok brickedperiphery walls serve to highlight the house block.
From the main door looking inwards, your eyes travel as far as
the wall of the kitchen, like peering through a tunnel. The
corridor, with its red cherry walls, leads to the main door.
Buddhikas home office is cleverly positioned in a way so
nothing punctuates the peace inside the house, especially with
young children around.
The two wings of the house are wrapped around the pool
making it a central feature in the house. All the bedrooms on
the upper levels face the pool. Huge nadun timber and glass
doors open out to the contemporary version of the meda
midula, the open courtyard that borders the swimming pool, with everything connected
to it. Corresponding to the time of day, a dramatic performance of shadow and light
and varying temperatures can be experienced in the courtyard, and its reflections carried through to the rest of the house.
This arrangement works well with the wind patterns: the wind touches the pool surface and is cooled before it enters the
house.
The living room stretches toward the main dining room. The royal gold nadun and steel bar staircase takes visitors to the
family area, furnished with antique furniture. The pantry is fashioned from pinewood. This area opens out to a small back
garden that also serves as a delivery access alley. Also found on the ground level is the kingfisherbluewalled corridor that
leads to the visitors room, which is attractively attired in bright indigo.
Up in the family area, floor tiles are in antique red, to match the period setting. On this level you also find the audiovisual
room, with stateoftheart facilities, and soft green walls; a corridor draped in different gradations of red; a babypink
bedroom; a purple bedroom, and a very large master bedroom, with an equally large bed and walls done in sunset yellow.

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The house responds well to the climate of the tropics. Even with the tall blind wall as one boundary along the house, throughventilation happens throughout the house due to the
strategic placing of the double height void. The architects philosophy is to create interesting and meaningful spaces out of various planes: whether a wall, a pool, an existing tree on site, a
level drop, or even a shadow cast by the moving sun on the floor or a wall.

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Architect:MenakaMangalanatha
Contractor:ThilakmaDevelopersPvtLtd
Clients:BuddhikaKariyawasan&AmaliKariyawasan
Projectduration:9months
TotalArea:5,250sqft
Siteextent:30perches

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