Resort
This hotel project takes it position from an environmentally-perceptive design adopted to safeguard responsible conversion of rural land and the subsequent generation of economic and employment opportunities in the country’s periphery. The property subjected to this project had once been a dryland forest, but in recent times has been cleared and burnt periodically for ‘Chena’ cultivation. When the new owners of the property commissioned the project, the ‘Chena’ farming had been abandoned, and the glimpses of the land growing back to its former woodland were visible. There were few tall trees spread across the property with a light undergrowth rising.
One half of the 4-acre land owned by the client had a state-endorsed
reservation abutting a scenic lake feeding water to nearby agricultural areas. In the backdrop to the lake towards the south is a stunning panorama of the ancient Sigiriya and Pidurangala rocks, while towards the east is a forest reserve spanning a great distance. Located in the western banks of the lake, the hotel land assures excellent views of the rocks, the lake and the forest reserve beyond, but only if the vegetation is cleared or the buildings rise to higher elevations. Programmatically, the 2-acre buildable area of the land had to fit in 24 generous chalets plus ancillary public and service facilities to make the project economically viable. However, a position was agreed at the inception of the project that none of the significant vegetation at the site would be removed, thereby allowing the forest to grow back despite the planned building interventions. In doing so, a landscape ruined for years by Chena cultivation is supported to be restored to its former ecological glory while mutually accommodating the hotel functions. Subsequently, the main public unit of the hotel programme was placed on a rocky outcrop in the middle of the site, thereby gaining adequate elevation over the tree canopies to capture views across the landscape. The chalets, on the other hand, look into the forest, having been made to be hidden among it. Not only that all existing trees were retained by placing the building units strategically in between them, but a programme to plant new trees was also initiated after the preliminary setting out of work at the site, thereby allowing the forest to grow in parallel with the building construction. Ecologically, then, the abandoned Chena land is regenerated into an organic woodland surrounded by the natural environment. Experientially, the building revels on the seclusion offered by being contained within a thick forest grove and the ensuing voyages that oscillate between ‘human-made’ and ‘inherent’
duality, celebrating at times a sudden discovery of a distant view, a pleasant encounter with the native fauna and flora, or a sensation of reaching unexpected outdoor room lit by sunlight slithering through the tree canopies.
To accommodate the underlying objectives of ecological preservation, the building systems and processes were carefully planned, from the siting and construction to the use. For ease of transportation and erection within the treed landscape, a lightweight, modular, layered construction strategy was adopted; a steel framework of GI tubes provided the load-bearing structure to which layers of infill material were progressively added, including an external partitioning system using a lightweight, cement-fibre sandwiched panel that offers high insulation against internal heat gain. In strategic areas, infill masonry walls were added as a visual mass to offset—and thereby emphasise—the lightness of the modular structures veiled by the woodland. The occasional use of brick masonry as ruins lost in the forest plays an additional symbolic role in place-making: it signifies an ‘otherness’ to the brick craftsmanship seen at nearby Sigiriya rock- fortress, the icon that defines the physical and cultural meaning of the larger ‘place’ that nestles this hotel project. Craft has indeed played a significant role in the building conception to construction, both as a formal determinant of the architectural response, as well as a technological platform to use and support local building traditions organised around brickwork, timberwork and steelwork.
PROJECT DATA Project Name Resort
Location
Sigiriya, Sri Lanka Status Ongoing Site Area 2 acres Gross Floor Area 2,594 square metres Building Height One to two storeys Clients/Owners Ming Yang; Dilan Hettiarchchi Architecture Firm Robust Architecture Workshop
Principal Architects
Milinda Pathiraja; Ganga Ratnayake, Main Contractor SINA Constructions
Mechanical & Electrical Engineer Enry Engineering Consultancy Civil & Structural Engineer Ranmal Fernando Associates Images/Photos Kolitha Perera
11 A lightweight, modular, layered construction strategy was adopted within the treed landscape
11 60 FUTURARC
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