10/20/2015 Contemporary Spaces | The Architect

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A Timeless Beautyby 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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Contemporary SpacesJune 2008

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10/20/2015 Contemporary Spaces | The Architect

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Archt Mangalanatha magically built the house in a record‐breaking nine months! The Kariyawasan’s second child was born soon after the family moved in and another big project was

about to commence which needed meticulous attention: the family’s 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 stone‐finished blocks used in the front yard and

the elegant‐looking re‐used Kabok bricked‐periphery 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.

Buddhika’s 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 kingfisher‐blue‐walled corridor that

leads to the visitor’s 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 audio‐visual

room, with state‐of‐the‐art facilities, and soft green walls; a corridor draped in different gradations of red; a baby‐pink

bedroom; a purple bedroom, and a very large master bedroom, with an equally large bed and walls done in sunset yellow.

10/20/2015 Contemporary Spaces | The Architect

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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, through‐ventilation happens throughout the house due to the

strategic placing of the double height void. The architect’s 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.

10/20/2015 Contemporary Spaces | The Architect

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Architect: Menaka Mangalanatha

Contractor: Thilakma Developers Pvt Ltd

Clients:  Buddhika Kariyawasan & Amali Kariyawasan

Project duration: 9 months

Total Area: 5,250 sq ft

Site extent: 30 perches

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