Professionals

Lankan architects reach dizzy heights

Shirajiv SIRIMANE

ARCHITECTURE: Sri Lankan architects are talented and qualified to under take any construction Professor Emeritus - University of Moratuwa, Lakshman de Alwis said.

Having gained international exposure in Australia and England he said Sri Lanka's higher education sector in the field of engineering too is of a very high standard.

"What is lacking in Sri Lanka is international exposure for them," he said.

The architect of Ceylinco Celestial Residencies in Colombo which would be Sri Lanka's tallest building, Alwis said the government should take a lead role in this area. "They should try to organise overseas training programmes for up and coming architects," he said.

Celestial Residencies is a unique creation designed for the developer Ceylinco Homes International (Lotus Tower) Ltd. The building will rise 200m from the Galle Road, having 42 levels above entrance level and three levels below.

The complexity of the design is not only attached to its height but to its multiplicity of functions as well. The building will house 184 super luxury apartments in 25 levels atop a 17 level seven-star hotel with 240 luxury plus rooms.

The Head, Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa 1976-1989, Alwis said this is a construction of one million square feet of habitable buildings. Escalators and 19 passenger elevators would look after its vertical transportation. Some of the elevators will have a speed of 2.5m per second.

The building structure is unique in its design due to site constraints, architectural creation and the building functionality.

After considering several options, designers have opted for an end bearing pile foundation having 164 piles of varying diameters.

Piles will be driven to the bedrock (approx. 30m from ground level) some of them will be the largest driven in Sri Lanka.

The topmost level of the hotel will have a swimming pool facing the Indian Ocean combined with restaurants and public areas of the hotel and is expected to be ready for occupation in 2009.

As the Head of the Department of Architecture in 1985, Moratuwa University he was instrumental in obtaining international recognition for the B.Sc. Built Environment and the M.Sc. Architecture courses when RIBA visitation panel recognised both for exemption from RIBA examinations.

He was also instrumental in setting up the course in Architectural Conservation of Monuments and Sites (ACOMAS) 1983. He also set up a Landscape Design Course leading to an M.Sc. in Landscape Design 1989.

Having worked closely with the British Council, JICA and the Finnish Government, he provided an opportunity for architecture teachers for postgraduate training.

Alwis is also the Chairman Design Consortium Limited and has many awards for their creations.

He was also the Chairman, Architects Regional Council of Asia (ARCASIA) Committee on Architectural Education (ACAE) 94/95, 95/96,Commonwealth Association of Architects Panel of Examiners for Recognition of Courses in Commonwealth Countries since 1989 and Member of the Panel of Experts of the Union of International Architects (UIA/UNESCO, 1995 Programme "Charter of Architectural Education". UIA is the World Body of Architects.