Emotional pitch of organized space

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

The effect

Let’s see what emotional effects can take place when you see some of these architectural designs by Dennis. You may see that different spaces can affect your moods in many ways combined with aesthetics. It could be based on light, textures and forms that characterize their quality or the pitch that makes us feel in a different way.

You will see angular forms as opposed to curved forms, square forms as opposed to circular forms. Some moods can put you into a creative frame of mind, while others relaxing or even focused with modern design. The images are taken from some of the houses in Panadura, designed by Dennis.

Architect Baduge Dennis Chandrakumara Fernando, a former director of State Engineering Corporation, says that original Sri Lankan architecture is still to be uncovered to establish its correct form.

“It is sad that not much effort has been exerted to discover the origins of our architectural forms and designs,” he says.

As explained by him, “we have all the historical material to boast of being a developed civilization from the time of King Ravana, about palaces he built, domiciled caves, efficiently managed cities, ornamental interiors, graceful pillars magnificent monasteries and environment friendly houses that had courtyards in their middle to outline its importance,” he said.

These structures have stood the test of time for many thousand years before they have been reduced to ruins. The significance and the power of the island’s ancient architectural work rests in the sustainability it demonstrates. An in-depth engineering and architectural study into these aspects is yet to be carried out on a proper footing, to find how they were made, what is their concept and perspective of design, stone molding techniques and method of construction among other things, Dennis added.

This is Dennis’ quest and his desire. It has immense influence on his work. He is one of those architects who exert abundance of his energy just to find the best place to keep a Buddhist statue inside a house he builds.

“The place where you keep religious objects is one of the most important parts of design. This is the point in which the inclusion of peace may be radiated throughout the interior,” he maintained.

Dennis uses ultra modern architectural techniques when it comes to constructing a house.

Q: What is a house?

A: “A house is a place where one should feel at home. But in a house there is always more than one person. If everybody wants to feel at home, the house has to offer something to its inmates, the peace of mind, I would say, could only be achieved through its design,” he said.

The freedom of space in a house, no matter how vast it is, has little or no meaning if that space is not properly organized. Just as musical sounds do not build a proper musical sentence that are pleasing to our ears until its sounds or pitches are properly organized, a structure of a house does not become a proper house until all its spaces are properly organized to create a perfect pitch, explained Dennis.

Dennis - a part of him a musician - strums his guitar and sings along, after a hard days work. He studied architecture at the Faculty of Architecture, Moratuwa University.

“In music, we bring our emotions and impulses to a high pitch. We do the same with architecture, only that we use the property of space to bring out the emotional content within the given space,” he added.

Q: Don’t you have to listen to your clients and their requirement when you undertake to construct a house?

A: Listening to a client is the easy part. The tough part is to understand him. The clients, they always outline what kind of house they want.

But I always ask about their job because his requirements are mostly associated with that. If he is the type who often entertains his relatives and friends, we have to compose his houses’ design according to those requirements as well.

There are some types of clients who do not entertain much company, who really like to mind their own business. We have to arrange the construction in accordance with their needs and likings. The challenge is to organize the space in question to create the necessary pitch that he wants to suit to his emotions because it has to be a house at the end of the day.

Q: Does concept of house change client to client?

A: No. The concept of house is universal, only expressions are different. Once you bring its design to a universal pitch, anyone is likely to say that it is a nice house. There are such houses, which people describe as great. There are houses that doctors have bought from businessmen, and engineers from chemists, because they like them.

Q: What is an architect?

A: An architect is a person who designs spaces that people wants to live. He is a person who can create inspiring moods, who can make you feel stimulating or relaxing with the element of space.