A dilapidated old manor house in Jaffna peninsula, with warped roof beams, warped door windows and many structural defects were presented to the architects for refurbishment- by clients- to be refurbished as a retirement home for themselves who were returning to Sri Lanka after escaping to overseas due to the 25 years old North East civil war in Sri Lanka. Architects, decided to replace all warped roof beams and door windows during the refurbishment, introducing cantilevering bay windows to the swimming pool side, which was a novel idea to create an interesting three dimensional composition to the swimming pool side elevation to be overlooked over the ground floor living dining areas from upper floor.
Chinthaka Wickramage Associates
“With great difficulty, the skilled carpentry team removed all the 3″ × 4″ wall plates of the roof. They were insufficient to carry the load of the clay-tiled roof, and replaced them with 6″ × 4″ hardwood wall plates.”
“The construction team installed new triangular gable-end panels at the two gable ends. This gave a contemporary modern aesthetic to the otherwise traditional manor house. This falls in line with the vernacular architectural idioms of the Jaffna Peninsula of Northern Sri Lanka.”
“The design team introduced a special lighting design incorporating timber-column-mounted ‘up and down’ lighting to supplement the lack of originally available lighting fixtures in the residence.”
Existing cut cement floor which was in very bad state, was tiled over with pressed-cement tiles, maintaining the original residence interior ambiance.
Calicut clay tiled roofs, white painted walls, dark timber columns, cement handled ceiling soffits and grey-white washed door windows give a certain contemporary aesthetics to the otherwise traditionally inclined residence.
“The design team introduced decorative floral-patterned panels to the car porch entry gable to celebrate the entry sequence of the residence. They also introduced colorful recycled antique door and window panels to the staircase landing, enveloping the cantilever that overlooks the swimming pool side as a feature wall.”
Raised podium ‘Thinnai’ at entrance verandah and under staircase landing give a certain Jaffna vernacular flavor to the otherwise contemporary styled Jaffna residence in Nallur, the Hindu religious cultural hub of the Jaffna peninsula.
Fact File
Designed by: Chinthaka Wickramage Associates
Project Type: Residential Architecture Design
Project Name: Refurbishment of Navalar Villa
Location: Navalar Road, Nallur, Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Year Built: 2023
Duration of the project: 2022 October to 2023 October
Project Size: 5000 Sq.ft
Project Cost: Sri Lankan Rupees 65 Million
Principal Architects: Ar. Chinthaka Wickramage
Design Credits: Ar. Shanthini Balasubramanium
Photograph Courtesy: Waruna Gomis
Consultants for the Project: Civil – Chinthaka Wickramage & Shanthini Balasubramanium / Interior Designers – Shain Oshada Herath / MEP & HVAC Consultants – P. Suganthan / Structure Engineers – Ajith Vandabona / Contractors – La Pagoda Pvt Ltd / Project Managers – Kumaralingam Pathytharan Quantity Surveyors – Tharaka Kaushalya & Thushara Karunaratne
Firm’s Website Link: Chinthaka Wickramage Associates
The Firm’s Instagram Link: Chinthaka Wickramage Associates
Firm’s Facebook Link: Chinthaka Wickramage Associates
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