28th annual
architectural student
workshop
organized by usm
architecture talk
Profile
Madhura Prematilleke, principal of tA -teaM Architrave, Colombo, is an Architect and Urban Designer from Sri Lanka. Madhura studied architecture at Moratuwa (Sri Lanka) and Helsinki, and has worked in Sri Lanka, Finland, India, China.
The 28th Annual Architectural Student Workshop themed Matra has proudly invited one of the famous Sri Lankan Architect, Madhura Prematilleke to be the guest of architecture talk. The main topic of this talk was “ Redimensioning Architecture “meaning that rethinking and redefine what’s the function of a building towards the people. Nowadays, everything has been commercialized and industrialized including architecture. One design can suit a hundred kind of people. It’s kind of obey the idea of Madhura who prefer to create personalize to solve a problem.
In 2004, Sri Lanka was struck by tsunami and turns the place into a hell where the south and east coasts were worse hit. A lot of houses, infrastructure, and buildings was completely destroyed by the unstoppable strong waves. Madhura has put in a lot of effort in order to restore and repair the mass. Many of his project were designed to help the victims of Tsunami 2004. If I’m a Sri Lankan, I will be proud of him because he’s an architect for Sri Lanka, like a god who help and save the Sri Lanka. Normally, most of the architect tend to seek for more opportunity from other country for example China which has bigger market but Madhura choose to put his attention to his own country even though Sri Lanka has lesser opportunity. He love his country so much and this is one of the spirit I learnt from him.
Madhura is an architect with a lot of his own principles which is quite interesting for me. He has applied all of his idea, manifesto into his design and I think it works very well. First of all, he proposed that we should “build on less”. We should minimize the harm towards the environment by reducing the cutting down of trees and plant more tree at the same time. From what I observed, most of his design integrate with landscape design. Tree is one of the most important element that makes his building more alive and this is what makes his design special. For example, he designed Jaffna Cultural Centre as a public square surrounded by trees. The building is shaded by big trees and hence cool down the micro climate of that place so that people can enjoy walking at the square.
In addition, Madhura’s design is characterized by the openness of space towards to outdoor, he called it “Build in and out”. As we can see, there’s less barrier between interior and exterior because for him, the friendly climate is a gift and we should celebrate it. Why do we block the sunlight if it’s comfortable enough for the occupants? He allows the natural sunlight as well as natural ventilation to go into his building by reducing solid walls and barriers. Integrating the nature and interior is favorable in Sri Lanka compare to Malaysia due to the friendly climate of Sri Lanka. Moreover, the nice sea view could enlighten the interior space as well.
One of the famous project of Madhura is Villa Maggona. This is an award winning home that blend the beauty of Sri Lankan island style with modern simplicity and stylish comfort. It’s hidden from the exterior because of the surrounding vegetation which serve its purpose to provide more privacy and cool down the climate by providing shading. You don’t see the building from outside. As mentioned before, Madhura always never forget the importance of landscape design. Thus, trees are part of the design.
The materials are mainly bamboo and timber. There’s plenty of skylight can be found in Villa Maggong as well. Skylight allow sunlight to penetrate and light up the interior space but not heat up the space.
In my opinion, Madhura design for human instead of design just for the sake of money. He helped a lot of people especially the victims of Tsunami. He plays an important role in order to preserve the environment with greenery and inspired me to intergrade nature into design. A lot of consideration has to be taken if we want to bring in nature into our space also. As a habitant of Earth, I think we should carry our own responsibility to reduce harm towards the environment. Let’s start with us!
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