Out of darkness and decay come light and style
In today’s Bawa Awards series, we feature the metamorphosis of a rundown dwelling in the heart of Colombo into an elegant studio apartment
When Lavan Sornarajah asked architect Godridge Samuel to transform the small apartment bequeathed by his grandfather, it seemed a quixotic idea. It was in the dilapidated Perahera Mawatha Housing Scheme near
Beira Lake, Kollupitiya, a seedy neighbourhood where the back alleys had broken old doors, “hanging windows, sticking out antennas and A/C outdoor units emitting hot air.”
So hardly the site for the contemporary, boutique style studio apartment Lavan had in mind for his young family to stay when coming over to Sri Lanka from their home in London.
Today the entrance to No 556, though joined to the rest of the scheme, is like a pixie portal to a tasteful chic conclave. The house has a prim denim-blue door, fronted by a white old fashioned grill door. Its classy mix of neat modern elegance with a touch of the antique and the frilly has been brought indoors as well with accents like a stone Nandi bull in the inner courtyard reminiscent of Jaffna architecture and antique bronzes bathed in yellow light recalling the classic Polonnaruwa period against creamy white spaces.
The major challenge, says the architect Samuel, was to transform dark cramped spaces by opening them up and introducing
natural light and ventilation. At first completely uninhabitable, the damp apartment had overflowing sewers, leaks in waste water lines, an ill-ventilated toilet and kitchen, and decayed doors, windows and mossy walls.
As a space within a shared building, the pipelines and ducts were running at fixed locations and upper level units shared duct space with ground floor units. In addition, there were common walls and a common access way. This proved
difficult as special care had to be taken during construction, to ensure there was no inconvenience caused to neighbours.
The neighbours in the scheme were initially against the renovations being done. However, as the project benefited the entire neighbourhood by fixing leaking pipes, replacing old drain lines, paving the main pathway outside and including planters, at the end they were happy, “and brimming with ideas of how to improve their own shabby corners,” says the architect.
Basically the apartment has the toilet at the front and an inner courtyard at the rear. Between the two is the bedroom separated only by two steps from the living/pantry/ dining. Covering no more than 440 square feet, it is simple and minimal, with suffused lights and just two colours dominating.
The main service duct with the common sewer lines is covered by a display shelf, which has the rusted bronze Hindu antiques. The pantry is tucked within the niche created by this duct. The inner courtyard with steel pergola has a dan tree growing as well as a carved antique window that creates the illusion of a larger garden beyond.
There is a decorative manhole cover in the bathroom’s shower area- adding visual oomph whilst serving its vital function of being an accessible means of servicing the lines.
All this style was pretty much
on a shoestring, and the cost of 5 million Rupees was mostly spent on constraints experienced during construction as the scheme had common shared elements and amenities all of which had to be repaired.
Chartered architect Godridge Samuel who graduated from the University of Moratuwa is known for his minimalist tropical modern buildings including the 2008-shortlisted Thicket, where a pineapple plantation was metamorphosed into a Sri Lankan parkland with lake, forest and paddy field. He has also done several churches for the Diocese of Colombo of the Church of Ceylon. Under his belt among many others are Semondu at Dutch Hospital Complex and Beverley Street, Rajagiriya.
The apartment is also rented out as a home-stay.