Zowa Architects

Kurundu House

Kurundu House
© Eresh Weerasuriya

KURUNDU HOUSE

Zowa Architects

ARCHITECTS
Zowa Architects

LOCATION
Digana, Sri Lanka

CATEGORY
Houses

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Signet consultants

CONTRACTOR
M.Kalyanaratna

QUANTITY SURVEYOR
Chula Jeewakaratna

AREA
4300.0 ft2

PROJECT YEAR
2015

PHOTOGRAPHS
Eresh Weerasuriya

Text description provided by architect.

Tucked away in a remote mountain side off the Digana golf club road is Kurundu house ,a small 4 bedroom retreat for a busy financial consultant and his family. The site is a 132 perch bare plot except for a lonely Kohomba tree.

Kurundu House
© Eresh Weerasuriya
Kurundu House
© Eresh Weerasuriya

There is no visible habitation in its immediate environs and one is immediately aware of the openness and loneliness.

To add further drama it overlooks a branch of the Victoria reservoir which fills up during the rainy season, and in the far distance is the Hunnsagiriya mountains.

The approach from the main road is a rough track winding through small village huts, vegetable gardens and large Mara trees and finally up a steep rocky lane that lands at the site.

This is when one is confronted for the first time with the breathtaking view.

Kurundu House
© Eresh Weerasuriya
Kurundu House
© Eresh Weerasuriya

With a stage like this, at the outset we thought we should have a grand central verandah space that can somehow capture the explosive openness of this place while focusing on the distance views beyond, this would be the focal element from where one could access the rest of the spaces such as bed rooms and utility spaces.

The design was conceived as two staggered 2 storey rectangles with the verandah in the center.

Further taking advantage of the slope this space was made split level, the top tier gives access to bed rooms on either side while the bottom tier accesses the a living room, kitchen and staff areas.

Kurundu House
© Eresh Weerasuriya
Kurundu House
© Eresh Weerasuriya
Kurundu House
© Eresh Weerasuriya

Apart from acting as the central circulatory space it is also informal sitting areas, the bottom tier is more open and next to a lawn and swimming pool with 180 degree views, this is where one would hang out most days, the top tier is different in mood and feel, the filtered light through the cinnamon sticks adding to its ambiance.

By using the level difference to bury half the structure, we managed to presents a nonchalant single story façade to the road.

The façade is clad in cinnamon sticks which conceals a passage that leads to bed rooms as well as the entrance verandah.

Kurundu House
© Eresh Weerasuriya
Kurundu House
© Eresh Weerasuriya

A narrow wedge shaped cutout in the cinnamon stick façade gives access to the double height verandah. There is no front door.

The lower verandah gives to a third living space which is a closable glazed living room which can be air conditioned. This is a place of refuge when the lower verandah is not usable during thunderstorms or during the hot days of the year.

The two solid blocks are treated simply, with lean to roofs draining to a common concrete slab that gathers rain water.The walls are unplastered ,painted brick work,and floors are cut cement in the rooms and rubble paved in the verandah’s.

Kurundu House
© Eresh Weerasuriya
Kurundu House
© Eresh Weerasuriya
Kurundu House
© Eresh Weerasuriya

The spaces immediately in front and back of the building is grassed, to give foreground to the building but the rest of the land will be left to go wild.


Kurundu House
Section
Kurundu House
Section

Kurundu House
Elevation


Kurundu House
Site plan
Kurundu House
Floor plans

Kurundu House
Courtesy of  Zowa Architects

Zowa Architects
T +94 77 7144379
Zowa Architects
29/4 Guildford Crescent, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka