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Architect Thisara Thanapathy. Pic by Chandana Wijesinghe
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Their architecture promises to be a fusion of function and fashion.
According to their vision statement, they focus on the aesthetic experience of
spatial form. Founder of Thanapathy Associates, located at Egodawatta,
Borelasgomuwa, Architect Thisara Thanapathy, speaking to The Nation said that
architecture is all about striking a balance between creating spatial quality
and achieving proper ambiance. “An architect is able to help his or her client
have a relaxing environment while addressing issues of the physical environment,”
Thanapathy said.
Thanapathy also said that this form of art cannot be taught.
“My childhood and school experiences were very important in the development of
these skills set.” He went on to explain that
architecture is about developing the senses and honing the awareness of the
environment around you. “It is an art form with a keen sense of the
environment and material forms. You must be able to feel the special
qualities of nature, ambiance and space,” he said.
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Mathale holiday home
Pic by Waruna Gomis
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Thanapathy had had his primary education from Maharagama
Vidyakara Vidyalaya and joined Ananda College, Colombo
10 for higher studies. He did his Advanced Level in the Mathematics stream.
After completing university education he first joined the architecture company
‘Designer group5’. “While I was there the company completed many projects in Colombo including the
high rises and this was a great opportunity for me to learn many valuable
techniques,” he recalled. He was awarded with the Geoffrey Bawa Award,
considered the most prestigious award for an architect in Sri Lanka, in
2011 for his excellence in the field. His design for the Mathale Holiday
Bungalow also received an honorable mention at the Geoffrey Bawa Award Ceromany
in 2010. In addition he was also awarded the second place for the low income
housing project, ‘SHELTA’ in Mirihana.
“Take dining for example, we have to create the mood and the
atmosphere for our client to carryout this activity with full attention,” he
explained. He also said that it’s only
the technical drawing and construction skills that a person can learn from a
university, but the creative and conceptual skills depend on the architect
himself. “You can’t teach art or architecture to a person. Only the
techniques can be taught. It has to come from one’s inner self,” he said.
Thanapathy also said that he finds a connection between
spirituality, religion and the work he does as an architect. “The purpose of
life is spiritual satisfaction. Whatever you do, if you do it to your fullest
efficiency, you are in your peak performance. That helps your spiritually. It’s
the same in designing. When you do your best you feel that fulfilled. Maybe it
is momentary, but it is valuable,” he iterated. “Our architects try to create human feelings rather than give priority to
social image,” he said. “The architect should know how to create this by
articulating space. If the architect is successful in this, his creation would
help his client concentrate on what he is doing. It will be like meditation,”
he continued. The architect should be able to address peacefulness of mind and
relaxation and reject the pretentiousness of social images created by the
consumerist culture.
Thanapathy explains that the Sri Lankan architect’s work
should be appropriate to the tropical climate. “A modern design should include
the qualities of openness and freedom, continuity and immensity. It should also
have the simplicity and peacefulness of a dwelling of the past,” he opined.
He mentioned that he has attempted to create timeless beauty
in his projects. “Consider the traditional vernacular architecture; it is based
on local needs and construction material, and
reflected local traditions, but tended to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural,
technological and historical context. Even these are not academically planned,
this kind still plays a major role in the architecture and design,
especially in local branches,” he explained. He also said that this traditional
beauty is observed less in modern architecture. “Now the buildings and the
designs are not as beautiful as the old designs. I believe this resulted from a
change in culture and the mindset of the people,” he said.
Thanapathy believes that Sri Lankan architects are comparatively
advanced. Therefore Sri Lankan architects have a good demand both locally and
internationally. He said that this is a result of the correct guidance of the
first generation of Sri Lankan modern architects. “Our first generation of
modern architects tried to mix modernism with traditional architecture. Even
though India
had a very rich cultural history their local architecture is not strong. They
have to get architects down from foreign countries,” he said. “Our first
generation architects did a commendable job. But the new generation is not very
keen on improving the field, but copy the work of the first generation,” he
said. “The architect too is commercialized, as anything else. He has to
market himself and when he markets himself he loses his genuineness.
Now the designing is not about relating to the context, you have to think about
our economy and environment. Rather than trying to be better than the others if
the architect can focus on addressing the real issues, especially the
environmental issues, they can help to minimize the issues up to a certain
extent,” he explained.
He also believes that people are conditioned by society,
commercialism and consumerist culture. “They are detached from their inner
self. These influences have created false images in people’s mind. Majority
wants to just show off. They are out of touch with the true beauty of nature.
People want to project an image through the design, but don’t know how to feel
the beauty of it,” he said.
He said that it is almost impossible to convince their
customers of the economically and environmentally healthy designs. “Most of the
time the customer is not educated or knowledgeable enough to understand that
there is no point in spending large amounts of money to build a house,” he
said. “But a skilled architect can also find a way to be environmentally
healthy while satisfying the customer’s needs. Also we can raise public
awareness of critical social and environmental issues,” he further said.
Our urban areas are becoming denser and less green. Natural
beauty of the suburban landscape is fast diminishing. To address the space
issue, related to this Thanapathy Associates have come up with a small housing
system with split levels. “It is time to answer these broader environmental and
social issues through personalized house design other than satisfying
individual needs. A ‘Split level house’ is a strategy developed specially to
create a garden in suburban houses, which helps to preserve greenery as much as
possible,” he explained. Split
level houses accommodate part of the activities in the ground floor of a
typical house on a mezzanine level- the intermediate floor between main floors
of a house, while maintaining functional relationships. This creates an
additional garden space equal to the area of the mezzanine floor.
He further explained how the architect can address
environmental issues. As he explained, the building industry has the ability to
influence a significant portion of the total Carbon dioxide emissions in urban
areas; therefore architects should consider ways to minimize the carbon dioxide
amount emitted per square meter. “Even the high-rises can be designed in an
environmentally healthy way. Even when you choose the material you can select
less energy consuming raw material. Wood consumes very less energy and you can also
regrow the trees,” he reiterated.
Speaking more about environmentally healthy designs he said
that a proper environmental design would address the surrounding environmental
issues in a broader sense. The architect should consider low energy design
principles and also the wellbeing of the people, using daylight, natural
ventilation and innovative solar design strategies in their designs.
“Environmental design will also encompass areas such as historical preservation and lighting
design. It should also fit human activities into this built environment so that
those activities function efficiently, have high visual quality and will have
minimal impact on natural systems. This can only be achieved as a collaboration
between planners, architects, civil engineers and landscape architects. In
other words, I suppose, this is what we all call sustainable development,” he added.
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