Asian Architecture | this-is-how-i-design

Asian Architecture – ARC60403

Project 1a: Contextual Architecture Study

This project was an approach to thorough research within the framework of the study of Contextual Architecture in Asia. This was to be carried out by first, identifying a building in Asia that portrayed contemporary contextual architectural practices. Based on this selection, we were to conduct a literature review on its vernacular architectural references as well as its contextual elements. These findings were to be then presented in the form of an A2 presentation panel.

Being a Sri Lankan, I decided to select a building designed by one of Sri Lanka’s famous architect’s -Geoffrey Bawa. The building was the Ena de Silva House, Colombo (1960-62).

Project 1b: Case Study Paper

In order to proceed to the next part of the project, we were required to identify a specific topic/issue/significance of study based on the same building. Thereafter, we were to highlight this specific topic/issue/significance of study through the creation of a concept mapping and a set of research questions. Once this task was complete, findings based on the given research questions along with a proposed research title were to be gathered and an outline of the research paper was to be presented in the form of an oral presentation.

The final part of the project consisted of producing the case study paper of 2000 words under a finalized research title in which the key points from the paper presentation were to be elaborated along with visual diagrams to further aid in the elaboration.

Reflecting back…

This project was quite interesting as I was able to study the work by an architect from my native country and I really enjoyed the process of writing and compiling my final research paper. Furthermore, I gained a better understanding of contemporary contextual elements as well as the importance of the use of vernacular references in architectural design.