Research Papers - School of Architecture

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Start date: 2010

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Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    “Cradle to Gate” assessment of material related embodied carbon: A design stage stratagem for mid-rise housing in Sri Lanka
    (Elsevier, 2021-01-01) Jayawardana, A; Perera, N; Perera, R
    Achieving low carbon buildings is seen as a key concept in order to reduce carbon emission and mitigate climate change. In contrast to operational emission, material related embodied carbon (EC) in the built environment plays a pivotal role, with the continuous consumption of high carbon emitting materials. This research relates to the ‘Cradle-to-Gate’ system boundary, while limiting its focus on building design stage decisions. A hybrid analysis approach was adopted - a bottom-up process with steps encompassing mass analysis, EC calculation, highlighting carbon hotspots, and ultimately the identification of critical building components. As a case study, multi-storey housing was selected as a critical building typology, in Sri Lanka. The results reveal ‘walls’ as a carbon hotspot that needs to be explored in strategies for mitigation. Substantial EC savings were seen in the selection of fly ash blocks as an alternate material to clay brick or cement block. Changes to the configuration of walls, specifically, bonding patterns and non-inclusion of a plaster layer, also showed savings. This paper, contributes to the understanding of material selection implications - in the cradle-to-gate stage - for the reduction of carbon emissions in mid-rise housing, in the context of Sri Lanka.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Inhabitants’ Satisfaction in Neighbourhood Sustainability: Insights from Colombo
    (Center for Environmental Planning and Technology University, 2021-01) Wijesundara, J; Weerasinghe, U. G. D; Perera, L. S. R
    Despite an increasing number of studies on the evaluation of sustainable neighbourhoods, only a few have paid attention to the identification of the components that influence the degree of inhabitants' satisfaction. A neighbourhood is a built entity that situates the experiences of daily lives of a group of inhabitants in an identifiable geographical space, while neighbourhood sustainability is the process of nurturing its environment to support and meet both economic and social needs of its inhabitants. A sustainable neighbourhood should ensure a desired quality of life and satisfaction to its inhabitants by inter-twining the local,social, environmental, and economic aspects to enable its sustenance as a wholesome place to live. However, most neighbourhoods do not do so. This paper investigates an urban residential neighbourhood in Colombo: the Newham Square, and examines the degree of inhabitants’ satisfaction based on their evaluations. It assesses neighbourhood sustainability under the three main sustainability parameters: environmental, social, and economic facets. Physical and non-physical elements of the neighbourhood form is investigated by using secondary data. Structured interviews were carried out to ascertain inhabitants’ satisfaction while physical observations were made to identify the deterministic elements. Finally, it concludes that the neighbourhood form has a significant role to play in ensuring inhabitants’ satisfaction and therefore neighbourhood sustainability.
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    Space Modification and Personalization in Public Housing: Case of Walk-Up Apartments in Sri Lanka
    (researchgate.net, 2019-11) Kularatne, K; Ajanthi Coorey, S. B; Perera, R
    Public housing programs are critical in developing countries such as Sri Lanka where Governments’ aim to accommodate housing affordability through a dynamic housing market addressing the desired housing mobility and choice of housing solutions. The process of public housing production lacks end-user participation in its design stage and instead provides a typical layout to communities with similar needs and requirements. Nevertheless, the end user inhabits the house by a process of modifications addressing their changing needs and requirements. But such process has no involvement of an Architect, thus modifications done without space planning and design knowledge, results in inhabitable spaces and poor quality of the living environment. This study explores the personalization strategies of the public housing process taking two ‘walk-up apartments’ type of public housing schemes as a case study.
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    Rethinking the development of post-war Sri Lanka based on the Singapore model
    (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India, 2017-07) Ramanayake, S. S; Wijetunga, C. S
    This study explores three major points: namely, Singapore’s development process, Singapore’s model of economic development, and the economic challenges of post- conflict Sri Lanka. This study explores pages of Singapore’s past and elaborates the focal points that resulted in its current development status. Sri Lanka’s development is discussed and compared with that of Singapore. Insights into Sri Lanka and other developing countries are also provided. This study reveals clear influences of Singapore’s nation-building process on its economic development. In contrast, Sri Lanka’s civil conflict spanning three decades and its politically unstable post-colonial history are seen to have adversely affected the country’s development. The industrial sectors of Sri Lanka are concentrated on low-skilled labour and manufacturing, mainly textile and clothing. The civil conflict in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, but many challenges remain. Therefore, this study examines the lessons that can be learnt in developing policies for rebuilding the nation and re-setting economic goals for post-conflict Sri Lanka.
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    Rethinking the development of post-conflict Sri Lanka based on the Singapore model
    (researchgate.net, 2018-03) Ramanayake, S. S; Wijetunga, C. S
    This study explores three major points: namely, Singapore’s development process, Singapore’s model of economic development, and the economic challenges of postconflict Sri Lanka. This study explores pages of Singapore’s past and elaborates the focal points that resulted in its current development status. Sri Lanka’s development is discussed and compared with that of Singapore. Insights into Sri Lanka and other developing countries are also provided. This study reveals clear influences of Singapore’s nation-building process on its economic development. In contrast, Sri Lanka’s civil conflict spanning three decades and its politically unstable post-colonial history are seen to have adversely affected the country’s development. The industrial sectors of Sri Lanka are concentrated on low-skilled labour and manufacturing, mainly textile and clothing. The civil conflict in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, but many challenges remain. Therefore, this study examines the lessons that can be learnt in developing policies for rebuilding the nation and re-setting economic goals for post-conflict Sri Lanka.
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    Valuing the cultural landscapes past and present: Tea plantations in Sri Lanka
    (Routledge, 2015-08-18) Wijetunga, C. S; Sung, J. S
    The study focuses on tea plantation cultural landscapes in Sri Lanka and its historical formation, present issues and future considerations. [Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon before 1972. At present, the country uses Sri Lanka for all related documents.] According to the research, the tea estate is identified as the main building unit of tea heritage. This paper reveals the historical formation of tea heritage and its contribution to the existing landscape. This study focuses on the Nuwara Eliya region, as it is the main area for tea cultivation. The present condition of tea plantations in Sri Lanka is derived through a survey conducted in Labookellie estate, Blue Field estate and Pedro estate. Past and the present circumstances are examined through analysis of literature, topographical maps and site observations, while interviews with outsiders (foreign visitors) were used to strengthen the thoughts on tea plantation landscapes. This paper reveals basic concepts such as agriculture as a heritage, active agriculture and value added through future conservation and development procedure. The paper first discusses the formation of tea estates and governing factors. Second, the paper explains estate settlement as the main building block of tea heritage with researched case studies and explains existing landscape values. Third, the paper explains future thoughts on the tea plantation landscapes in Sri Lanka. Opinions of foreign visitors to the plantation are considered as a valuable contribution to the conclusions. The paper stresses the importance of understanding tea estate cultural landscapes and their heritage value for future planning and the conservation priorities in Sri Lanka.
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    Sri Lanka’s labour migration trends, remittances and economic growth
    (SAGE Publications, 2018-09-17) Ramanayake, S. S; Wijetunga, C. S
    Labour migration has significant multiple impacts for Sri Lanka, where migrant remittances have massively increased over time. In the light of changing migrant worker dynamics, including state involvement in virtually exporting people, this article examines various trends of labour migration and then specifically analyses remittance inflows and their economic impacts in Sri Lanka between 1970 and 2015. Our findings confirm the increasing importance of remittances as a source of external financing, with considerable impetus for domestic economic growth, related development policies and gender issues. The conclusions make some suggestions to safeguard future remittance inflows to Sri Lanka.
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    Assessment of shop house enterprises in the Bangkok metropolitan area in view of environmental and health aspects
    (Elsevier, 2014-04-01) Potipituk, C; Perera, R
    This study aims to assess environmental and health impacts created by shop house enterprises and to identify the factors contributing to those impacts. The work was carried out in Bangkok, Thailand. This study used questionnaire surveys, interviews, and data collection. Responses were obtained from two different groups of stakeholders. First, the perceptions of owners and workers in shop house enterprises of their environmental management practices were determined. A second group of stakeholders consisting of affected community members, customers and relevant decision makers was queried to determine their perceptions of environmental performance of shop house enterprises. Using this strategy, perceived environmental conditions were determined by stakeholders and supported with actual measurement in air and noise pollution generated by shop house enterprises. The study results show that activities of shop house enterprise are perceived to generate adverse environmental and health impacts at various levels. The magnitude of each of these impacts suggests the priority at which policy interventions are needed to address these factors. We conclude that public policy to reduce environmental and health impacts should be done concurrently with efforts to mitigate factors contributing to environmental and health impacts generated by shop house enterprises. The effectiveness of existing environmental management measures for shop house enterprises by a decentralized administrative system requires further examination. It will be necessary to revisit existing environmental management practices for enterprises engaging in high risk activities.