....

“If someone wants me to do a bedroom, it is not just a bedroom with four walls and a window that I think of. An architect will build a bedroom for you where you can live, sleep and most importantly – love. It is not just four walls and a window. It is something beyond that. It is to add something beyond the quantitative aspect. That is the architect’s job to make spaces that have life. You have to feel it rather than see it. But if you go to some other room, you see the space. You have to understand what you can see or feel,” explained Kathriachchi.

If you say you want to build a structure and live in that, then the architect will give you a home.

“You can give a nice image to a room through sunlight and the clever placement of different shapes together. It may even be a nice design on the wall. So we take shapes, forms, materials, structures and textures. We as a country have always been in love with sunlight. It is a big resource for architects. You can use sunlight to make so many creations.

A house is not just a shelter with a roof and a wall. It is a place where you can feel. The space talks to you and you just communicate with it. Then you fall in love with it. Otherwise it is just four walls and a roof, pointed out Kathriachchi.

An architect is a master manipulator of light and shadow. His instincts have been honed by years of study to be able to manipulate light. Sunlight is something that is very desirable. Light and shade are part of our designs. In fact, they are the tools of an architect.

“Let’s imagine a dark corridor which is narrow and long. But at the corner of that corridor, you need to create something significant. When you enter from one corner, the other end must be visible to your eye. You need to get sunlight to come into that place. It is a tunnel vision. At the very end, you can see a very bright spot. It could be a very spiritual experience. So you use sunlight to get that spiritual aspect for a building,” said Kathriachchi.

These days there is much talk about a Mega Polis in Sri Lanka. Kathriachchi says let’s wait and see what it turns out to be. However, he admits that some sort of systematic development is needed.

....