frank lloyd wright was my teacher

"When my daughter was 7 years old, she asked, 'Daddy, why do you always talk about Frank Lloyd Wright so much?'

"And I would tell her, 'Well, he was my teacher,' " recalls Phoenix architect and civic planner Vern Swaback.

" 'Really?' she said. 'What grade?' "

Read on

breakdown of blog hits

After a bit of a hitus I am back. As I was away from the blog, I had a quick look at the hit counter and what struck me most was the disparity between the hits from Western Province and the rest of the country. Is this a case of  less interest of architecture outside Colombo or just that we do not have enough  Internet access to the other parts of the country? May be both.

And also look at the disparity between  Southern Province and the provinces like Sabaragamuwa and North Western.


Western             - 10,356
Central               - 287
Sabaragamuwa   - 124
North Western   - 93
Southern            - 85
Uva                    - 31
North Central     - 21
Northern             - 7

Designing for students by peter cook

'
The Lunch Hour Lecture discusses two academic buildings by CRAB studio currently on site, demonstrating with many anecdotes and pertinent observations how forty five years’ teaching experience have been integral to their design process. A law school at Vienna Economics University with “a jolly plan” rallies against the convention of prioritising only spaces dedicated to parts of the curriculum, acknowledging the importance of interstitial spaces and improvised seminars.(Via UCL Events)

Read more

House at Madiwela (#49)

Architect: Chinthaka Wickramage
Struct. Engineer: Prasantha Pieris
Quantity Surveyor: Sunanda Gnanasiri
Consultants: Chinthaka Wickramage Associates
Photos: C.V.

chinthaka wickramage is commended @ ar+d Emerging Architecture Awards

ar+d Emerging Architecture Awards: Highly Commended
Community Centre by Chinthaka Wickramage, Thalalla, Sri Lanka

Rebuilding in Sri Lanka still has a long way to go after the catastrophic damage wrought by the 2004 tsunami. This new community centre designed by Chinthaka Wickramage on a budget of $55,000 (£34,000) works hard to restore essential services for the villagers of Thalalla. Set in the grounds of a Buddhist temple (as a debt of gratitude to the local chief monk who assisted with the tsumani recovery effort), the centre adopts the ancient Buddhist temple building tradition of tam pita viharas (building on pillars) so that it can withstand flooding.

A robust concrete frame holds infill panels of exposed red brick and supports a clay-tiled pitched roof. Despite noting its formal and material modesty, the jury found this a compelling project.

Read more at architectural-review.com

See more photos here IFRC community centre (#48)

sri lankan wins RIBA president's award for outstanding PhD thesis

Dr. Milinda Pathiraja, an alumni of the Department of Architecture of the  Moratuwa University has won the 2011 RIBA President's Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis. He has carried our his doctoral thesis under the guidance of Prof. Paolo Tombesi at the University of Melbourne.

Link for RIBA President's Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis.
Milinda Pathiraja of the University of Melbourne: The function of robust technology in the construction of a 'third world' practice: architecture, design and labour training