Committed Containability

• Name: Tharangika Athukorala
• Year: 2018
• Studio: Level V
• University: University of Moratuwa

Self-contained estate housing development

Project Location: Raygam Estate, Ingiriya

Design idea

Marginalization is a social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society which occur due to the lack of social cohesion. It is used across disciplines including education, sociology, psychology, politics and economically.

Raygamwatta tea factory centered labor settlement is a community development and empowering programme for marginalized plantation community in a neighborhood in Ingiriya town Centre with a history of social disadvantage. And as the solution for this physical and social infrastructure issues mainly addressed through the design proposed a mixed income community. Mixed income community development is an innovative approach to housing delivery that provides a mixture of housing products to suits low-income earners, middle-income earners as well as high income earners. Proponents of mixed income housing at another angle posit that economic diversity within a community would automatically enhance community interaction and improve community characteristics through the community stakeholders.

This project demonstrate,

1. Identification of community development as village interior development
2. Village interior development as a socially strengthen place
3. Developing village interior as a self-contained community as a holistic approach which based on the stakeholder participation of the community

Design development

This design is developed into four phases, in phase one identification of the sub communities of the estate, in phase two connecting sub communities of the estate and convert linking nodes in-to courtyards which are act as the main connecting element of the design and connecting those courtyards with the main communal spine of the scheme which directly connect with the Kovil square, in phase three developing building fabric along the communal spine and around the courtyards. In these main five nodes known as courtyards facilitating different activities such as educational, recreational, commercial etc. promotes the more interaction between the different stakeholders of the community. In phase four introducing different sizes of housing units which are distribute according to the income level and the family sizes. Whole scheme is developed according to the zoning hierarchy exist from house, sub cluster, cluster, communal spine, Kovil square and factory.

Promote using local materials such as; bamboo, wasted industrial materials from Horana industrial zone, on site materials (rubber wood, boulders, waste tea by products, mud etc.), and community participation for the development makes the whole scheme concrete.

Text description provided by the project author.