Papers by Milinda Pathiraja
In developing countries such as Sri Lanka, rural-to-urban migration and the subsequent process of... more In developing countries such as Sri Lanka, rural-to-urban migration and the subsequent process of urbanization have produced drastic transformations in the technical, environmental and formal performance of the urban building fabric. The small towns located along regional arteries, in particular, are morphing into continuous commercial strips without apparent structure, coordinated land use planning or adequate performance of their building stock. Such urban growth has come to depend on largely conventional building know-how and unskilled labour, which does not favour the production nor the industry’s ability to meet demand, thereby resulting in sub-standard building systems and processes across the urban areas. This paper is the first document produced on a broader study that looks at countering the building systems-, process- and morphology-related failures of urban agglomerations proliferating along Sri Lanka’s major arterial roads. The arguments presented in this paper are largely born out of a two-pronged approach to the study. Firstly, typo-morphological studies of the urban fabric are proposed to determine the technical and functional behaviour of the existing building stock, and identify the problems and potentials of emerging building types, forms and constructional responses. Secondly, an outline of a design theory addressing the building challenges posed by urbanization is presented by comprehending the organization and skill base of various industrial actors and processes that make up the industry, because it is only within this scale that the rationale and the means for action can be found and possibly activated. Keywords: Urban development, Arterial towns, Typo-morphology, Technological robustness, Architectural design
South Asia Journal for Culture, 2012
Frontiers in Built Environment
Persistent fiscal and political mismanagement, together with the financial pressures of the COVID... more Persistent fiscal and political mismanagement, together with the financial pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, have driven Sri Lanka into a social and economic crisis triggering a decrease in national foreign exchange reserves, an inability to purchase vital imports, and an unprecedented rise in internal inflation rates. Within the correspondingly distressed construction sector, the idea of ‘design circularity’ gains natural impetus beyond eco-system protection and responsible consumption views, as a critical strategy for responding to the material and fiscal scarcity of the country’s by-now relatively closed economy. This is also in light of the fact that the post-independence history of industrial policy in the island has produced an urban landscape characterised by large underused and increasingly derelict building stock with a significant potential - and need - to be programmatically reorganised, technically recycled, and spatially and culturally re-designed. This paper moves fr...
University of Melbourne, 2011
Thesis (PhD) -- University of Melbourne, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, 201
Building Resilience - Conference Proceedings BEAR2008, 2008
PurposeIn fast urbanizing economies such as Sri Lanka, the construction industry tends to fragmen... more PurposeIn fast urbanizing economies such as Sri Lanka, the construction industry tends to fragment into almost separate spheres of production with little or no reciprocal connection in training, know‐how and career development paths, and consequent limitations in internal knowledge dissemination and technology transfer. This type of industrial compartmentalization is detrimental to the social acquisition of skills, and restricts the operational frameworks of given technologies, especially in low‐cost sectors. Against this backdrop, this paper sets out to speculate on how design can act as an engine of social and economic growth for those involved in its production.Design/methodology/approachBased on government statistics and building output analysis, the paper argues that architects can build labour policy‐making into the design of their buildings, provided that such an agenda is developed strategically, by examining the industrial base of the region, and by defining a design and technological vocabulary that feeds off the analysis of place‐specific conditions, limitations, and ambitions.FindingsThe integration of technological development and broad socio‐economic growth can be facilitated by “open” (or “incremental”) industrial design strategies aimed at connecting construction markets rather than keeping them separate. To this end, it is posited that technological contamination and compromise can help the labour force to increase its own skills progressively.Research/limitations implicationsIn practical terms, this objective translates in the definition of building implementation techniques that can adapt to the level of complexity required and the level of expenditure possible without penalizing the expected performance of the building – i.e. they must be inherently “robust” as opposed to precise and therefore more “sensitive”.Originality/valueThe paper is the first result of a thesis‐in‐progress that, on the basis of a technical review carried out on a small sample of ideal‐type projects in Sri Lanka, is considering ways to create and link labour development opportunities through architectural design.
The changing social, economic and environmental challenges in the developing world call for an am... more The changing social, economic and environmental challenges in the developing world call for an amplification of the role of the architect. Rather than continue standing by the old principle of non-compatibility between the production of cultivated advice (e.g. design) and the production of goods (e.g. construction), architects must find a way to bring the ambitions of design and the realities of construction together devising, if possible, coalitions and solutions to make sociotechnical novelty manageable in terms of labour skills as well as building results. In Sri Lanka, such an outlook requires change in both professional attitude and cultural appreciation.
In developing countries such as Sri Lanka, rural-to-urban migration and the subsequent process of... more In developing countries such as Sri Lanka, rural-to-urban migration and the subsequent process of urbanization have produced drastic transformations in the technical, environmental and formal performance of the urban building fabric. The small towns located along regional arteries, in particular, are morphing into continuous commercial strips without apparent structure, coordinated land use planning or adequate performance of their building stock.
Such urban growth has come to depend on largely conventional building know-how and unskilled labour, which does not favour the production nor the industry’s ability to meet demand, thereby resulting in sub-standard building systems and processes across the urban areas. This paper is the first document produced on a broader study that looks at countering the building systems-, process- and morphology-related failures of urban agglomerations proliferating along Sri Lanka’s major arterial roads.
The arguments presented in this paper are largely born out of a two-pronged approach to the study. Firstly, typo-morphological studies of the urban fabric are proposed to determine the technical and functional behaviour of the existing building stock, and identify the problems and potentials of emerging building types, forms and constructional responses. Secondly, an outline of a design theory addressing the building challenges posed by urbanization is presented by comprehending the organization and skill base of various industrial actors and processes that make up the industry, because it is only within this scale that the rationale and the means for action can be found and possibly activated.
Keywords: Urban development, Arterial towns, Typo-morphology, Technological robustness, Architectural design
Disaster Prevention and Management, 2009
... based on routine re-production ie commercial, institutional and industrial projects off-t... more ... based on routine re-production ie commercial, institutional and industrial projects off-the-shelfprocurement is more ... tough it has to be, the description highlights the contradictions that pervadeconstruction activity in socio-economic environments such as Sri Lanka's, with a ...
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Papers by Milinda Pathiraja
Such urban growth has come to depend on largely conventional building know-how and unskilled labour, which does not favour the production nor the industry’s ability to meet demand, thereby resulting in sub-standard building systems and processes across the urban areas. This paper is the first document produced on a broader study that looks at countering the building systems-, process- and morphology-related failures of urban agglomerations proliferating along Sri Lanka’s major arterial roads.
The arguments presented in this paper are largely born out of a two-pronged approach to the study. Firstly, typo-morphological studies of the urban fabric are proposed to determine the technical and functional behaviour of the existing building stock, and identify the problems and potentials of emerging building types, forms and constructional responses. Secondly, an outline of a design theory addressing the building challenges posed by urbanization is presented by comprehending the organization and skill base of various industrial actors and processes that make up the industry, because it is only within this scale that the rationale and the means for action can be found and possibly activated.
Keywords: Urban development, Arterial towns, Typo-morphology, Technological robustness, Architectural design
Such urban growth has come to depend on largely conventional building know-how and unskilled labour, which does not favour the production nor the industry’s ability to meet demand, thereby resulting in sub-standard building systems and processes across the urban areas. This paper is the first document produced on a broader study that looks at countering the building systems-, process- and morphology-related failures of urban agglomerations proliferating along Sri Lanka’s major arterial roads.
The arguments presented in this paper are largely born out of a two-pronged approach to the study. Firstly, typo-morphological studies of the urban fabric are proposed to determine the technical and functional behaviour of the existing building stock, and identify the problems and potentials of emerging building types, forms and constructional responses. Secondly, an outline of a design theory addressing the building challenges posed by urbanization is presented by comprehending the organization and skill base of various industrial actors and processes that make up the industry, because it is only within this scale that the rationale and the means for action can be found and possibly activated.
Keywords: Urban development, Arterial towns, Typo-morphology, Technological robustness, Architectural design