Eco-friendly design the way of the future

Sri Lankan architect Dhananjana Ameresekere's eco-friendly, condominium design was chosen as the winner of Singapore's Pinnacle design competition in January 2008. The luxury condominiums, comprising of seven towers will be constructed on Singapore's Sentosa Island. In an interview with The Sunday Times FT – during a visit to Colombo last week -, Ameresekere who works for Architects 61 Ltd in Singapore, said he took inspiration from all types of marine life including seahorses and shapes inspired by bubble corals.

A unique feature of the sea-facing condominiums is a metal screen which covers the building form and acts as a sun shading device, a significant eco-friendly feature in the design.

He described the buildings as curvilinear due to its distinctive twists. The towers will have two units on each of its twenty stories and each apartment will also have a 270 degree view which includes the stunning sea. Construction is expected to take approximately two years.

Ameresekere, educated in the United States and who has been living in Singapore for the past three and a half years, has been involved in several other projects including the redevelopment of Terminal I of the Singapore Changi airport.

Although Singapor is feeling the effects of the subprime crisis which hit the United States over the past several months, Ameresekereke said the construction industry remains very strong and is propping up the economy.

He said architecture is going through an ecological movement and the trend is to focus on 'green architecture' which has become extremely popular in Singapore over the past two years. Design is becoming environmentally friendly in terms of materials used in construction and the technology including solar panels and micro wind turbines.

Ameresekere said that although this concept of 'green architecture' is not widely known in Sri Lanka, the local industry should take an earnest look into new technology being used around the world considering the rapidly rising local energy costs.