Colombo Final Plot Final
U.S. Department of State Overseas Building Office Makayla Bellamy University of Virginia School of Architecture Juwan Palmer Felix Yizhou Li Systems, Sites and Building, Fall 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka is the largest urban city on the island just off of the southern coast of India. The island has a history of immigration, trade, and colonial invasion, providing the city with a diverse variety of ethnic groups, languages, and religions. While the largest religion on the island is Buddhism, there is a large collections of Tamils and Muslims. The topography of Sri Lanka is classified into two regions; the dry-zone that stretches from north to southeast, and the wet-zone that stretches from west to south. The dry highlands consist of a variety of temples and man-made lakes, while the dry lowlands are preferred farmland. The wetlands consist of sites preferable for fishing, and tourist attracting beaches. This is where Colombo is located. The construction of Sri Lanka was based off of a hierarchical system, in which only buildings of high elite were designed to maintain permanence. This left many ruins throughout the island that are representative of this elite system. The architecture current- ly is mainly religious, and because of the high religious diversity, there is a diverse architectural landscape. Around the island, there is a large percentage of the poor that live in mud and thatched roof houses using designs that date back to ancient times. In Colombo however, there is a high percentage of lower middle class, most of which prefer white washed cements houses with polished cement floors.
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