This House is a Home, Studio, Retreat and Exhibition Space for an Artist Couple

This house is a home, studio, retreat and exhibition space for an artist couple, a Sri Lankan painter and his artist printmaker wife. They desired a space they could retreat to in order to cre- ate and display art, as well as to serve as a residence for them and their young daughter. The building sits on a site sloped down towards paddy fields that act as a bufer to nearby urban life and an expressway, with a series of internal gardens that create a seamless connection between the external paddy landscapes. 

The building is wrapped with hollow bricks, with breathing air voids to create air gaps for a cooler micro-climate within the house. The entire house is passively ventilated and is bufered from the noises of the neighborhood and highway by the surrounding paddy fields and the lush internal gardens, creating a feeling of a private oasis. The project has been described as a satisfying and collaborative process between the architect and client, with the modest budget incrementally gathered over a period of three years. 

Project Information

Project Name: Artists’ Retreat, Pittugala

Location: Sri Lanka

Architect: Palinda Kannangara