2009 - (Vol. 01, Issue 01)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.248.9.226/handle/123/18672
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- item: Article-Full-textBuilding numbers : the case of post Tsunami housing In Sri Lanka(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2009-12) Munasinghe, HTop-down approach used to build housing for the Tsunami victims in Sri Lanka evolved around the number of houses destroyed. The selection of land and the number of units to be built were donor-biased decisions. This Building-Numbers may have satisfied the donors and builders for quantification of their achievements but not necessarily the recipients for various reasons. Many recipients have left those houses and some never occupied theirs. Enlarging schism between man, society and place, and further displacing the settler as a result are defined here as the research problem. We have studied a few housing projects in the Southern Province, using a multidisciplinary approach framed by sociocultural based settlement planning and morphologically oriented house types. We used qualitative research methods to collect field data. Our findings suggest that building of settlements that are beyond mere collections of numbers could have had more success in term of resurrecting the lost villages
- item: Article-Full-textResponsiveness of urban landscape and flyover(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2009-12) Suresh, EAT"Urban landscapes are storehouses for these social memories, because natural features such as hills or harbours, as well as the streets, buildings and patterns of settlement, frame the lives of many people and often outlast many lifetimes." (Hayden1995,p.9) Hayden refers "these social memories", to the memories of the histories of families neighbourhood, fellow workers, and ethnic communities.Further the author mentions that urban renewal and redevelopment are also creating the memories with urban landscape in its evolution. The generated architecture must be enhancing the Jives of the people than over govern it. So that urban landscape is the overall architecture of the context and the links in the urban communities. "There will always be landscapes which are intended as settings for architecture, where Formal, Virginian, Picturesque, Deconstructed or whatever." (Jellicoe1992,p.24) The urban landscape depicts the particular urban spatial flow including each and every element which is static in the context like buildings,bridges, flyovers,trees, etc. The elements like people vehicles and even pets which are moving included in this. Ti1e classification can be done in different ways. As an example living elements and the non living elements, but these classifications should be done focusing the final objective. Present landscape was not emerged suddenly but with a continuous evolution of time. This evolution is about people and their perception of these issues. Different concepts, trends related to their lives change the built environment and the urban landscape
- item: Article-Full-textStudy of effect of selected underlying factors of sitting comfort and discomfort on comfort and discomfort perception(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2009-12) Thariq, M; Munasinghe, HThe present study was carried out under university class room settings to investigate the influence of selected underlying factors of sitting comfort and discomfort at their different levels on the perception of sitting comfort and discomfort while sitting. Questionnaires with 7-point rating scales were used to obtain feelings elicited with five different chairs while sitting. Questionnaires filled by 49 subjects were analyzed. In the factor analysis, comfort and discomfort factors were extracted validating the factor structure of comfort and discomfort obtained in previous studies. The results obtained indicated that comfort and discomfort factors can co-exist at the same time at different levels. The results further showed that back pain was the most important discomfort factor while relief feeling is the most important comfort factor in sitting comfort and discomfort perception. From the findings of the study it is suggested to study seat features that may influence relief feeling in comfort perception
- item: Article-Full-textPost disaster waste management strategies In achieving sustainable built environment(2009-12) Karunasena, G; Amaratunga, D; Haigh, RDisasters cause a substantial damage around the world every year. In the recent few years, large scale earthquakes and tsunamis brought tremendous damages to urban and rural areas in the world, especially in Asia. Adisaster is a serious disruption of the functioning society, causing widespread human, material or environment losses which exceed the ability of affected society to cope using only its own resources" (Disaster Management Centre of Sri Lanka, 2008).According to official statistics issued by the Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) and United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction(UNISDR) in 2008, natural disasters killed16,517 people and destroyed US $ 60 billions worth of property and infrastructure in 2007(UNISDR/CRED, 2008). According to the statistical figures although there is a reduction in impacts caused on human lives and infrastructure, the frequency of occurring disasters have increased during past years.(World disaster report, 2002, 2003, 2004)Many disaster situations excessive demands were placed on environmental capacity, such as water and soil contamination, hazardous waste threatening public health and safety; damages on environmental infrastructure ,building and industrial sites (Perera 2003;UNEP, 2005; Pilapitiya et.al, 2006). This statement illustrates that disasters are so closely intertwined with environment and proper environmental management and governance is essential for long term peace ,stability and security in disaster prone countries, particularly, in developing countries where affected communities rely heavily on natural resources for survival. This is not an exception to a developing country like Sri Lanka which was heavily affected by the Asian Tsunami in 2004 and frequent smaller disasters. Waste and debris (building waste) becomes a key issue when compared to the extent of debris created as a result of disaster especially the Tsunami , particularly from destroyed buildings which were very significant (Joint UNEP/OCHA, 2005) . Although there is a National Strategy for Waste Management in Sri Lanka it is hard to implement when a disaster occurs due to unawareness, in capabilities etc. Although, there has been many environmental awareness and education programs conducted by government as well as and non governmental organizations, with no significant progress in improving waste management issues in Sri Lanka (Kurita et.al,2006). This causes serious environmental and economical burdens on normal living conditions, reconstruction phases as well as on general municipal waste collection process (UNEP 2005; Bandara and Patrick 2003). In this context,waste management and disposal has emerged as a critical issue in responding to a disaster.This paper attempts to document issues and challenges towards a sustainable waste management practice in post disaster Sri Lanka and the role of built environment professional's regards to that.
- item: Article-Full-textComparative study of environmental & planning law and disaster management law relating to the construction industry in Sri Lanka for sustainable development(2009-12) Abeynayake, DTEThis research will enable to gain basic understanding of Environmental Law & Planning Law relating to the construction industry; and analyse of new physical planning and disaster management rules and regulations in Sri Lanka . Laws governing protection of environment conservation and the use of natural resources in Sri Lanka are largely based on legislative enactments .There are many physical planning legislation in Sri Lanka such as Housing and Town Improvement Ordinance No. 19 of 1915 Urban Development Authority (UDA) Law No 41 of 1978 ,Town and Country Planning Ordinance No. 16 of 1946 ,Municipal Council Ordinance and Urban Council Ordinance, Pradeshiya Sabahas Act of 1987 etc for protection of the environment. Accordingly a set of building regulations are set out in the Schedule to the Ordinances. The objective of the laws are to promote planning of economic, social and physical development and its implementation in the urban areas. The Sri Lanka Parliament enacted two Acts namely Tsunami (Special Provisions) Act No.16 of 2005 and Disaster Management Act No. 13 of 2005 for rehabilitation . These two Acts specially mentioned planning and recovery techniques and management law of Sri Lanka. In the post tsunami reconstruction work, the government has given high priority to rebuild human settlement and shelters. These relevant legislation are related to rehabilitation and reconstruction strategies in tsunami affected areas through environmental protection. However there are various discrepancies, loopholes in these legislation. Objectives of the research are comparative study of existing environmental and Planning law relating to the construction industry in SriLanka, Analyse disaster management legislation and recommend improvements to the Construction Law practices in order to make planning procedure more effective. Every professional in the construction industry including the quantity surveyors architects, town planners, engineers should be well aware of the environmental and planning law and abide by them in order to better protect the environment by the impact of construction project as well as create a country with better living conditions in future.,
- item: Article-Full-textA Study of the spatial Form of Kalutara stown, Sri Lanka : as a unique historic process(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2009-12) Abenayake, CC; Munasinghe, JContemporary urban planning practice often conceptualize of urban areas as static entities which could be planned towards certain end states, and devoid of social, economic, and political context, within which the spatial form is produced and reproduced. There have been many scholarly attempts to fill in this gap. The main argument put forward in this study is that the spatial form of an urban area is not a static neutral entity, as mostly seen in planning, but a dynamic process that keeps evolving with many forces emerging from both local and global context. In addition to deliberate planning efforts, the spatial form could be changed and organized by number of external and internal agents associated with it. in view of that, this study reformulated the already known story of the evolution of Kalutara town? as a historic process, intending to explain spatial form as an evolving Phenomenon