2009 - (Vol. 01, Issue 01)
http://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/18672
2024-03-29T08:14:23ZBuilding numbers : the case of post Tsunami housing In Sri Lanka
http://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/18750
Building numbers : the case of post Tsunami housing In Sri Lanka
Munasinghe, H
Top-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
2009-12-01T00:00:00ZResponsiveness of urban landscape and flyover
http://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/18749
Responsiveness of urban landscape and flyover
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
2009-12-01T00:00:00ZStudy of effect of selected underlying factors of sitting comfort and discomfort on comfort and discomfort perception
http://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/18748
Study of effect of selected underlying factors of sitting comfort and discomfort on comfort and discomfort perception
Thariq, M; Munasinghe, H
The 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
2009-12-01T00:00:00ZPost disaster waste management strategies In achieving sustainable built environment
http://dl.lib.uom.lk/handle/123/18741
Post disaster waste management strategies In achieving sustainable built environment
Karunasena, G; Amaratunga, D; Haigh, R
Disasters 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.
2009-12-01T00:00:00Z