Organic nature in Sri Lankan vernacular architecture

Abstract

Organic Architecture is living being. It has it own soul and moves forward all the time. It goes beyond from making and it achieves it's power through subtly and presence with a sense of flowing space, as in a living organism and thus blends with nature. The significance about organic architecture is that it steers a middle path between the extremes of narrow traditionalism and extravagance of contemporary commercialism. It is metaphysical in essence as it deals with nature of being. Accordingly organic architecture is not rhetorical, but transcendental in form. It is loosely defined most oftenly and most people fails to understand it's subtlety power of essence. However the Architecture practicing today is in the absence of organic Architecture. This study is an attempt to examine the notion and essence of the organic Architecture which is transcendental in his nature and related to creativity. Organic Architecture as an idea has not been explored very often either in Architectural literature or in practice. So, this study is geared towards emphasizing its importance of application, and attempts to analyze, how organic architecture is achieved its essence, the way it is interesting dealing with the sense of flowing spaces, and its subtle relationship with natural metaphors. Organic Architecture which is intangible in its nature can be best understood by theoretical hypothesis. By this study it was intended to analyze the idea of organic architecture its components, and the it's provision of becoming as more tangible idea trough the experience of place. It will be understood by relevance and application in realistic terms. Following this hypothesis the procedure is established, the methodology of application is ignored to create organic Architecture; Basic hypothesis is very important in understanding what soul or essence of organic Architecture is. In order to establish it, theoretical ideologies will be used based on available literature. This will be further confirmed by analysis of existing spaces in the Sri Lankan context, through selected case studies. Finally this study will be important to establish a new interpretation of organic architecture as sense of flowing space having a subtle power rather than form making.