Lanka Learning Center

I was invited by the Aga Khan Awards for Architecture in Sri Lanka to photograph the Lanka Learning Centre. The building was shortlisted for Aga Khan Awards for Architecture 2022. The photos were exhibited in London. I was fortunate to do that architecture photography of the exhibition in London as well.

The project is a result of a cooperation between the IRGE at the University of Stuttgart and Transsolar, who developed the room program for a training and education centre that hosts gatherings, craft education for adults and a large annual sports, games and music festival for children.

The project was constructed with local entrepreneurs, craftsmen, and workers. The building consists of five pavilions with the same design that are grouped around a generous courtyard. The exterior wall touches all structures and shapes them into a larger form that creates a protected interior. The building is made of local clay brick in earthquake-resistant concrete frames. Foldable wooden front walls allow indoor/outdoor flexibility. Perforated outer walls and floating cantilevered roofs provide passive climate control.

The roofs overhang a platform with deep steps that double as a “grandstand”. The building was designed to respond to its site and context, as well as to create a socially and locally integrated construction project.