In Conversation: Palinda Kannangara PK: I am very selective in my work. ZA: Alan Tay, from Formwerkz, was just sharing with us how you choose certain projects. PK: Yes correct. ZA: Are there some projects like towers that you’d like to do? PK: I have not say no to anything, but the projects select me and the people know what I am doing. So they know that I am not doing towers, so they don’t ask me to do towers. ZA: There has to be understanding that when they come to you, they come for a certain sensibility.
ZA: We are both in our final year at NUS. PK: I was at NUS but that was during the holidays. We had a small barbeque and all that, near your campus. That was the last day of your campus opening. PK: They were saying that the campus is permanently closed for a couple of months. Is it closed already? ZA: Not completely, some parts. We are still getting some spaces to work. The studio space is slowly getting smaller. KL: That’s right.
PK: I need to show them some point of reference when they want to get things done. I ask whether they have seen my work or why they like it?
PK: So basically, we start with physical models. We don’t do like 3D or anything like that. We like to use physical materials, and it helps us in our design. You can pick it up, feel it, turn it around. Some are just massing, some are just study models. This is the extent of the office.
ZA: A mutual understanding?
KL: How many people are here?
PK: If they’re just looking for an architect, I can’t work. Because I am not just an architect, all the projects I am doing it for myself. This is just another project for me like that. People ask me how do you design for yourself, and I think that’s the hardest thing to do. You want to try to do everything that you learned, but it was not like that. So this was just another client, the client is me. I knew what I wanted and I just designed in one sketch and that’s it. I didn’t change much, just a few elements, some small details. Otherwise it’s just the same design.
PK: Its all here, 8 in total. Sometimes I get an intern from some other country, he was here maybe 6 months back. Because of the visa, is not easy to get it here. So most of our staff are from India, and Bangladesh. So far I am open, I am getting some from European countries but so far they run into issues of visa.
(Palinda leads us to the office) PK: This is the only room that requires air conditioning. Are all you architects? ZA: I am Kate’s mom. PK: Oh I see! And what about both of you fininshed, recently?
Studio Dwelling by PKA
PK: So basically, this house is facing the west sun. This is the east. So in Sri Lanka we have to respond the sunpath, otherwise you are getting too much heat and light from the sun. So the facade is thick with only a few perforations to prevent the excessive heat from coming in. The other thing is the traffic and the view, is not favourable so therefore we control it using the facade. So that’s the story behind the project, how I control the light and the combination of these spatial means. ZA: The perforations are performative? PK: Yes in a sense. They control the light and