Home to a young family with working parents the design had to offer a relaxing ambience. Both Eranda and Dhanushka drive to Colombo for work from their home at Thalahena, Malabe and from the onset they both wanted an extent of privacy that would still allow them to enjoy the outdoors; and the idea of a courtyard house was born.

The courtyard of this home forms a double height internal volume and the level play inside the home allows for variant views of and through the courtyard from the difference spaces.

The courtyard sets the ambience of the home a par with the outdoors and it connects spaces in a single line of sight although at difference levels through the courtyard where the family would mostly spend their time. The Living spills over to the courtyard for additional space and opens to the garden.

Spacious volumes inside are formed by one large hall space shared by common activities of the home; the dining, pantry and TV lounge are all open to one another; visually and physically borrowing and sharing space with each other and the garden; resulting with free-flowing space with the illusion of larger area despite the restricted footprint. The stack ventilation through the courtyard keeps the house cool while only the bedrooms are thermally controlled for comfort.

The dining opens out to a timber deck making space for an outdoor space to entertain friends and family. Large openings and neutral colour palette are combined with the warmth of timber and vegetation to create a light and airy internal volume.

The more intimate areas of the home; the bedrooms and bathrooms, were contained in solid enclosure to ensure privacy. While the social areas; living, dining and kitchen are located in a more open and exposed area of the home that is connected to the outdoors.

The house is screened from the road with a double skin; external timber screen and internal glass.  The road facing façade to the West also responds to solar orientation to cut down heat gain during the day; allowing glass panels to open for cross ventilation and reducing thermal gain from direct sun.

Material Used:
1. Facade cladding: Façade is fabricated with Local Teak Timber
2. Flooring: Floor Tiles
3. Doors: Local Teak
4. Windows: Local Teak framed glass windows
5. Roofing: Concrete slab & Metal Roof
6. Interior lighting: LED panel lights
7. Interior furniture: Custom made local teak timber furniture 
fabricated by Chanaka Fernando