The Gift

Kithul-Ami (The Gift) /

“KKAA was asked to design a pavilion for the centenary celebration of Sri Lankan architect Geoffery Bawa’s birth. By using a local vine called Kithul, often used in Sri Lankan traditional craft, we tried to achieve the softness of Bawa’s architecture and showcase concretely the fact that his individuality is rooted in the nature and culture of Sri Lanka.

The pavilion is a hybrid structure of Kithul and steel mesh, providing a botanical materiality, while at the same time being very durable. Morphologically we avoided sharpness and rectilinearity as much as possible; instead we searched for an amorphous form in the language of a continuous ribbon. This yielded a gently centralized monument, surrounding and embracing the people inside.”

1. Ribbon Base Development

A set of geometrical development processes were performed in order to create the base curve of the ribbon that achieves the softness of Bawa’s architecture in a semi-circular outdoor teahouse that embraces the visitors.

This process included refining the shape to achieve a strong connection to the nature, openness to the view and efficient accessibility.

2. Physical Simulation

“The geometry of the ribbon meets a fabrication constraint of a ‘single-curved surface’. Using physical simulation process, this fluid and flexible 3D geometry is reverse-engineered from the pre-determined unrolled surface.”

3. Geometrical Analysis

Considering the complexity of the generated geometry, a set of analytical processes were performed to extract the morphological characteristics necessary for fabrication and then mapping the information onto an unrolled strip.

4. Special Fabrication Data

As the main goal for this process was to facilitate a fabrication process simple enough for the local manufacturers to carry on reliably, the ribbon was unrolled into an 88 meters long strip enriched with all information necessary for the fabrication in a special form of documentation that combines fabrication drawings with the data.

This strip could then be used solely by the local workers as the main reference during the assembly process.

The grid on the unrolled strip corresponds to the grid on the physically simulated ribbon, and represents the squares of the steel mesh in this hybrid structure.