Kandalama

CRITICAL APPRAISAL

The Kandalama Hotel

Aaron David Mendonca 08AR1005

INDEX

CHAPTER – 1 INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER – 2 THE OPPOSITION

CHAPTER – 3 ISSUES ADDRESSED BY THE HOTEL

CHAPTER – 4 THE NARRATIVE DIMENSION – A SPACE OF POTENTIAL

CHAPTER – 5 GREEN ASPECTS

CHAPTER – 6 AWARDS

CHAPTER – 7 INTERVIEW WITH THE G.M.

CHAPTER –8 USER REVIEWS

CHAPTER – 1 INTRODUCTION

The Kandalama Hotel, designed by Geoffrey Bawa, was constructed between 1992

and 1995 on the outskirts of Dambulla, Sri Lanka. The hotel was commissioned by

the Aitken Spence Hotel Group to accommodate tourists visiting the nearby city of

Sigiriya, a Sinhalese royal complex built in the fifth century A.D. around and atop the

massive Sigiriya Rock. The famed ruins at Sigiriya relate harmoniously to their

surroundings as architecture, earthworks, and frescoes strikingly frame and engage

with the picturesque topography.

Though Aitken Spence originally intended to build the hotel adjacent to Sigiriya, Bawa

insisted that the hotel instead be sited eleven kilometers southeast of the historic city

and rock formation. The additional distance both protects the immediate

surroundings of the cultural site and allows for picturesque views of the monument

across the horizon of the Kandalama Lake, or reservoir, locally known as the

"Kandalama Tank". The understated design for the Kandalama Hotel is stylistically a

departure from earlier Bawa projects, yet the project possesses the sensitivity to

context that consistently characterizes Bawa's work. Its effect on the visitor parallels

that of Sigiriya, as a nuanced "third space" between landscape and architecture is

developed through the thoughtful integration and juxtaposition of building and

environment.

Facilities at Kandalama include 3 swimming pools, six food and beverageoutlets and

daily activities and entertainment that centre greatly around the beauty of the natural

surroundings of Sri Lanka.

Street Address Sigiriya

Location Dambulla, Sri Lanka

Architect/Planner Geoffrey Bawa

Client Aitken Spence

Date 1991-1994

Century 20

Decade 1990s

Building Type Commercial

Building Usage Hotel

Number of rooms 162

CHAPTER – 2 THE OPPOSITION

Political pressures influenced the plan of the project after the schematic design phase,

as it became public knowledge that portions of the east wing of the hotel were

planned to encroach upon lands belonging to an old Buddhist monastic precinct. The

plan was restructured to reduce the size of the eastern guest wing, which necessitated

the construction of a second guest wing to the southwest of the entrance lobby. This

change was a major disappointment to Bawa, as his intention had always been that the

entrance lobby would be the first building visible along the long ascent to the hotel

complex. Though the west wing is visible from the entrance road, it was heavily

camouflaged by planting in order to minimize its visual impact on the arriving guest

so it ultimately does not detract significantly from Bawa's designed approach.

2.1 Other Issues of Protest

Fragile Environment

Water in Kandalama Reservoir will be polluted

Fauna & Flora will be endangered

Community losses its Agricultural land

People losses its livelihood

Tourists will Destroy the values of Society

Preliminary sketches

CHAPTER – 3 ISSUES ADDRESSED BY THE HOTEL

3.1 Environment Conservation:

• The hotel had to ensure the waste water discharged was of higher quality than

water found in the reservoir

• They had no place to dispose solid wastes

• Pollution of air through emissions as dust, odour or fumes was not possible

Therefore the hotel had to start a comprehensive Environmental/Resource

Management Program.

The hotel initiated a Cleaner production/ resource efficiency program

Water use was optimized & waste water is recycled 100%

Solid wastes minimized and but what was generated is segregated to 16

categories

Introduced 7R program (Reject, Reduce, Reuse, Reclaim, Replace, Repair,

Recycle)

All bio degradable wastes composted for use as soil conditioner.

3.2 Community Involvement

The hotel management decided to buy fruits and vegetables from the nearby

farmers to reduce the carbon footprint

Encouraged others to become suppliers of various products

Decided as a policy to recruit several village youth as trainees for different

departments

The community found that Kandalama Hotel is not a threat to them but a

blessing

The hotel initiated several programs to improve relationships

Schools were provided facilities and training

Health conditions were improved by supporting the hospital

Environmental Education and conservation drives were launched

3.3 Fostering Partnership

Kandalama hotel provides employment to several youth in the nearby villages

Several village youth trained at Kandalama hotel are employed in other hotels

in the country and abroad at different levels including managerial positions

Three such youth trained and employed at the Kandalama hotel are senior

managers

All the schools in the area visit the hotel to study the ecological conservation

and good housekeeping practices

Aspects addressed by the Hotel for Improvement

Basic Infrastructure

Improving Health Services to Community

Assistance to Improve Education

Creating Environmental Awareness among Villagers

Generating Employment Opportunities

Promotion of Micro Enterprises in the Villages to Supply goods to hotel

Training of Village Youth

Promotion of Micro Enterprises using wastes

CHAPTER – 4 THE NARRATIVE DIMENSION – A SPACE OF POTENTIAL

Architecture is both a product of and condition for our relationship to the world. It

does not simply address societal visions, but its very manifestation may also serve to

limit and structure the forms that these visions may take. In this way, architecture not

only provides a visible record of changing cultural ideals and social practices manifest

in built form as a “spatialization” of history, it also plays a powerful future formative

role in imagining other possibilities (Davidson 1996).

Specifically, Kandalama represents an example of how architecture can move beyond

traditional representations of human/environment relations as alternatively

undifferentiated or ontologically distinct. It maintains a space of dynamic tension, or

what Ockman has described as an „edge condition‟, or a continuous “oscillation

between the ontologies of architecture and landscape.” This is a productive place for

architecture to inhabit. In particular for environmental architecture it offers the

opportunity of moving beyond the limitations of sustainability discourse predicated

on minimal impacts to a more positive „regenerative‟ agenda, which challenges the

separation of subject and object – or culture and nature – and reconnects

environmentalism with a socio-political dimension. This does not mean that

environmental architecture need abandon its foundation on sustainability principles

such as energy and water efficiency. Working in the space between culture and nature

does not entail rejecting any sense of an objective nature in favour of a culturally

constructed „nature‟. However, escaping the strictures of the conceptual prison of the

culture-nature divide, a space of possibilities emerges for the narrative dimension of

architecture. This is not a space for answers, but a space for further questions.

Entrance Lobby

Rock tunnel

View of the Bar from the pool

Sigria in the far distance.

View of the fenestration

Sculpture designed by Laki Senanayke waits atop a sharp flight leading to the dining room Executed by locals

Nocturnal Lighting

Open stairwells, corridors and lobbies form precisely calibrated in-between spaces

Wildlife sanctuary

Indoor dining

Outdoor dining

Luxury Suite

Typical Room plan

3.1 Location

The Hotel is a nine-kilometer drive east of the small town of Dambulla. The main entrance

lobby is located at the end of a ramped 2.7-kilometer-long private road that branches north

from a secondary arterial leading back to the center of town. From the earliest development

phase of the project, Bawa was interested in developing a spatial and visual sequence of entry

that culminated in the revelation of the distant view of the monument of Sigiriya only after

entry to the hotel lobby. One of the most beautiful features of the hotel's design is the large,

cave-like porte cochère abutting the western side of the cliff around which the hotel wraps.

Guests enter the hotel under this huge slanted canopy that angles down towards the entrance

to a compressed, enclosed walkway. The visitor winds through the confined tunnel-like

passage, complete with a wall lined by boulders, suddenly discovering the liberating

expansiveness of the open-air lobby and its panoramic view northward over the Kandalama

Tank. Bawa thoughtfully choreographed this process of arrival in order to prolong and

dramatize the threshold between the tree-shielded entrance drive and the spectacular views

that the hotel lobby skilfully frames.

3.2 Layout

The hotel design consists of three primary sections within a complex multi-story

building that clings to the steep rock outcrop forming its eastern edge. In all, the

irregularly-shaped building is approximately 430 meters in length, measured along the

center of its curved plan, and between 4 and 55 meters in width. Shared facilities such

as the lobby, restaurants, and pools are located in a series of broad terraced spaces at

the center of the complex, while narrow extensions to the east and southwest of the

public core contain the guest rooms. The east rooms are also known as the Sigiriya

wing, and they provide a distant view of the Sigiriya rock across the horizon of the

Kandalama Tank. This wing stretches 100 meters towards the east of the lobby and

includes four stories of guest rooms. The Sigiriya wing is accessed via the second of

three lobby levels, which is at the same elevation as the top floor of the guest rooms.

The other three levels of guest accommodations cascade down the cliffside toward

the Kandalama Tank below.

3.3 Design

Being one of Bawa's earlier moves toward minimalism in building detailing, the design

of the Kandalama Hotel was shocking to admirers of the vernacular influence visible

in his previous projects. However, the subtlety of the architecture itself effectively

foregrounds the drama of the cliff-side topography and breathtaking views. Some of

the architectural differences between the Kandalama Hotel and other Bawa projects

are also logical when one considers Bawa's unwavering commitment to building

climatically appropriate architecture. The Kandalama Hotel is located in the central

dry zone of Sri Lanka, unlike many of Bawa's other buildings on humid oceanfront

sites, and thus its design must adapt to a different climate. While pitched roofs are a

necessity in coastal areas that receive heavy rain, the flat roofs at Kandalama function

well in a dry climate and are less material-intensive.

However, some of the distinctions between this project and Bawa's earlier works are

purely aesthetic and reflect the architect's evolving personal design philosophy. The

Kandalama Hotel follows the model of his later projects, in which the majority of the

ornamentation comes from sculptures and artworks by other artists distributed

around the building. The detailing of the architecture itself remains plainly yet

harmoniously articulated in neutral tones and natural materials, including white

concrete walls, black painted concrete columns, and wood or iron railings and

millwork.

The Kandalama Hotel is considered one of Bawa's most important works as it

showcases so clearly Bawa's talent for creating affective spatial sequences and

architectural narrative. The hotel was intended to serve as a building from which to

view the pristine landscape of the Kandalama basin, and thus the lightness of the

architectural articulation is an appropriate and successful design strategy. The hotel

also features innovative building technologies and systems designed to mitigate the

environmental impact of the building's operation on the catchment of the nearby lake.

The Kandalama Hotel is an excellent example of how tourist facilities can be

integrated into an undeveloped landscape successfully, fostering appreciation for the

natural beauty of the setting while minimizing negative environmental consequences.

CHAPTER – 5 GREEN ASPECTS

4.1 Siting

A total of 26 local species are grown and replanted around the hotel site and to

a network of regional schools which plant then during school planting days.

Collaborative partnerships are in development with the Department of Forest

Conservation and the Government to declare the forest around the hotel as a

Conservation forest.

The in-house nursery continues to produce indigenous plants for the

reforestation program that operates on the 50-acre hotel property and areas

outside.

Kandalama has been central to the rehabilitation of approximately 230 ha of

rainforest.

4.2 Design

Hotel designed into and around the surrounding rock outcrops (including

pools, patios).

Passive solar cooling design utilizing building shading through overhangs, sod

roof (retrofit of existing design in progress).

Day-lighting design throughout.

Open concept design to minimize cooling loads.

Insulated and sealed doors and guestrooms to reduce cooling loads.

Mobility impaired access (elevators, concrete corridors).

4.3 Water

Rainwater collection tanks have been introduced at Kandalama with a view to

installing more in the future.

Low flush toilets and fixtures.

Wastewater generated by the hotel is treated and recycled within a modern and

well-maintained on-site wastewater treatment. This is then recycled for

watering of the hotel compound.

Grey water from filters and softeners in the water treatment plant is collected

and used to spray the gravel to reduce the distribution of dust.

The hot water system of 80 guestrooms using electric heaters has been

modified to use steam from the boiler as the heating medium saving 86,500

kWh per year.

Electrically heated hot water systems were replaced with solar water heaters

saving 80,300 kWh per year.

4.4 Materials

Reclaimed wood products used in construction.

Minimal use of paint. Design includes many natural materials unfinished.

4.5 Energy

Within the next two years, hotel management expects to meet 40% of its

energy requirements through solar energy

Lamps that are used for more than four hours per day have been replaced with

energy efficient fluorescent lamps.

The replacement of incandescent lamps in all public areas with compact

fluorescent lamps has saved 75,000 kWh per year.

Key tag activated master switches have been introduced to guestrooms to save

energy.

Drivers and guides are instructed to have the engines of the vehicles switched

off when the vehicle is parked and awaiting the arrival of guests.

4.5 Solid waste and Liquid waste

Waste water generated by the hotel is treated and recycled within a modern and

well maintainedand operated system. This is then recycled for watering of the

hotel compound.

Over the past 8 years since its establishment, Kandalama has managed to

almost completely eliminate waste through a state-of-the-art recycling system.

Kandalama encourages its suppliers to reuse glass bottles and jars for their

products. Wherever possible, eco-friendly containers such as clay pots are used

instead of plastics.

Waste paper is sent for producing recycled paper which is used for hotel

stationery

4.6 Air quality and noise control

Bicycles are encouraged as transport and a bus provides a service to

travel to town and back which contributes to the reduction of private

vehicles and thereby reducing emissions into the atmosphere.

Drivers and guides are instructed to have the engines of the vehicles

switched off when the vehicle is parked and awaiting the arrival of

guests.

No substances generating toxic fumes are burnt within the hotel

premises.

All air-conditioned rooms and public areas are provided with sufficient

quantities of fresh air to ensure levels of CO2 are kept to a minimum.

4.7 Resource conservation

A tree planting program is in operation utilizing discarded coconut shells

as seedling containers. A total of 26 local species are grown this way and

replanted around the hotel site and to a network of regional schools

which plant then during school planting days.

Kandalama has been central to the rehabilitation of approximately 230

ha of rainforest.

Rain water collection tanks have been introduced at Kandalama with a

view to installing more in the future.

Grey water from filters and softeners in the water treatment plant is

collected and used to spray the gravel to reduce the distribution of dust.

4.8 Social commitment

Kandalama provides economic benefits to Sri Lanka and the local

community.

Derives significant income for Sri Lanka and the local community.

The EcoPark at Kandalama has highlighted the hotel‟s commitment to

sustainable development and to the local community. Initially the

project employed over 300 people and generated an income of over

US$500,000 which assisted in increased living standards for locals.

The EcoPark is used as an educational tool about the environment for

local schools groups.

4.9 Land use planning

Collaborative partnerships are in development with the Department of

Forest Conservation and the Government to declare the forest around

the hotel as a Conservation forest.

The in-house nursery continues to produce indigenous plants for the

reforestation programme that operates on the 50 acre hotel property and

areas outside.

4.10 cosystem conservation and management

Kandalama has become an important control mechanism for illegal

activities around the hotel site such as poaching, clearing and firewood

collection.

CHAPTER – 6 AWARDS

The Kandalama Hotel is a LEED Bronze Pilot Project and is a 162 bedroom resort

hotel located on a picturesque site with dense vegetation. The project site is an

excellent example of how a sensitive natural site can be thoughtfully developed to

protect the existing natural attributes. The design team chose to capitalize on the

natural amenities of the site by minimizing construction extents and the overall

building footprint. As a result, the total built area comprises only 10% of the total 55

acre site. Special efforts were made during construction to retain native vegetation and

nestle the hotel into the lush trees and plants existing on the site to provide shading

for the guest rooms, restaurant and garden areas. A survey of the density and

distribution of flora was used to document the existing site characteristics and the

building design was altered to preserve existing trees and the natural topography of

the site. Stilts and columns were used to elevate the buildings above existing natural

features, such as boulders, and to reduce cut and fill need. Although only in operation

since 1995, it has won the Green Globe award three consecutive years 1996, 1997,

1998.

CHAPTER – 7 INTERVIEW WITH THE G.M.

Q. Being an open linear hotel, constantly subjected to the encroaching natural

elements what are the challenges that your service and maintenance staff face?

Sanjeeva: The creepers havn‟t been trimmed at all since they were planted in 95. The

overall drainage of the open lobbys and corridors function well. Our kitchen was the

largest kitchen in asia at the time it was constructed. Once in a while we do have to

check the plants growing on our terraces. Last week we got rid of a 15 ft tamarind

tree.

Q. Where do the performing artists who play at your hotel come from?

Sanjeeva: They are mostly locals who are excellent traditional dancers and flutists.

Q. Do you often get complaints about the monkeys?

Sanjeeva: Not often. The guests are introduced on arrival to their natural setting and

are encouraged not to fear the wildlife that might seem exotic to them. Most of our

guests are here for the Kandalama experience.

Q.What is your average occupancy?

Sanjeeva: At peak season in December we run full. April is the off season. We then

shut off a part of the Dambulla wing. The services for the hotel were made that way.

Q. What are your tarrifs?

Sanjeeva: Right now LKR 26,000 for a Deluxe room.

Q. What physical additions/alteration have been made to the hotel since 95?

Sanjeeva: We built a Spa in 2006 and are in the process of constructing a large hall to

be used for banquet/ conference facilities. Both the projects were overseen by Ar.

Channa Daswatte..

CHAPTER – 8 USER REVIEWS

This is a must stay for any visitor to Sri Lanka, not only is this hotel beautiful and has

all the facilities of a 4 star hotel, but if you get the right room (the best rooms are on

the Sigiriya wing) and you are lucky you may wake up to the sigh of wild elephants

coming for their morning drink of water.. incredible... but do be careful if you leave

any doors windows open.. the cheeky monkeys will take over your room and cause

havoc... for any bird lovers there are plenty of wild life about if you have a keen eye. If

you are after a romantic getaway you can get a room with a spa that has views over

the jungle.. absolutely sunning way to share a bottle of bubbly and relax...

Poorany Sydney, Australia

The customer service, the modern hotel built into a cliff, the food, the pools, the

wildlife, all fantastic!

You must see it to believe it!

The only negative is you need a car to get around as it is a long way from anywhere.

Kaushik Bangalore

It is a hotel with exceptional views weather you are in the Sigiriya or Dambulla wing.

The large windows in the rooms and bathrooms are a treat looking over the

mesmerizing Kandalama wewa with its rock and mountain scape in the background.

The bonus comes with the monkeys who come to your windows almost nose to nose

– while you are safe behind the glass in your room. Watch out for the monkeys for

they have learned to open closed windows if they are not locked. One monkey

actually opened the sliding window and got in to eat an apple kept on the table.

Namal Norway

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Ar. Channa Daswatte

Roshan Rajapaksa

Sanjeeva

Mr. Ravi de Silva

Khare

BIBILOGRAPHY

International Journal of Architectural Research - Ceridwen Owen

GREEN GLOBE 21. Green Globe Case Study.

Empowering villages through sustainable tourism - NCPC

SGBC DLS seminar - Nigel Greenhill

Bawa – David Robson