Yodakandyia Community Centre - Aga Khan Award for Architecture
Aga Khan Development Network
 

Yodakandyia Community Centre

Yodakandyia Community Centre
 Location: Hambantota District, Sri Lanka (Asia)
Architect: Architecture for Humanity / Susi Jane Platt
Client: Pinsara Federation of Community Development Councils
Completed: 2007
Design: 2006
Site size: 894 m²

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The Centre is a three-building complex at the heart of the Yodakandyia housing reconstruction scheme, in a new village outside the town of Tissamaharama in south-eastern Sri Lanka that was developed for 218 families affected by the 2004 tsunami. In addition to the community centre, there is a pre-school, library, medical centre, and a cricket pitch and volleyball court. The Centre was designed by Architecture for Humanity, a volunteer, non-profit design and construction services organisation, in close collaboration with the community and with technical assistance from UN-Habitat. The programme engaged the beneficiaries directly: the residents not only acted as client, they also prepared a design brief, implemented the construction and continue to operate the facilities. The available budget and the hot climate drove low-cost construction techniques, with the extensive use of local materials and passive cooling measures. Bricks were hand-made using natural clay earth, fired in open-air furnaces of burning left-over rice husks, and a number of redundant buildings on site were recycled into rubble for the foundations. To address the problem of a lack of access to drinking water—one of the main challenges facing the community—the project also includes a rainwater harvesting system with two large underground tanks that store sufficient rainwater to provide for basic needs throughout the dry season.

  • Elevation.

    © Architecture for Humanity

  • West view of the Yodakandiya Community Centre, overlooking the cricket play ground.

    © Aga Khan Award for Architecture / Eresh Weerasuriya

  • Entry steps to the community building from the road level.

    © Aga Khan Award for Architecture / Eresh Weerasuriya

  • Edge of the community centre and the pre-school beyond.

    © Aga Khan Award for Architecture / Eresh Weerasuriya

  • The rear façade of the community cuilding facing the play ground.

    © Aga Khan Award for Architecture / Eresh Weerasuriya

  • Kids playing cricket.

    © Aga Khan Award for Architecture / Eresh Weerasuriya

  • Interior view of the computer centre.

    © Aga Khan Award for Architecture / Eresh Weerasuriya

  • Interior view of the library.

    © Aga Khan Award for Architecture / Eresh Weerasuriya

  • Community gathering in the Hall.

    © Aga Khan Award for Architecture / Eresh Weerasuriya

  • Rear view of the pre-school, community building and library.

    © Aga Khan Award for Architecture / Eresh Weerasuriya



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