New Urbanism

Shrinking of the Envelope : Archtectural Slavery

After the rigorous education process that a architecture student goes through, at the end of the day one would expect to see a hefty paycheck.

A CSA (Colombo School of Architecture) student has to pay almost Rs. 650000 to obtain their part I, and another Rs 580000 for their part II. It takes almost eight years for this process to end. However the qualifications they receive are not considered degrees. Comparatively a Moratuwa Architecture student spends less amount of money on their education thanks to the free education system, yet they too have to spend almost 7 years within the university system.
After completing education, most students work for private architectural firms. The payment they receive for their services are not even enough to cover their basic needs. Most of them receive less than 25, 000 per month. There are also some students who have passed out as chartered Architects who receive even less than that!

I searched in jobsnet.lk, and lankaweb.com just to see how the job market in Sri Lanka was fairing, salary wise.

Call Center Supervisor

Qualification : A high school diploma or Academic

Qualification in any fields

Pay: Rs.35000

Marketing Experts

Qualification:Should have done G.C.E (O/L)

Pay:Rs.30000

Part time jobs (Sales promotions)
Qualification: Good looking *fluent in English
Pay:Rs.25000

After all the sleepless nights, after all the stress from crits, after all those hours spent at the plotting joint, I just wonder if it’s all worth the trouble.

Maybe they do it all for the satisfaction?...May be not.

Maybe it’s just the sorry state of the profession.

Urban Spaces in Shapes and Sizes

Found this site on urban spaces while browsing. Check out the video below for more details.

Architect Upula Chandrakumara : The Big Boss of Bass!

Architect Upula Chandrakumara rocks the stage with Bhathiya and Santhush!



A fluid tablist and an electric bass guitarist Upula, hails from a musical family. He is the son of the late renowned tablist/vocalist Kalasuri Sri P.V. Nandasiri. His mother Ranghabimani Sujatha Kumarihamy was a dance exponent.
Upula studied the tabla under his father and later under the late great Khalifa Ustad Afaq Hussain Khan and Ustad Ilmas Hussain Khan. His sister Vadya Nipun Manomanjari a violinist and a vocalist graduated from the Benares Hindu University with a Master of Music Degree.

Rated as a Super Grade Artiste at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, Upula has scored music for the short film Brew directed by Jin How which was sponsored by the Singapore Film Commission, Singapore.

He is also the Chairman of P.V. Nandasiri Kalakendraya dedicated to his late father who had a successful forty year career at the Institute of Aesthetic Studies. Along with his sister he nurtures and educates young talent in oriental music at the Kalakendraya.

(Source: Sunday observer)

The new level of Architectural Journalism!

This advertisement was published by BT Options who makes the layout for the Architect Magazine. I always thought that the magazine was compiled by the SLIA. Not just anyone can be expected to write for a magazine published by a professional institute. This is professional bankruptcy at its best, and this is why we need diversity within the field. Even with Architects writing for the magazine, it was publishing BS, let's see where this new experiment leads to.

Architectural Journalism is a specialized profession. Find a article regarding Architectural Journalism here

The Cloud

This is the word cloud for this blog.

I was just wandering around and found this site, where you can create a word cloud. It’s pretty cool.

Just for the fun of it, I made one for Kottu too ! :)

Supporting Architects and the SLIA propaganda campaign

I just got 8 emails (so far) from the SLIA regarding Architect Tilak Samarawickrama’s book “Ink of Lanka”. (Must be really tough times.) I wonder if SLIA’s getting a piece out of the profits as well. Anyway “Ink of Lanka” should be an interesting book.

I wonder why Architects have suddenly taken up writing. I guess the tough times are really hitting a spot, because architects are generally not known as the most "writing savvy" people around. (Architect Anajlendran has his book out, Architect Rathnavibushana has his book out as well, the architects must be getting their fair share of the royalties?)

At least we can be thankful that the SLIA is supporting Architects in some way, since I don’t really see the whole point of having an organization which is only interested in collecting fees, and not providing anything in return.