Our research spans traditional beliefs and ancient technologies in building designs which is a newly added research area to the department. Though science and technology has become more generic, the shadows of traditional beliefs still play a considerable role in most of the Asian countries. Our team explores the faith, acceptance rates, of traditional beliefs by stakeholders in building construction by discovering the engineering significance in them. The team aims to prove that these beliefs are worth to be used in real-world applications. Building orientation, openings, and bioclimatic architecture are the key focuses on this regard. Studies are based on both case studies and numerical modeling using Computational Fluid Dynamics software.
PUBLICATIONS
JOURNALS
- Mendis, M.S., Rajapaksha, M. and Halwatura, R.U. (2020) ‘Unleashing the Potentials of Traditional Construction Technique in Bio-climatic Building Designs: A case of Ambalam, Sri Lanka’ International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, 11(6), pp. 298-304.
- Chandra, M.S., Nandapala, K., Weerasinghe, K.A.B., Priyadarshana, G., Liyanarathne, B.K.S.W. and Halwatura, R.U. (2019) ‘An engineering approach towards the traditional beliefs in house construction’, Asian Journal of Civil Engineering, 21, pp. 367-380. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42107-019-00215-0
- Mendis, M.S., Halwatura, R.U., Somadeva, D.R.K., Jayasinghe, R.A. and Gunawardana, M. (2019) ‘Influence of timber grain distribution on orientation of saw cuts during application: Reference to heritage structures in Sri Lanka’, Case Studies in Construction Materials, 11. Pp. 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscm.2019.e00237
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
- Mendis, M.S., Rajapaksha, M. and Halwatura, R.U. ‘Unleashing the potentials of traditional construction technique in bio-climatic building designs; a case of Ambalam, Sri Lanka’ in ACESD – 2019, 4th Asia Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development, Japan, 9th to 11th November, 2019.
- Chandra, M.S., Nandapala, K., Weerasinghe, K.A.B. and Halwatura, R.U. ‘Engineering Perception towards Vaasthu Shastra, Special Attention on Alignment of Openings in a Dwelling’ in Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment (ICSBE), Kandy, Sri Lanka,13th – 15th December 2018.
- Udawattha, C., Arooz, F.R. and Halwatura, R.U. ‘New earth walling material: Integrating modern technology into ancient mud wall’ in Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 16th to 18th December 2016.