Architect

Architectural design for educational institutions in Sri Lanka shapes how students learn, how long they stay engaged on campus, and how an institution is perceived by prospective students, parents, and accreditation bodies. ARA’s work with Curtin Colombo and the SLIIT Library shows how flexible, durable, and community-focused design turns campus…

Walk into the right office and you feel it immediately. The light is generous. The layout makes sense. People look like they belong there not like they’re enduring the space until five o’clock. Walk into the wrong one and you know that too. Drop ceilings. Fluorescent tubes. A floor plan…

Most briefs we receive begin the same way. A restaurant owner sends through a Pinterest board, a floor plan, and a budget. A hotel operator shares the architect’s drawings and a short list of must-haves. A boutique developer asks, almost apologetically, whether we can “make it feel like that one…

Most restaurant owners think design is about aesthetics. And they’re not wrong. But they’re only half right. The real question isn’t whether a space looks good. It’s whether it makes people want to stay, come back, and bring someone with them next time. When we designed Cafe BLAC at Nawala,…

Picture the scene. A Colombo business spends three months and a significant budget fitting out a new office. The architect’s renders looked brilliant. The furniture arrived on time. On opening day, everyone is impressed. By the third Monday, the complaints begin. The open area is too loud for anyone to…

There is a particular kind of discomfort that most Sri Lankan homeowners know well. The house looks beautiful, modern, well-finished, tastefully furnished. But by mid-morning, it is sweltering. The living room feels sealed off. The bedrooms face west, and by afternoon they are uninhabitable without air conditioning running at full…