From the architect. This is a guest quarters that is a part of the Jaffna Wind Power Park. Located close to a lagoon and mud flat landscape. It’s a part of an axis/spine of wind power plants 16, in number that begins with the staff and guest quarters at the entrance and culminates in the office building at the end. It is a simple plan with a low budget designed without harming the surrounding vegetation.
The guest quarters are for the visiting engineers and staff members. It has been built with a close connection to its context, with an open ground floor living area and finishes that reflect the colors of its surroundings.
The ground floor consists of an open living, dining area, kitchen, caretaker’s quarters and a shallow pond with a sculptural spiral staircase leading to the upper floor. The ground floor has a height of 16’ which adds to the spatial experience of a wild open landscape coming into the building.
The shallow pond at the core of the building with varying water depths that catches the reflection of the windmill acts as the eye of the oculus. It is a constant presence against a backdrop of lush vegetation mixed with clear skies. It also catches the reflection of the windmills along with the landscape of lagoons and mudflats and windswept grasslands. The four corners are sliced through with the pond in the center offering the notion of an axis that opens out.
The upper floor consists of a living area, two rooms for staff and two rooms for guests. Each bedroom located has a view of the surrounding landscape and lagoon with plenty of light and ventilation providing a light, airy space. Each room comes with an attached bathroom which has an open to sky courtyard for natural ventilation. The timber screens offer filtered light and constant ventilation. Additionally inner glazed screens provided options of disappearing into the walls at the corners providing uninhibited views of the landscape. The timber screens further act as an additional layer of heat protect to the inner glazed screens. Also there is an option to condition the space in the future if necessary. The roof appears to be floating, supported by steel props.
The temperature can soar during the hot summer months so the additional screening aids Microclimatic modulation: through the use of timber screen walls, verandahs and balconies.
This is a crafted guest house using locally available materials. The windows (salvaged jack timber) were crafted to create slender sections to avoid disturbing the views. Polished cement floors and matt cement finished walls (indoors and outdoors) and local rubble walls.
The upper verandah and balcony have been paved with specially designed pressed cement pavers that have been designed to match the scale of the timber flooring used for the interior floors at the upper level and to create a sense of lightness.
