Proposed extension for Kalutara south railway station

University of Moratuwa (UoM), Faculty of Architecture, Department of Architecture, Moratuwa

Project idea

Kalutara South Railway station, Sri Lanka
Kalutara is one of leading destination of the country, which attracts a lots of locals and foreign visitors in a year due to its religious, cultural , tourism and environmental impotance.Kalutara become a fast growing city in recent years ,just because it’s situated close to the city of Colombo.
The site is located in South Kalutara, in the most strongly functional public area in the city ,including railway station ,main bus stand, super market, post office, court complex etc.

Concept
Building is a living organism, It can breath, It needs people to live,just like oxygen to us. Such buildings like Kaltura South railway station which is situated at urban areas ,would control people movement and circulation while giving a new experience to the user.Curved leaflike form would create a moving ,dynamic environment to under it. It will grab sunlight to make energy, it will pull up all the smoke and heated air through his gills which are placed on roof hips using Bernoulli theorem. The form will react with hundreds of LED lightings to day to day events, festivals like Wesak, Christmastimes etc.
Also the new building will act as a backdrop and a new modern layer for the old Bitish period existing building without destroying it's architectural value.
Automatically the station will become a unique and loving part of the city.

Project description

Design approach
Existing railway station is looks like a very typical building and function as a separated part of the city.There are no proper linkages to the station with the city, therefore most of passengers create their own pathways to link with the city.Also, there are no proper waiting spaces around the station.
So ,the new railway station will create direct relationship between between the statation,people and the city .The main intension is not to create isolated but to create more functional and uniqe building which create direct relationship with the surrounding urban public spaces.With the introduction of new railway station ,the whole are act as one block with many public functions with the inter relationships in each other and the new station majorly controls the city functions.

Technical information

The main skeleton is made by a set of 2' 6''diameter tubular steel tree columns which gives provisions for MEP services.
The bottom of all these columns has attached round chairs and storages/trash buckets etc.

Zig- Zag Steel tubular truss system divides the weight of the roof towards the tree columns. Also, the truss system brings a modern/technical look into the interior

The transclusion roof is created by a type of new polycarbonate material which has a higher thermal mass and bending properties.