Aging like fine wine

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

Project idea

Ageing is inevitable in every known reality; everything deteriorates, and performance decreases with time. Hence, ageing cannot be stopped. The only decision that remains is whether to use time wisely or otherwise to age. “Ageing like fine wine” is a well-known statement describing the process of wine’s improvement over time during ageing. A personal fascination with this statement forms the basis of this design thesis, which uses the expression 'Ageing like fine wine' as an opportunity to explore a wide range of ideas and discussions beyond the process of wine ageing. Architectural movements such as Metabolism and Metamorphosis ideologies highlight common philosophical and physical phenomena to support the aforementioned statement and make it more relevant to architectural discourse. In addition to those architectural ideologies, architect Frank Duffy's layering theory of building elements has been identified as a potential solution to provide flexibility in changing, adapting, or maintaining design values and functions over time and use. The design intent seeks to create a structure that goes beyond its initial implementation and considers ageing as a design process. Based on the statement, an intuitively structured design intervention should have strong contextual relevance to provide the capacity to function and retain design across time and wisely. By taking this factor into account, the design thesis explores how the concept of 'ageing like fine wine' can be applied within a geo-cultural context, both philosophically and physically, through an architectural intervention. The proposed intervention is a new extension building that would increase the passenger handling capacity of Sri Lanka's 106-year-old main railway station in Colombo Fort.

Project description

Colombo Fort Railway Station was constructed on land that was reclaimed from the Beira Lake, and it has been in operation since its completion in 1917. It was constructed in a similar style to Manchester Victoria station, but if compared to the present-day Manchester Victoria station, it is drastically aged and in contrast. Since its construction in 1917, the railway station has become more prominent and has aged gracefully within relevance to its context. However, the current appearance and maintenance of the building do not support highlighting its graceful ageing factors. As this thesis mentioned above, this decaying building fabric and surrounding context can be interpreted beyond its graceful ageing factors, including its political, religious, beliefs, cultural, and social relevance.

The building program mainly focuses on increasing the passenger handling capacity of the current functioning station. As it is difficult to renovate a functioning building, this design focuses on implementing the whole project in phases. Three buildings will be added to the station in different phases, and the building program is designed to support additional phases that could be incorporated in the future. In addition to the built spaces, this intervention aims to increase and emphasize the railway forecourt to highlight its political prominence and promote more freedom within the context.
The building form is mainly dominated by the roof element, and the structure of the roof tries to emphasize the next generation of roof forms while combining new elements with colonial-era details present in the current station.

Instead of representing religious beliefs through statues, this design intervention highlights aging as a design process to convey the core ideas of Buddhist philosophy. This approach ensures that the space does not make users of other religions uncomfortable. It is also more appropriate to emphasize aging as a 'fine wine' concept in the main railway station of the country.

Main extension building
The main extension building is designed in the first phase and it contains administrative and controlling facilities, while also providing essential public services that can function independently without the main building for a temporary period. This will also highlight the re-invention component of ageing compared to the existing building fabric.

Tower design
The tower design aims to make a political argument while adapting to changing needs in terms of function and structure. In Phase I and II, the structure will facilitate construction works and will be located in the existing forecourt, highlighting the importance of workers to the general public and others. In Phase III, the tower's function will change, highlighting the concepts of metamorphosis and metabolism by implementing a railway motel with expanding structure used by workers. Additionally, the future tower will focus on developing alternative power storage mechanisms using kinetic energy. The building will emphasize the transformation component to demonstrate graceful aging.

New entrance building II
The new entrance building emphasizes the regeneration component for graceful aging. This intervention is also implemented in phase I and will completely change the activity pattern of the current Beria Lake side.

Old station building
The old station building will be renovated to promote its existentialism or durability while completely facilitating the general public.

Technical information

Design principles/strategies
• Clear structural spans
• Generous floor to floor height
• Minimum floor level variations in same floor level
• Internal partitions are the most non-load bearing
• Structural element in grid pattern
• Versatile structural system for durability
• Separation of structural systems
• Simplicity of systems
• Material durability
• Use of mechanical fasteners/connections
• Exposed connections
• Aesthetic composition with clarity
• True nature of material expression
• Preserve and encourage existing building scale

The materiality construction system was derived based on the aforementioned principles to enhance flexibility in the future. Additionally, lighting and power consumption were reduced by implementing a new sustainable power source that operates independently from the main electricity grid. Furthermore, the building programme promotes above-ground connections, enabling more convenient access to nearby commercial activities compared to current scenarios, and facilitating future development.

Documentation

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