‘Lodiya’ and ‘The Wall of Bubbles’ emerge winners
“Lodiya”, a creative sculpture concept submitted by a City School of Architecture team comprising Tharindu Perera, Pulasthi Handunge, and Viranga Waduge, won in the Port City Colombo Student Design Competition “Envision The Future” category of “Beach Sculpture”, while “The Wall of Bubbles”, a creative concept submitted by R. Javaneesan, a student from Jaffna studying at the University of Moratuwa, was the winner of the “Interactive Wall” design category.
The winning designs will be constructed at the Port City Colombo’s Marina District.
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R. Javaneesan of the University of Moratuwa, the winner of the “Interactive Wall” design category[/caption]
The grand finale of the competition was held as a virtual live event on 16 November 2020 at 6 p.m. via the Port City Colombo Facebook page.
The winning concept for the beach sculpture “Lodiya” narrates the change of time, and was designed with kinetic steel components and copper sheets. It lets the spectators enjoy a dreamy moment on the beach. The two runners-up in the “Beach Sculpture” category were Rochelle Fernando and Lakal Piyarathna from the Academy of Design and University of Moratuwa, respectively.
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Tharindu Perera, Viranga Waduge, and Pulasthi Handunge of the City School of Architecture, winners of the “Beach Sculpture” category[/caption]
The winner of the “Interactive Wall” category, “The Wall of Bubbles” is a design of air bubble-inspired wall where commuters can interact with water bubbles and shapes, enabling them to relax and release tension. The runners-up of the “Interactive Wall” category were Nethmini Liyanagamage, Shavendra Goonetilleke, Azamul Huq Abdul Haleem, and Ranjaka Kalhara Hettiarachichi from the University of Manchester, University of Melbourne, University of Kent, and John Moors University, respectively.
A cash prize of Rs. 300,000 was awarded to the winner of each category, while runners-up were also awarded cash prizes.
Concluding month-long submissions and an intensive mentoring period, “Envision The Future” was a key initiative of the Port City Colombo to capture the Sri Lankan spirit through art.
All submissions were reviewed and judged by a four-member team of industry experts comprising Ruchi Jayanathan, Anoma Wijewardene, Shilanthi Abayagunawardana, and Xia Yuan. The judges shortlisted 10 participants for each category and the top three were selected through an expert feasibility committee. Three finalists from each category moved into the final round and were given five weeks of mentoring sessions with design expert Ismael Abdeen and the jurors to further develop their design concepts. During the final presentation process, world renowned architect Cecil Balmond chaired the competition as an honorary judge.
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“The Wall of Bubbles”, the winning design in the “Interactive Wall” category[/caption]
The competition attracted applications from undergraduate and master’s degree students enrolled in any registered university in the country or overseas and reading in the fields of art, architecture, design, engineering, and/or any other programme that aligned with creativity. The Port City received nearly 400 applications from across the world, some from students studying in the world’s top universities. In order to facilitate the competition, Port City Colombo partnered with Academy of Design to mentor design concepts. Artra magazine was the official art partner.
