Welcome sign for the community library. The project seeks to transform the army into a new, society-building institution, focused on knowledge creation and retraining in view of the demilitarization of the country in the aftermath of its 30-year civil war.

Entry lobby: the main entry to the library is via the covered loggia. Technically innovative use of rammed-earth walls demonstrates the first attempt in Sri Lanka to use that material for such scale/type of building. Rammed-earth is sourced from an adjacent site undergoing excavation for a playground.

The slip-form, rammed- earth wall construction process is projected as an opportunity to transfer technology to locals/soldiers. The subsequent training tasks are planned at an early design stage called “fabrication and training design”. Here, various components of the system and mould-work are delineated, the fabrication/training tolerances are defined, the production site (training ground), minimum module and sample labour gang (for training) are established, and fabrication steps are laid out.

The value of social capital: Programmatically, access to knowledge is reinforced as a weapon against ethnic disharmony and racial conflicts, and the vehicle for proper economic development. The finished building is a repository of knowledge for soldiers and local community, mainly school children and women, who have been long deprived of accessing such knowledge. For all, the project delivers the possibility of a new social entry and a social ladder.

Passive and cool: cross and stack ventilation in addition to use of renewable, recycled, zero-carbon emitting materials/processes reduce the building’s life-cycle cost.

The knowledge turntable: the project delivers a “robust” platform to access knowledge (library collection) and develop building knowledge (library construction). An organic system of knowledge dissemination and skill building is established using the army’s physical and human resources as the key instigators of the capacity building process.

The army's human resource is assimilated for social building through carefully planned, on-site training initiatives. This reduces immediate labour costs and produces a skilled workforce, whose training expenditure is internalized within the project, thus saving on social cost.

The building runs down the hill playfully, incorporating sudden changes in spatial volumes, and framing distant views through its cubic protrusions.

Skylights and the protrusions bring in plenty of light and air, while also generating a formal curiosity to entice the building’s young users.

The placement of the building on site retains existing trees, while its linear footprint allows through- ventilation and brings in natural light to all internal rooms.

Re-used steel sections gathered from dilapidated old factories and discarded timber railway sleepers collected from a near by train station provide other key materials for structure and floor respectively.

A series of formal and informal platforms for reading are organised in and around the library; its spatial progression unfolds as an experiential journey across diverse volumes, framed views, and blurred definitions between inside and outside.

Children’s library: The finished building is a repository of knowledge for soldiers and the local community – mainly school children and women who have been long deprived of accessing such knowledge. For all, the project delivers the possibility of social cohesion and personal advancement.