Villa Talangama

Overview

This three bedroomed villa, set back from the Talangama Wetlands and bird sanctuary in the outskirts of Colombo, is best described as a ‘village in the city’. Adjacent to a reservoir it enjoys a quiet, unspoilt setting, seemingly a world away from the commercial heart of Colombo. A departure from the sharp symmetry of the Colombo city hotels, the villa is something more earthy and resonant with the raw, asymmetries of nature. Rough walls, cement floors, open air bathrooms, colonial style verandahs in a fusion of the old with the new. Villa Talangama typifies this architecture; a new style, a Simply Sri Lankan style, a place to flee to from urban chaos. 

The house embraces the main features of modern Sri Lankan architecture. A verandah, a courtyard with a tree, vertically open spaces, open-air bathrooms…. threaded together, the house is a series of spaces reaching into each other; sharing light, ventilation and ambience. It is the elegance of the interiors that creates the ambience. Subdued, unbleached handlooms grace simple furniture. Occasional cupboards of rich toned Jak wood, match the staircase that winds up out of the living room. Sepia prints frame a lost era of Sri Lankan life, in contrast to the modern abstract motif tiles that, highlight the courtyard wall. Beneath the stairs, a trembling pool recollects the wetland beyond.