Paddy Field House

Set within a paddy field island on the south coast of Sri Lanka, this proposal explores a contemporary dwelling grounded in place, material, and tradition. The house is conceived as a quiet intervention in the landscape — a circular form gently placed atop a small hill, allowing uninterrupted 360-degree views across the surrounding lands.

Drawing on ancient construction techniques, the architecture is anchored by a series of monolithic rammed earth volumes. These solid, tactile elements house the more intimate functions of the home — bedrooms and bathrooms — and provide a sense of permanence, thermal mass, and low embodied energy. Above, a continuous circular roof of traditional clay tiles, supported by reclaimed timber, forms a protective canopy that unifies the plan while responding to the tropical climate.

At its centre, a courtyard carved from the mass brings light, air, and vegetation into the heart of the dwelling. This space, inspired by the spatial sensibilities of Geoffrey Bawa, mediates between inside and outside, enclosure and openness. From here, the architecture dissolves into an open-air living space that extends outward toward a curving pool, beyond which the land falls away into the surrounding paddy fields.

The project seeks a balance between weight and lightness, enclosure and horizon — an architecture that is at once rooted in its context, built out of the very earth it sits upon and open to the landscape that defines it.