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Department of architecture, University of Moratuwa is currently offers the only degree awarding architecture course in Sri Lanka. Apart from architecture the department offers programs in Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Conservation of historic monuments.
Department of architecture with the other sister departments such as the Town & Country Planning, Building Economic and Integrated Design with in the Faculty of Architecture provide a comprehensive set of programs in the field of built environment.
The architecture program of the Department is accredited by the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects.
The department has a carder of highly qualified academics, bringing a vast amount of local and overseas expertise and research knowledge to the classroom.
Apart from having access to the university facilities such as workshops and its very comprehensive library facility the department has its own facilities such as a small library of its own with a collection of materials particularly related to the field of built environment, a large computer laboratory and its own mini auditorium which facilitates most of the workshops and seminars.
The Department regularly holds events and seminars which are open to the students and the architectural fraternity and exhibits its work at the annual Architects’ exhibition which is open to general public.
It maintains a continues relationship with the architectural profession and the building industry by engaging architects and other professionals from the building industry on a regular basis for design studios, teaching specific segments of the programs and by inviting them regularly for seminars and workshops.
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Our History
The department has its root in the architecture course organized at the Institute of Practical Technology (ITP) at Katubedda which itself is the predecessor of the University of Moratuwa in 1961. This was formulated in response to the growing need at that time, for properly qualified local architects in Sri Lanka. However at the beginning it only offered a three year course leading to the RIBA intermediate examination after which the students still had to go abroad to complete their studies.
As the course evolved throughout the 50s and 60s, the need arose to raise the status of it to a degree program. As the ITP did not have the university status at that time the program was shifted to the newly established University of Colombo in 1968. Still the course was limited to a 3 years but now it offered a B.Sc. in Built Environment. However with the ITP in Katubedda gaining university status as a technology campus of the University of Ceylon in 1972 the architecture program was shifted back to Katubedda, this time for good.
The Postgraduate Course in Architecture commenced in 1972 and it was offered as a two year program leading to a M.Sc. in Architecture and the students were able to obtain RIBA qualifications concurrently at the completion of the program.
In 1978 the Katubedda Campus of the University of Sri Lanka acquired the status of an independent university, with the present corporate name “University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka”, and Architecture and Town and Country Planning departments were restructured as a separate Faculty within the new university.
The Architectural Research Unit (ARU) was established in August 1984 and currently functions under the name The Faculty of Architectural Research Unit (FARU).
With the intention of training opportunities in architectural conservation in Sri Lanka, the program for Architectural Conservation of Monuments and Sites (ACOMAS) was established in 1983 under the auspices of the UNESCO - Sri Lanka Cultural Triangle Project. In 1989 the ACOMAS program was recognized as the center for conservation studies in Asia by the International Centre for Conservation, Rome (ICCROM).The Department started offering Master’s program in Landscape Design from 1988. The course is based on concepts of tropical design and recognized international courses. A post graduate program in Urban Design was started in 2009.
Sumanadasa building, the home of the Architecture Dept. under construction circa 1970.
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