The Department of Architecture of the Faculty of Built Environment and Spatial Sciences (FBESS) at the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) took part in a three-day workshop in interior design, organised by the Oklahoma State University (OSU), based in the US.
The workshop, titled “Designathon”, organised by the Mixed Reality Lab operating under the Department of Architecture of the OSU, took place on 14, 15, and 16 October 2022. The event was organised by Associate Prof. Dr. Tilanka Chandrasekara, who is the current Head of the Mixed Reality Lab, while the local resource person and co-ordinator was architect and Associate Prof. Nishan Rasanga Wijetunge of the KDU. Visiting Architect Prof. Harsha Munasinghe was the brainchild behind this pioneering international collaboration. KDU FBESS Dean Dr. Harindra Lakmal, and KDU Department of Architecture Head Architect Nuwan Premaratna, were instrumental in making this collaboration a reality. Architect Dr. Malthi Rajapakse also played a pivotal role in this venture.
Intakes 38 and 36 took part in the exercise, assembled under six groups. Groups from the US – from the OSU and the University of Miami – as well as from the Golestan University of Iran participated in the workshop. The workshop commenced on 14 October, and concluded on 16 October with presentations followed by a Q&A session.
Under the title “Returning to the Moon”, the groups were assigned two problems:
- Using the concept of the modular units, develop habitable units for the space pioneers to live, work, and play. How will these units be built? What kind of material will be used? What design concepts will be used in the interior? What type of spaces would be included?
- Using the existing model of the International Space Station (ISS), propose and develop functions that can be housed within the structure. Who will use these new spaces? What design concepts will be used in the interior? What type of spaces would be included?
During the first two days, eminent speakers from various space-related agencies (i.e. the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA], the Centre for Design and Space Architecture, the Artemis Lunar Architecture Team, Blue Origin, and the Sasakawa International Centre for Space Architecture) delivered very interesting and informative lectures for the benefit of the partakers of this exercise. The lectures were joined by KDU students via Zoom, where the rest of the design group work was carried out sticking to Sri Lanka time.
The judging panel of the Designathon comprised high-profile individuals from the areas of space exploration and interior design.
The students from the KDU performed exceptionally well, and were praised by the judges as well as the organisers of the workshop. Group five from the KDU came third out of 16 participant groups for their project entitled “Sentry of Earth”. They successfully designed a selected area within the ISS to become a gaming station, where the best gamers in the world could use it as a platform to change the paths of dangerous asteroids using their advanced gaming skills.