For this three-storey house in Sri Lanka, architect Palinda Kannangara thought carefully about how to integrate the outside world – and how to block it out. Various features, from the green roof to the porous double-layered walls and the internal ponds, keep the inside temperature below that of the humid outdoors, effectively giving the house its own microclimate. The window placement, though irregular, is deliberate; textured brick walls shut out the sights and sounds of the nearby street, and open up to expansive views of the surrounding marshlands – and of the garden, which absorbs floodwater during the rainy season.

Project: Studio Dwelling at Rajagiriya

Location: Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka

Firm: Palinda Kannangara Architects, Sri Lanka

Team: Palinda Kannangara with Ranjith Wijegunasekara