Dr. Raj Barr Kumarakulasinghe, a former National President of the American Institute of Architect is an expert in sustainable design and green architecture, who brings considerable leadership skills and knowledge of current and future directions in architecture. The author of a definitive publication on sustainable design, he is at the cutting edge of ecologically sound design practice. Dr. Barr-Kumarakulasinghe has taught for over two decades as a Professor of Architecture and Planning, and continues to lecture widely at international professional symposia. He is the recipient of more than dozen honours and awards over a span of two decades.
Dr. Barr-Kumarakulasinghe delivered a lecture to a gathering of architects and students at SLIA. He focused on the importance of sustainability in Architecture. Raj Barr believes that sustainability is place-sensitive, i.e. contextual. He stressed on the impracticality of tropical regions adopting western practices in an attempt to be sustainable, and encouraged architects to derive sustainable technology based on vernacular design practices. Raj Barr presented the design practice of ancient civilizations as pristine examples of sustainable design strategies. This was followed by several projects completed by his firm that attempted to revive such practices.
