At the recently concluded Architects Exhibition at the BMICH, SLIA (Sri Lanka Institute of Architects) teamed up with Foxygen to host a special day long forum – Foxygen Café, The Architects Room – with a vision for 2030 for the architecture and construction industry, under the theme “Sri Lanka Rising 2030”.
Foxygen Café serves as a development format from Foxygen, bringing various stakeholders in the industry together through meets, forums and conferences, engaging in dialogues and deliberations, ideas and innovations and collaboration and commerce. Said Mr. Fowzi Kandrikar, Managing Director, Foxygen, “We are both thankful and extremely excited to have SLIA partner with us in our ongoing efforts to bring the industry together on one platform towards shaping it into a strong, cohesive force that can compete internationally, while also developing and growing the local ecosystem”
This edition, titled The Architects Room, began with a special morning session of knowledge share and workshops for students of architecture, from the four architectural colleges (University of Moratuwa, City School of Architecture, KDU and SLIIT). Leading international and local experts shared their expertise in a 3-hour interactive session on topics from real estate market research methodology to technical presentations on Materials of the Future to technologies like BIM and VR applications.
The eminent panel of speakers included Mr. Sivaji Ray from Saint-Gobain and Ms. Sawmya Chawla from Sahvia, Mr. Vicknesh Sivakumar from Innox, Mr. Roshan Madawela from Research Intelligence Unit and Mr. Omar Sahib from Immersive Labs.
The business end of the forum in the afternoon, opened with a welcome address from Archt. Dilummini De Mel, President, SLIA, joined by Arch. Rohana Bandara, Past President, SLIA and other esteemed members of the SLIA council. The first session was moderated by Mr. Fowzi Kandrikar, who was joined on a probing panel discussion, on key performance metrics for the industry for 2030 and the challenges by Mr. Premalal Brahmanage, Chairman, Prime Group, Archt. Bernard Gomez, Arch. Dinuk Senanayake, Prof. Ranjith Dissanayake, Mr. Jeevan Gnanam and Mr. Roshan Madawela.
Other eminent speakers included an eye-opener on construction market outlook from Ms Rumali Tudawe, Tudawe Brothers, Mr. Naren Kumar on Construction Challenges and an exhilarating presentation on Design Intelligence by Mr. Gishanka de Silva of The Design Five Group. Mr Vicknesh Sivakumar, Innox enlightened the afternoon audience with his keen insights on varied applications of some innovative glass solutions, with a special presentation from Ms Sawmya Chawla on BIM.
Mr. Jeevan Gnanam, Founder, Hatch and Managing Director, SAIG, also moderated the second session on Disruption in the Architecture and Construction Industry, He led with a presentation on AI in Design, and concluded the day with a panel discussion on Disruption through Tech with Mr. Arun Govind, CEO, S&T Interiors, Archt. Hansinee Madewithana from The Design Five Group and Mr. Omar Sahib.
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