Rocell Bathware Concept Centre Building Refurbishment

Situated in one of the most prominent corners of Colombo’s very own ‘Tile Town’ at Nawala, The Rocell Bathware Concept Centre succeeds admirably in illuminating the myriad options available to anyone choosing fixtures for a modern bathroom. The imposing glass frontage allows light to flood the display space while the secluded rear is cool and shady, permitting customers to see clearly how their choice of fittings will appear both during the day & night. After passing an attractive stone & pebble courtyard, one enters through the glass façade and proceeds along a tiled catwalk, flanked by chunky minimalist wooden boxes where one can sit & admire the array of luxurious Wash basins, water Closets, Taps & Showers. A wide, airy wooden stairway affords access to the upper story where a wide array of tiles in all colours & patinas are mounted on tile rack boards for the customer’s perusal. At night, the showroom takes on another dimension as light spills out of the glass front, giving it more the sophisticated air of a nightclub rather than a place to purchase bath-ware & tiles.

An old disused car showroom and service centre was selected to be refurbished into a showroom concept centre for a new bathware range a leading tile manufacturing facility in Sri Lanka was planning to launch into the local market. Existing building was on a corner urban block adjoining a busy commercial street and a secondary smaller lane. However the existing old building only responded to the main commercial street while presenting a closed facade to the smaller lane. We as architects of the project took the decision to open up both the main road frontage with generous double height glazing realizing the true potential of this corner urban block abutting two streets. An additional cube was later added onto the existing building on the side lane side at the request of the clients to increase the display area of the Rocell concept centre showroom.

Architects: Chinthaka Wickramage, Nileeka Senerath
Consultants: Chinthaka Wickramage Associates
Interior Designer: Simmone Cagnazzo
Structural Engineer: Prasantha Pieris
Quantity Surveyour: Sunanda Gnanasiri