Category Archives: architectural innovation

Advanced Lighting Systems for Two Cricket Stadiums in Lanka

News Item in The Island, 15 September 2025… with this  title “DIMO Installs Sri Lanka’s first ICC-compliant LED floodlights for stadiums”

Advanced features include zoned lighting control for partial stadium use … [with activation  here  in  TPS  made possible  by  KK de  Silva,  of  St Aloysius College  cricket  in the mid-late  1950s  and the SL Admin-Service]

Reinforcing its leadership in sports infrastructure development, DIMO has successfully completed the installation of Sri Lanka’s first and second LED floodlighting systems at two of the country’s most iconic cricket stadiums. The first installation was completed at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium (RDICS) in 2023, followed by the second at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium (RPICS) in Colombo in 2025.

This milestone builds on DIMO’s historic achievement in the 1980s, when it made global headlines by installing Sri Lanka’s first and the world’s second floodlighting system at RPICS, cementing its legacy as a pioneer in sports lighting technology.

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Cartesian Commonalities: New Amsterdam & Galle Fort, II

Bunchy Rahuman, whose preferred title is “Galle Fort, New York City and the Cartesian Legacy” ** … with  the highlights being impositions by the Editor, who also had the privilege of being a resident within the Fort for twenty or so years from 1938-1960

ESSAY TWO

 Do I exceed myself? Cartesian? The Big Apple? – surely not! But I insist, I am here, not to tweak the truth. In Essay One, I said, the street I lived [most of] my Galle, Fort life in was Lighthouse Street. Discerning readers [for a moment I thought to add if any – but my life insurance policy has lapsed!] would note that I said Lighthouse Street formed a ‘Y’ axis line for the [Galle] Fort. Now even math allergic types, have heard of X axis and Y axis as [perpendicular] lines that cross at right angles and sit in the middle of paper sheets populated by tiny squares arranged 10 x 10, within larger squares, all sitting above, below and at each other’s sides in sheets known as graph paper.

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Hero Stones in India in the Past

https://kvramakrishnarao.wordpress.com/2024/05/05/the-origin-development-and-importance-of-hero-stones-in-india-special-lecture-by-dr-poongundran-organized-by-the-indological-research-institute-iri-2/

rao’s Blog

Posted on May 5, 2024 by kvramakrishnarao

 

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Galle Literary Festival Looms Bright & …..

Tickets for the Galle Literary Festival’s events are now available, offering guests the chance to join a vibrant four-day celebration of creativity, culture, and engaging conversation. From Thursday 6 to Sunday 9 February, the south coast of Sri Lanka will host over 100 events featuring famed local and international writers and speakers. This year’s Festival promises a diverse programme, including complimentary performances, insightful panel discussions, and culinary delights, with something to captivate every attendee.

CONTACT  = Melanie Senanayake <press@galleliteraryfestival.com

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An Ingenious Engineering Prank: A Prosh ‘Hanging’ in 1971

From THE LUMEN, October 2024

Visit online = lumen@adelaide.edu.au

Email = lumen@adelaide.edu.au

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Magnifique ….. Ahmed Didi aids Trinity Chapel Restoration

Item in The Island, 25 October 2024... with a different title

The distinguished old boy of Trinity College, Kandy, Ahmed Mahir Didi, recently donated Rs. 5 million for the College Chapel Restoration Project. He is a Maldivian national, now based in the Seychelles and is a well-known businessman engaged in tourism.

Trinity College Kandy _ We extend our heartfelt thanks to Mr. Ahmed Mahir Didi [Old Boy 1968-75] for his incredibly generous donation to the Trinity College Chapel… _ Instagram

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A “City of Dreams” in the Centre of Colombo

A = Item in Booking.com

Set in Colombo, 700 metres from Galle Face Beach, Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams offers accommodation with a restaurant, free private parking and a bar. The property is around 2.5 km from Bambalapitiya Beach, 2.3 km from Khan Clock Tower and 4.7 km from Bambalapitiya Railway Station. The accommodation provides a 24-hour front desk, airport transfers, room service and free WiFi throughout the property. All guest rooms at the hotel feature air conditioning and a safety deposit box. A buffet, continental or Italian breakfast is available every morning at the property. Popular points of interest near Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams include Kollupitiya Beach, One Galle Face and Colombo City Centre Shopping Mall.

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Sigiriya: A Stupendous Citadel …..

Mahil Wijesinghe in the Sunday Observer, 13 October 2024 where the title runs “The Stupendous Citadel of Sigiriya”

After visiting the Dambulla rock cave temple, our next destination was Sigiriya, the 5th Century rock citadel, containing ruins of palace complex built by King Kasyapa (4774-4795 CE), has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The sight is stupendous even today: a massive monolith of red stone rises 600 feet from the green scrub jungle to accentuate the lucid blue of the sky. How overpowering, then, this rock fortress of Sigiriya must have been. When it was crowned as a palace 15 centuries ago!

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Peradeniya University …. emerged 75 Years Back

Nissanka Warakaulle, in The Island, 12 & ….. July 2024…. with highlightsing imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

It was sixty five years ago, and that is very long time ago, on 29 June 1959 that a batch of 378 students from all parts of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) entered the portals of the most beautiful university at that time, the University of Ceylon, situated in the salubrious surroundings in Peradeniya, just four miles from the historic city of Kandy, after having successfully passed the then University Entrance examination conducted by the university itself, to read for our varied degrees in Arts, Oriental Languages, Law, etc.

Hilda Obeysekara Hall

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A Meeting of Cultures: The Unique Vernacular Chapel at Trinity College, Kandy

Ranil Bibile … reproducing an old essay without all its pictorial  embellishments because the author does not have the original photos in his computer as .jpegs as the articles were composed 20+ years ago and there have been many computer changes since then.” 

 Kandy! The very name is redolent of history, culture, festivals, dances, caparisoned elephants, and historic rituals. Ancient temples nestle in remote corners of this Cande Udarata – the old Kandyan Kingdom. The architecture, hipped roofs, frescoes, wood carvings and antiquities of these places of worship provide a veritable feast for the eyes, vying for attention with the surrounding vistas of cloud-capped mountains, rivers, waterfalls and verdant plateaus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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