Coral Reef Research and Awareness Centre - Kalpitiya Sri Lanka Part 2 Project 2012 Ruveka Peiris City School of Architecture | Sri Lanka Coral reefs are one of the most diverse eco systems on the planet. Even though the world’s reefs only occupy 0.1% of the ocean, they are home to more than 25% of marine species of the world. The reefs are the marine eco systems that maintain the balance of the oceans, land and all sea life that depend on the sea for living. Over the years adverse human activities have become a major impact on these eco systems. Sri Lanka being an island is heavily dependent on the ocean around it: reefs have always been the natural shields that protected its coastal area from erosion. With the reefs dying out, the Coastal Conservation Authority spends millions each year struggling to stabilize the shores: most methods proved futile over time. As the rate of erosion exceed every year, many fear that Kalpitiya one of the largest reefs in Sri Lanka would be wiped out off the map in the years to come.Reef rehabilitation, even though carried out in large scale globally, is not a wide spread solution in Sri Lanka. The Project was therefore aimed towards bringing forth the initiative of large scale reef rehabilitation, by giving people the experience of the reef and its activities at eye level with the intention to make human kind respect and participate in their own simple way to save the dying reefs around the country. The project aims to stabilize the receding shoreline through the cultivation of coral, that would be conducted by the reef research centre. It further creates opportunity to bring forth a first-hand understanding and experience of a reef at eye level. The Reef Research Centre will also help in rejuvenating the existing reefs through the coral cultivation and rehabilitation projects.The project concept is thus a derivative of the reef itself: it attempts to mimic the reef both in form and function to nurture respect among people for the very sources of nature that protect them. Tutor(s) Dimantha Dharshana Weliange Tamara Wjayapala