Studio
About DPA · Since 1999

Design rooted
in context.

Design Plan Associates is a multidisciplinary consultancy practice specialising in architecture, urban design, urban planning, and heritage care. Our work is committed to nature-, culture-, and context-responsive solutions that promote climate-friendly and regionally grounded approaches to sustainable design.

Inspired by people,
shaped by place.

Through a sensitive understanding of place, society, environment and cultural identity, we focus on meaningful built-environment transformations that reconnect the often-missing links between social, cultural and ecological systems. Sustainability is central to how we work.

Over the past two decades, we have undertaken a wide range of projects for state, corporate, community and private-sector clients including several nationally significant developments. The practice also brings international project experience, particularly in urban design, urban planning and heritage care in Canada.

Our areas of expertise include architectural design, urban design, urban planning, master planning, heritage conservation, landscape design, neighbourhood and site design, community improvement plans, interior architecture, and architectural & planning research transforming visions into sustainable and meaningful places.

Design Plan Associates Studio
Study Sketch Model · DPA · 2018
JW

Context before form.

Place, society, environment and cultural identity set the brief. We design with these conditions, never against them whether the site is a Colombo lane, a Jaffna paddy field or a Buduruwagala rock face.

People at the centre.

We are not just architects we are partners. We listen to the communities and clients we serve and shape buildings, neighbourhoods and master plans around the way they actually live.

Sustainability as default.

Climate-friendly, regionally grounded design is not a feature we add later it is how we begin. We reconnect the often-missing links between social, cultural and ecological systems.

Our team.

Multidisciplinary practice
Prof. Janaka Wijesundara

Senior Professor Dr. (Eng.) Janaka Wijesundara

Principal Partner Design Plan Associates
Architect · Urban Planner · Urban Designer · Heritage Conservator
Academic PhD (Germany) · MSc (Architecture) · PG Dip (Arch Conservation) · BSc (Built Environment)
Chartered Architect since 1993
  • Fellow: Sri Lanka Institute of Architects (FIA SL)
  • Corporate Member: Sri Lanka Institute of Urban Designers (MSLIUD)
  • Member: Institute of Town Planners Sri Lanka (MITP SL)
  • Full Member: Canadian Institute of Planners (MCIP)
  • Member: ICOMOS (Sri Lanka & Canada)
  • Member: Sri Lanka Association of Urban Designers, SLIA

Principal Partner of Design Plan Associates, Senior Professor Dr. (Eng.) Janaka Wijesundara is a chartered architect, urban planner, urban designer and heritage conservator with over three decades of professional practice. He holds a PhD from Germany and a Master’s degree in Architecture along with a Postgraduate Diploma in Architectural Conservation from the University of Moratuwa, and has been a Chartered Architect since 1993. He serves at the University of Moratuwa’s Department of Architecture as Senior Professor and as Founding Director of both the Master’s Program of Urban Design and the UoM Urban Lab Centre for Cities, and chairs the International Conference on Cities, People & Places (ICCPP). He is also President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Urban Designers and a Former Research Ambassador of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

University
Senior Professor Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
Founding Director Master’s Program of Urban Design
Founding Director UoM Urban Lab · Centre for Cities
Leadership
Conference Chair International Conference on Cities, People & Places
President Sri Lanka Institute of Urban Designers · 2021/2023 & 2024/26
Former Research Ambassador German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Online
iccpp.lk uom.lk/cfc sliud.lk
Prof. Jeeva Wijesundara

Professor Jeeva Wijesundara

Partner Design Plan Associates
Architect · Urban Designer
Academic MSc (Architecture) · MSc (Urban Design University of Toronto) · BSc (Built Environment)
Chartered Architect since 1995
  • Fellow Member: Sri Lanka Institute of Architects (FIA SL)
  • Corporate Member: Sri Lanka Institute of Urban Designers (SLIUD)
  • Member: Sri Lanka Association of Urban Designers, SLIA

Partner at Design Plan Associates, Professor Jeeva Wijesundara is a chartered architect and urban designer with extensive experience in architecture, interior design and landscape design. She has been a Fellow Member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects since 2010 and is a Corporate Member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Urban Designers. She holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Moratuwa and a Master of Urban Design from the University of Toronto.

University
Professor SLIIT School of Architecture, SLIIT University, Malambe, Sri Lanka
Program Coordinator Master of Philosophy in Architecture
Specialist Consultants

Eng. Kithsiri Ranaweera

Consultant Structural Engineer
BSc (Eng) · PG Diploma (Construction Management)
  • MIE (SL) · MSSE (SL) · MGTS · GREENSL AP · MSStructEng · MSLGS

Consultant Structural Engineer to Design Plan Associates, Eng. Kithsiri Ranaweera is a Chartered Civil and Structural Engineer with extensive experience in structural design and construction management across a wide range of building types.

Eng. Priyantha Balapitiya

MEP Consultant Engineer
BSc (Mechanical Engineering) · PG Diploma (Building Services Engineering)
  • MIE (SL) · MIET (UK) · ASHRAE (USA) · Fellow: Lanka Association of Building Services Engineers

MEP Consultant to Design Plan Associates, Eng. Priyantha Balapitiya is a Chartered Engineer specialising in mechanical, electrical and plumbing building services. He brings international expertise across Sri Lankan and global engineering standards.

Janak Dasanayake

Consultant Quantity Surveyor
BSc (QS) · MSc (Construction Law) · Diploma (QS) · Advanced Diploma City & Guilds
  • MRICS · MIQSSL

Consultant Quantity Surveyor to Design Plan Associates, Janak Dasanayake is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and construction cost specialist. He holds membership of both the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Institute of Quantity Surveyors Sri Lanka.

Selected recognition.

SLIA · Bawa · IFSD
2024
Lifetime Achievement Award
For the contribution made to teaching and education of urban design in Sri Lanka International Federation for Scientific Development & Global Learners Academy of Development, Chennai, India.
2020
Honourable Mention Architectural Design Excellence
Sri Lanka Institute of Architects.
2017
Design & RESEARCH Award Annual Design Awards
Sri Lanka Institute of Architects National Awards.
2013/14
Geoffrey Bawa Award for Architectural Excellence
One of the seven finalists.
2014
Research Fellow Grant
Invited Faculty Fellow of the University of Leuven, Belgium April 2014.
2013
Award of Merit Annual Design Awards
Sri Lanka Institute of Architects National Awards.
2013
Architectural Research Publication Award
Sri Lanka Institute of Architects National Awards.
2003
Research Fellow Grant Award
German Academic Exchange Service.
2000
Research Publication Grant Award
German Academic Exchange Service.