Colombo Court Blog The Hotel
Why our rooms face inward
Every window here looks onto a planted garden rather than out at the city. It began as a practical solution when the building was converted.
From the garden at Colombo Court you can see a tower block above the roofline, but you cannot hear the city. That contrast between what you see and what you hear is at the heart of the design. It began as a practical necessity and later became a deliberate choice.
The building was already here
Colombo Court was created by converting old office buildings on Alfred House Avenue. This meant working with an existing concrete frame. Its windows were placed for offices, not for a hotel: they faced the street, one after another, along the whole length of the building.
The solution was to create a heavily planted garden in the middle of the site, run a pool along its length, and turn the rooms to face the garden instead of the street. Offices that once looked onto the road became rooms arranged around a garden.
What it does to a room
This design has three effects, and only one of them was planned from the start.
First, the rooms are quiet. Colombo is a busy city and Galle Road is only four hundred metres away, but the buildings around the garden block the traffic noise. From your room you are more likely to hear water, birds in the mango tree, and the occasional sound of the restaurant below.
Second, the rooms stay cooler. The garden’s planting shades it for most of the day, so the air that reaches the rooms has already passed through the trees. This can lower the temperature by a degree or two, which makes a difference in Colombo.
Third, the rooms are irregular. Because they were fitted into an existing frame, no two rooms are exactly the same shape, and the suites in particular have unusual corners. Many guests enjoy this character, while others expect a room to match the photograph exactly, so we prefer to mention it in advance.
The trade you are making
The rooms do not have sea views. None of our rooms look out over the Indian Ocean, so if an ocean view is important for your trip, a hotel on Galle Face may suit you better.
Instead, you have a garden to enjoy at seven in the morning, a pool long enough to swim lengths, and the city just outside the front door. For a short stay between flights, we think that is a very good exchange. The rooms are here if you would like to choose one.
