charmalee gunaratne

CG17

“Shine to souls and wings to dreams” the theme of Charmalee’s doll was inspired by Nicky’s story and his happy smile.

“I was reading Gloria’s blog and was realizing how different these children would be without the love of the St. Mary Kevin Orphanage and Change the Truth. Now they get strong support to smile and dream of their future. “

Charmalee received her Masters of Architecture in 2001 and is a licensed architect in Sri Lanka. Passion for affordable sustainable and socially responsible architecture has been the focus of her work. Living in Sri Lanka, her involvement with designing a “Children Resource Center” funded by UNICEF during the cease fire period in a war-battered zone, opened her journey to this path. Her notable achievement was developing “Reducing Rainwater Harvesting Systems cost for Poorest of the Poor Globally” with University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. The successful prototypes were later implemented in rural Sri Lanka, Uganda and Ethiopia. Funded by Standerford Scholarship, she expanded her knowledge to develop technologies for displaced people at “Environment Seminar & Pallet Workshop” at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.

Charmalee shares her thoughts and ideas on these issues at ECO ABET.

As Director of Outreach Design at Summit Architecture in Kansas City, she continues to pursue her passion for developing affordable sustainable architecture. She strongly believes that architects have the power to overcome homelessness globally.

Throughout last year, as the director of Women in Design Kansas City, she themed the year “Outreach” and did numerous outreach programs with the design community.

Charmalee is also an artist and a sculptor, and her work has been exhibited at A-E-C Community, Women in Art (Women in Design Kansas City) and Monsters of Design (Young Architects Forum).


She showed up at my house with two dolls; I couldn't convince her to leave the real one, little Hiru, with me. Darn.