Hirante Welandawe is an architect, interior designer, urban designer and educator and is the founder / principal architect at H W Architects Private Limited (2002). Welandawe has designed a wide range of projects including the design of institutional buildings, condominium projects, boutique hotels, work places, and private residences (projects).

Welandawe graduated from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and obtained her Masters from the Aalto University in Helsinki.

Welandawe worked initially under Master Architect B.V. Doshi, whose work had a profound influence in the direction of her work. She started work with numerous personalized homes which helped her to develop a particular people centric way of approaching architecture focusing on socio cultural profiles and lifestyle.

She is part of the Visiting Faculty at the University of Moratuwa, has received several Design awards and was nominated for the Aga Khan award for Architecture in 2010.

Russell Dandeniya is the Principal Architect at Russell Dandeniya Chartered Architects and the Director at RDC Architects Pvt. Ltd., both of which are small, experimental, studio-based practices. Believing in a practice mode that fuses the client's pragmatic requirements with the architect's inner belief, Russell searches for Architecture that is minimal in resource use, sustainable in environmental response, and conscientious in dealing with the local climate, people, and place.

As an award-winning Architect, he remains humble and is an active contributor to the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects (SLIA), serving on the SLIA council for over 17 years in various roles & capacities, as the President of SLIA in year 2021/2023, also Zone – A Vice President in year 2021-2023 Architects Regional Council of Asia ARCASIA.

An activist within the Architectural community, Russell initiated many innovative programs and served as the Founder Chairman and Official Juror of the SLIA Online Design Awards Jury for 2019/2020-2021. This year, he hopes to share his experience with the next generation of the architectural community through AYDA.