2. INTRODUCTION
Full name: Geoffrey Manning Bawa
Parents: Bertha Marianne Schrader, Benjamin
Bawa
Born: 23 July 1919, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Died: 27 May 2003, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Awards: Aga Khan Award for Architecture,
Deshamanya Award
About Geoffrey bawa
Geoffrey Bawa was born in Colomb0, the
youngest of two sons to Major Benjamin
Bawa, Sri Lankan lawyer, who was of part
European parentage, and Bertha Marianne
née Schrader, a Burgher of mixed Sinhalese,
German and Scottish descent. His older
brother, Bevis, became a landscape architect
3. EDUCATION
Bawa was educated at Royal College, Colombo after which he
studied English and Law, 1938, at St Catharine's College,
Cambridge gaining a BA (English Literature Tripos) and went
on to study law at Middle Temple, London, becoming a
barrister in 1944.
Returning to Ceylon after World War II, he worked for a
Colombo law firm. After the death of his mother, he left the
profession and soon left in 1946 to travel for two years, going
to the Far East, across the United States, and finally to Europe
and almost settling in Italy. By the time he was 28 years old,
he had spent a third of his life away from Sri Lanka. During his
time in Italy, he planned to buy a villa and settle down, but
that did not happen, and by 1948 he had returned to Sri
Lanka.
Bawa bought an abandoned rubber estate on the south-west
coast of the island between Colombo and Galle at
Lunuganga, planning to create an Italian garden from a
tropical wilderness. However, he soon found that his ideas
were compromised by his lack of technical knowledge. In 1951,
he was apprenticed to H. H. Reid, the sole surviving partner of
the Colombo architectural practice Edwards, Reid and Begg.
In 1952 Reid died, but Bawa still aspired to a career in
architecture, so he returned to England. After spending a year
at Cambridge, he enrolled as a student at the Architectural
Association in London, where he earned a Diploma in
Architecture by 1956 and in the following year he became an
Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1957, at
the age of 38 he returned to Sri Lanka as a qualified architect
to take over what was left of Reid's practice.
4. PHILOSOPHY Highly personal in his approach, evoking
the pleasures of the senses that go hand in
hand with the climate, landscape, and
culture of ancient Ceylon(Present day Sri
Lanka).
Brings together an appreciation of the
Western humanist tradition in architecture
with needs and lifestyles of his own
country.
The principal force behind TROPICAL
MODERNISM.
Work with a sensitivity to site and context.
His designs break down the barriers
between inside and outside, between
interior design and landscape architecture.
He reduced buildings to a series of sceno
graphically conceived spaces separated by
courtyards and gardens.
His ideas are providing a bridge between
the past and the future, a mirror in which
ordinary people can obtain a clearer image
of their own evolving culture
PHILOSOPHY:
5. Lunuganga, Bentota (1948–
1998)
CAREER
1940s
1950s
St. Thomas'
Preparatory School,
Colombo (1957–1964)
Carmen Gunasekera
House, Colombo
(1958)
Kanangara House,
Colombo (1959)
Club House,
Ratnapura (1959)
1970s
Pallakele Industrial Estate,
Pallekele (1970–1971)
Science Block, Nugegoda
(1971)
Madurai Club, Madurai,
India (1971–1974) .
Hotel Connamara
Remodelling, Chennai,
India (1971–1976)
Club Mediterranee,
Nilaveli (1972)
Geoffrey Bawa's work was mainly in Sri Lanka, but included several other countries as well: nine times in India, three
times in Indonesia, twice in Mauritius and once in Fiji, and Singapore. His works include houses, hotels, schools,
clubs, offices and government buildings, most notably the Sri Lankan Parliament Building. Today, the Gallery Café
on Paradise Road in Colombo is located in Bawa's former office building
Deraniyagala House,
Colombo (1959)
Wimal Fernando House,
Colombo (1959)
Jayawardena house,
Colombo (1959–1960)
Ekala Industrial Estate,
Ja ela (1959–1960)
A.S.H. De Silva House,
Galle (1959–1960)
1960s
Panama Hotel, Panama (1977)
Martenstyn House, Colombo
(1977–1979)
Meena Muttiah Hospital for the
Kumarni of Chettinad,
Chennai, India (1978)
House for Lidia Gunasekera,
Bentota (1978–1980)
Institute for Integral Education,
Piliyandala (1978–1981)
Club Villa Hotel, Bentota (1979)
Osmund and Ena de Silva
House, Colombo (1960–62)
Bishop's College, Colombo
(1960–1963)
33rd Lane, Colombo (1960–
1998)
Nazareth Chapel, Good
Shepherd Convent,
Bandarawela (1961–1962)
House for Dr.
Bartholomeusz, Colombo
(1961–1963)
Pim and Pam Fernando
House, Colombo (1963)
St. Bridget's Montessori
School, Colombo (1963–1964)
Polontalawa Estate
Bungalow, Polontalawa
(1963–1965)
Hilton Colombo, Colombo
(1965)
Madurai Boys' Town,
Madurai, India (1965–1967)
Yahapath Endera Farm
School, Hanwella (1965–1971)
Steel Corporation Offices,
Oruwala (1966–1969)
Bentota Beach Hotel,
Bentota (1967–1969)[16]
Pieter Keuneman House,
Colombo (1967–1969)
Serendib Hotel, Bentota
(1967–1970)
Yala Beach Hotel, Yala (1968)
Mahahalpe Farm, Kandy
(1969)
Ceylon Pavilion 1970 World's
Fair, Osaka, Japan (1969–1970)
6. Avani Kalutara Resort (Formerly
Kani Lanka Resort & Spa),
Kalutara (1994–1996)
Lighthouse Hotel, Galle (1995–
1997)[16]
Blue Water Hotel, Colombo
(1996–1998)[16]
Official Residence of the
President, Kotte (1997–)
Pradeep Jayewardene House,
Mirissa (1997–1998)
Spencer House, Colombo (1998)
Jacobsen House, Tangalle (?)
The Last House, Tangalle (1997)
U.N. Headquarters, Malé, Malé,
Maldives (1985)
CAREER
1990s
Banyan Tree Hotel, Tanjung
Pinang, Indonesia (1991)
Heritance Kandalama Hotel,
Dambulla (1991–1994)
Jayakody House, Colombo,
Colombo (1991–1996)
Sarabhai House, Ahmedabad,
India (1992)
Modi House, Delhi, India (1992)
Jayakody House, Bentota,
Bentota (1993)
Poddar House, Bangalore, India
(1994)
1980s
University of Ruhuna, Matara
(1980–1988)
Galadari Hotel, Islamabad,
Pakistan (1984)
Sunethra Bandaranaike House,
Horagolla (1984–1986)
Offices for Banque Indosuez,
Colombo (1985)
Institute of Engineering
Technology, Katunayake (1985)
Fitzherbert House, Tangalle (1985–
1986)
De Soysa House, Colombo (1985–
1991)
Bashir Currimjee House, Port
Louis, Mauritius (1986–1994)
Hyatt Hotel, Sanur, Sanur,
Indonesia (1989)
Larry Gordon House, Wakaya,
Fiji (1989)
Singapore Cloud Centre,
Singapore (1989)
2000s
Anantara Kalutara Resort,
Kalutara (Completed 2016 to
Bawa's design)[
Unbuilt
8. Geoffrey Bawa House No 11 Colombo
Geoffrey Bawa House No.87
Geoffrey Bawa Claughton Bungalow
Geoffrey Bawa Druvi De Saram House
9. WORKS
Lunuganga Geoffrey Bawa’s
Country Estate
Jetwing Lighthouse Sri Lankan Parliament
Building
Grand Oriental Hotel Sunethra Bandaranaike
House
Gangarama Seema Malakaya,
10. LANUGANGA
Street Address Dedduwa Lake
Location Bentota, Sri Lanka
Architect/Planner Geoffrey
Bawa
Date 1949-1998
Century 20th
Decade 1990s
Building Types landscape,
residential
Building Usage garden, private
residence
LUNUGANGA, BENTOTA: A
HOUSE IS A GARDEN
11. LUNUGANGA(Before):
A small rubber plantation consisting of a house and 25
acres of land
A low hill planted with rubber and fruit trees and
coconut palms with rice fields.
Surrounded by the Dedduwa lake.
LUNUGANGA(Now):
The Italian inspired garden with spectacular views over lakes
and tropical jungle together with a simply designed
plantation house
“A place of continued varied sensations“
The creation of one man’s vision which, over 40 years, was
nurtured into a reality.
It’s a legacy of a great architect.
12. THE
REASON
A collection of courtyards, verandahs and loggias
create a haven of peace and inspiration.
Suites are individual and beautifully decorated to
provide a relaxing and memorable environment.
Set at the edge of a cinnamon plantation
high on the hill overlooking the lake to the south thus
giving the privacy.
This is not a garden of colorful flowers, neat borders
and gurgling fountains: it is a civilized wilderness, an
assemblage of tropical plants of different scale and
texture, a composition of green on green, an ever
changing play of light and shade, a succession of
hidden surprises and sudden vistas, a landscape of
memories and ideas.
PLANTATION HOUSE:
STUDIO:
Landscaping:
When Bawa came back to Ceylon in 1949, he became almost totally involved in the
pleasures of altering his house and transforming the rubber plantation into a wonderfully
beautiful, rolling landscape; staircased and terraced , squared into paddy fields, on the
edge of a long lake with a wild island in its centre. This he so enjoyed that he decided to
become an ARCHITECT .
