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Works of Geoffrey Bawa

Geoffrey Bawa was a Sri Lankan architect known for pioneering tropical modernism. Some of his most notable works included Lunuganga, a private residence and garden in Bentota; the A.S.H. de Silva House in Galle, featuring a central courtyard; and the Triton Hotel in Ahungalla, using open-air pavilions linked by covered walkways. Bawa designed buildings that respected the local environment, culture and climate, blending vernacular elements with modern concepts. He is renowned for works that flowed organically with their sites and had an introspective quality achieved through a play of indoor and outdoor spaces.

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WORKS OF GEOFFREY BAWA By - Aashish Gupta Diksha Jain
INTRODUCTION • Born in 1919 • Educated at Royal College and Middle Temple, London and became a Lawyer. • Studied architecture in Architectural Association, London in 1956 • In 1957, at the age of 38 , returned to Sri Lanka qualified as an architect to take over Reid's practice.
A building can only be understood by moving around and through it and by experiencing the modulation and feel the spaces one moves through- from the outside into verandah, than rooms, passages, courtyards. Architecture cannot be totally explained but must be experienced. Geoffrey Bawa
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.
PHILOSOPHY 1.RESPECTED THE SITE AND CONTEXT 2.BUILDINGS HAD A PLAY OF LIGHT AND SHADE. 3.FLOW OF SPACES 4.FUSED VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE WITH THE MODERN CONCEPTS TO SATIATE THE NEEDS OF THE URBAN POPULATION 5.USED SALVAGED ARTIFACTS 6. ROOF FORMS AS ELEMENTS 7. WATERBODY –AN ESSENTIAL PART OF BAWA’S ARCHITECTURE
Street Address Dedduwa Lake Location Bentota, Sri Lanka Architect/Planner Geoffrey Bawa Date 1949-1998 Building Types landscape, residential Building Usage garden, private residence THE GARDEN LUNUGANGA
•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. AT THE BEGINNING NOW • The Italian inspired garden with spectacular views over lakes and tropical jungle • The original bungalow survive within its cocoon of added verandas , courtyards and loggias.
•Juts out into a brackish lagoon lying off the estuary of the Bentota River. Planofthehouse&gardenin1985
PLANTATION HOUSE •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. STUDIO
Sectional elevation of the house South facade of the house Drawing room
Exterior view of entrance to foyer Exterior view through oversized door- frames reinforced and supported by central columns
Exterior detail showing lattice windows Interior view showing rustic seating area with views to garden
Exterior view showing a sculpture Mask of Hindu PanArecanut palms, Jars & pool Statue of leopard Mouth of hell, villa park, Italy
The entry steps up to the south terrace View from the sitting room across the north terrace Aerial view showing retaining wall's scalloped layout design
2 substantial tree grow within house "houses are inseparable from trees” Open-to-sky bathroom with a tree “we have traditionally lived outdoors” Furnished in natural timber, simple white fabric, sturdy wrougt iron lighting fittings. “A HOUSE IS A GARDEN”
• This is not a garden of colorful flowers , neat borders and curling fountains – 1. it is a civilized wilderness 2. an assemblage of tropical plants of different scale and texture 3. a composition of green on green 4. an ever changing play of light and shade 5. a succession of hidden surprises and vistas 6. a landscape of memories and ideas
In 1948, a young man dreamt of making a garden. Today the garden is in its prime but, after the passage of over fifty monsoons, the young man has grown old. As he sits in his wheelchair on the terrace and watches the sun setting across the lake it may be that he reflects on his achievement.
A.S.H DE SILVA HOUSE, Galle Variant Names Geoffrey Bawa's House Location Colombo, Sri Lanka Architect/Planner Geoffrey Bawa Date 1960 Building Type Residential Building Usage Private residence Keywords courtyard house
PLAN SECTION • House for a doctor in galle, on a sloping site, with the house in the upper part of the site, with a corridor leading down to the dispensary by the roadside. • The house is modernist & traditional at the same time. • At the very heart of the house is a planted court, fountain and pool
CENTRAL COURT AND LIVING ROOM
APPROACH DRIVEWAY ENTRANCE WITH REFLECTING POOL CENTRAL POOL COURT
PLAN OF A.S.H. DE SILVA HOUSE, 1960 • In plan the Plan of De silva house recalls the pin-wheel layout of Rohe’s brick country house (1923) • At the very heart where Bawa has placed a planted court, fountain and pool, Wright would have put the chimney there PLAN OF COUNTRY HOUSE. MIES VAN DER ROHE, ARCHITECT, 1923
33RD LANE HOUSE, COLOMBO Variant Names Geoffrey Bawa's House Street Address 33rd lane, Bagatelle Road Location Colombo, Sri Lanka Architect/Planner Geoffrey Bawa Date 1960-1998 Building Type Residential Building Usage Private residence Keywords Adaptive re-use; courtyard house
•The house in 33rd Lane is an essay in architectural bricolage. Elements salvaged from old buildings in Sri Lanka and South India were artfully incorporated into the evolving composition. Main entrance to the house Columns at the end of the hallway. Door painted by D. Friend
•1958 Bawa bought the third house in a row of four small houses. •He converted it into a pied-à-terre (lodging for occasional use) with living room, bedroom, tiny kitchen and room for a servant. •After some time he bought the fourth and this was colonized to serve as dining room and second living room. •Ten years later the remaining bungalows were acquired and added into the composition and the first in the row was converted into a four-storey tower. Patio with bench adjacent to central seating room
•Over a period of forty years the houses were subjected to continual change. •Although the plan form of the whole might at each stage have been thought to be simply the result of an arbitrary process of stripping away and adding, any accidental or picturesque quality has always been tempered by a strong sense of order and composition. • It was here that Bawa developed his interest in architectural bricolage. Roof terrace
Ground floor plan The final result is an introspective labyrinth of rooms and garden courts which together create the illusion of limitless space. Words like inside and outside lose all meaning: here are rooms without roofs and roofs without walls, all connected by a complex matrix of axes and internal vistas.
FIRST FLOOR PLAN SECOND FLOOR PLAN
SECTION View from the garage down the entrance hallway Lobby
Courtyard in lobby area 2nd Courtyard in lobby area
Dinning area
Room on Ground Floor View from bedroom towards the garden
Upstairs seating roomDecorated door to upstairs seating room
TRITON HOTEL ,AHUNGALLA,1979 THE TRITON HOTEL WAS COMMISSIONED BY HOTEL DEVELOPMENT FIRM AITKEN SPENCE IN 1979.
AERIAL VIEW OF THE ENTIRE HOTEL AND BEACHSCAPE
MAIN ENTRANCE FROM COLOMBO–GALLE ROAD •LONG APPROACH DRAMATIZING THE ARRIVAL ENTRANCE THROUGHT THE COCONUT TREE POOL
THE BASIC UNIT OF THE HOTEL IS A SINGLE-NODED CORRIDOR. LINKED OPEN PAVILLIONS GROUND FLOOR PLAN
SECOND FLOOR PLAN FIRST FLOOR PLAN
THE TRITON HOTEL FEATURES VERY CLEAN AND SIMPLE ARCHITECTUR AL DETAILING WITH LITTLE ORNAMENTAT ION. • INTERIOR SPACES ARE LIGHT AND AIRY, WITH EITHER PALE TILED FLOORS OR CARPETS IN NEUTRAL TONES. •PLANTERS IN THE OPEN-AIR LOBBIES AND HALLWAYS BLUR THE LINES BETWEEN INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR SPACE VIEW OF BAR AREA AND POOLVIEW FROM MAIN LOBBY
RUHUNU UNIVERSITY, MANTARA
Street Address Ruhunu University Location Matara, Sri Lanka Architect/Planner Geoffrey Bawa Client Ministry of Education Date 1980-1988 Century 20th Decade 1980s Building Type Educational Building Usage University
SITE PLAN
ELEVATIONS
BAWA’S DESIGN DEPLOYED OVER FIFTY SEPARATE PAVILIONS LINKED BY A SYSTEM OF COVERED LOGGIAS ON A PREDOMINANTLY ORTHOGONAL GRID AND USED A LIMITED VOCABULARY OF FORMS AND MATERIALS BORROWED FROM THE PORTO-SINHALESE BUILDING TRADITIONS OF THE LATE MEDIEVAL PERIOD, BUT IT EXPLOITED THE CHANGING TOPOGRAPHY OF THE SITE TO CREATE AN EVER VARYING SEQUENCE OF COURTS AND VERANDAHS, VISTAS AND CLOSURES. THE RESULT WAS A MODERN CAMPUS, VAST IN SIZE BUT HUMAN IN SCALE. DESIGN OF THE UNIVERSITY
•BAWA PLACED THE VICE CHANCELLOR'S LODGE AND A GUEST HOUSE ON THE WESTERN HILL AND FLOODED THE INTERVENING VALLEY TO CREATE A BUFFER BETWEEN THE ROAD AND THE MAIN CAMPUS. •WRAPPED THE BUILDINGS OF THE SCIENCE FACULTY AROUND THE NORTHERN HILL AND THOSE OF THE ARTS FACULTY AROUND THE SOUTHERN HILL, USING THE DEPRESSION BETWEEN THEM FOR THE LIBRARY AND OTHER CENTRAL FACILITIES. MASSING Central valley with library
•BUILDINGS WERE PLANNED ORTHOGONALLY ON A NORTH- SOUTH GRID BUT WERE ALLOWED TO 'RUN WITH SITE'. •NATURAL FEATURES SUCH AS ROCKY OUTCROPS WERE INCORPORATED INTO THE BASES OF BUILDINGS OR BECAME FOCAL FEATURES OF THE OPEN SPACES. •THE LIMITED ARCHITECTURAL VOCABULARY CLEARLY DERIVES FROM PORTO- SINHALESE TRADITIONS Exterior view showing terraces and juxtaposition of buildings with each other and landscape
•PAVILIONS, VARYING IN SCALE AND EXTENT, ARE CONNECTED BY COVERED LINKS AND SEPARATED BY AN EVER-CHANGING SUCCESSION OF GARDEN COURTS. •EVERYWHERE THERE ARE PLACES TO PAUSE AND CONSIDER, TO SIT AND CONTEMPLATE, TO GATHER AND DISCUSS. •THE MAIN ROUTES EITHER CUT UNCOMPROMISINGLY ACROSS THE CONTOURS OR MEANDER HORIZONTALLY ALONG THEM. EXTERIOR VIEW FROM STREET LEVEL SHOWING USE OF STONE AND CONCRETE IN FAÇADE
BUILDINGS ARE ALIGNED CAREFULLY TO MINIMIZE SOLAR INTRUSION AND MITIGATE THE EFFECTS OF THE SOUTH-WEST MONSOON. FEW OF THE SPACES ARE AIR- CONDITIONED AND THE BUILDINGS RELY FOR THE MOST PART ON NATURAL VENTILATION.
EXTERIOR VIEW SHOWING LARGE DIMENSIONS AND TRIPLE STORY COVERED ENTRANCE PORTICO EXTERIOR DETAIL SHOWING PASSAGE TO PLANTED COURTYARD
EXTERIOR VIEW SHOWING BUILDING'S WRAPPING TERRACES AND POSITION ON A HILL EXTERIOR VIEW OF FAÇADE SHOWING STILT SUPPORT FRAME
SRI LANKAN PARLIAMENT,KOTTE,1979
SECTION PLAN
ARIEL VIEW OF THE ISLAND SITE DETAILING OF EXTERNAL FACADE
FIRST SKETCH OF MAIN CHAMBERS MAIN CHAMBERS ELEVATION MEMBER’S GARDEN
BIBLIOGRAPHY Geoffrey Bawa by Taylor, B. B. www.geoffreybawa.com