GEOFFERY BAWA

BAWA
1919 - Born in Colombo
1941 – bachelor of arts from Cambridge
university
1943 – admitted as barrister- at- law
1956 – diploma in architecture from
Architecture association school london

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Background
Srilanka – potpourri of culture
Entered in architecture field at the age of 40
and the era of end of modernism
Initial works
Assimilation of knowledge from
modernism – direct reference to modern
architects work
Comparison of charless scrpa italian
designer & Bawa
Political climate sri lanka leads to the
revival of tradition & value

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Bawa’s thoughts on architecture
Traditional materials and techniques with the
new materials to solve the present day problems
Roof structure is predominant form of the
building
Role of the architect – from known to…………
Realm of part emotion / thought/Intuition / talent
Where one looks from room
At what,
Through what
What is to be seen
How open or closed a view from room should be

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Two prominent aspects of Bawa’s
architecture
Time & geography

His buildings strongly influenced by

character of the terrain
 The vegetation
 Potential for vistas out on to the landscape
 Light & shade
 Climate

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Lunuganga garden WORKS

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Inspired by the sprawling
formal gardens of European
country houses.
The invasion of the house by
the outdoors was an integral
part of living in the tropics.
Steps connecting the house to
the Water Garden link the
series of pavilions and terraces
at different levels.

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ENA DE SILVA HOUSE

Bawa proved that within a limited area one

could live in an open-plan house while
providing seclusion in a busy location.
A low-hanging tiled roof encircling a quiet
courtyard with the indigenous materials
used to give a truly vernacular ambience
to the house.
The large trees in the courtyard are just as
elemental to the house as the actual
structure.
Again as elsewhere in Bawa’s work, there
is the illusiveness of the ancient yet a
feeling of the modern too

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The Ena de Silva house was conceived as a series of pavilions and
verandas contained within a high surrounding boundary wall and
arranged to form a major central courtyard and five subsidiary
courtyards.

Its spatial qualities were enhanced by the choice of materials:

walls of plastered brick, roofs of half-round Portuguese tiles,
columns of satin wood, windows of timber lattice, floors of rough
granite.

The house recalled ancient Kandyan manor houses, but the open
plan and continuous flow of space suggested a more contemporary

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A.S.H DE SILVA HOUSE

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At the foot of the slope sits the doctor's consulting room beside an open loggia that served
as the patients' waiting room, connected to the house via a long staircase tunnel.

This serves as the boundary to the garden, a pointer to the main entrance of the house and
a device to lead the visitor up to the very heart of the design.

On plan the main house appears to be a simple rectangle arranged around a central
courtyard, though the section articulates the upper bedroom wing from the lower living area.

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A separate wing containing the kitchens, kitchen courts and servants' rooms between
two parallel walls runs southwards from the living area along the contours of the site,
while a pavilion to the north contains an independent flat for the doctor's sister.

The house remains relatively extrovert: the internal spaces flow out into the gardens,
which, in turn, reach out towards the surrounding landscape.

The articulation of the plan elements and their disposition on the slope in relation to
open courtyards and gardens makes good environmental sense: every room benefits
from cross-ventilation or from a stack effect induced by the roof.

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ASH DE SILVA HOUSE

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 Colombo House and office of Geoffrey Bawa

is a reworking of already existing small units.

An astonishing play of light and space has transformed
the former buildings into a labyrinth of verandahs,
rooms, passages and courtyards with a dramatic white
entrance tower.
It is an intimate place, a refuge from the city, with
views of spaces through spaces within and without
that have been cleverly designed.
The compact house seems turned in on itself,
incorporating all the essential elements of a town into
a miniature study in introspection.
A familiar blend of traditional and modern components
and a meeting of the oriental and occidental is
pervasive yet marvelously subtle.
The house is a masterpiece and a beacon to the
inventiveness of Bawa
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Architect office

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This school was designed in 1963
It’s a clever re-working of a traditional village school

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This school was designed in 1963
tropical Modernist approach has made way
here for a clever re-working of a traditional
village school.
The look and feel of a wattle and daub
structure was produced by rough, curving
lines of concrete.

plan for a young children to identify with the

natural-look surroundings at their own level
The walls, cupboards and balustrades stop at
a height of 3 ft. – a child’s eye level.
Decorative and other functional features are
also at this level

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the sides are open and with the high roof,
promote natural ventilation.
The classrooms are formed by small, low-
walled enclosures
The upper floor is covered by a huge umbrella
of a roof, projecting beyond the extent of the
walls and supported by elegant concrete
frames.
The whole effect is like being sheltered by a
gigantic tree

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