WORKS OFGEOFFREY 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 architecturewith 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 Typeslandscape, residential

Building Usagegarden, 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.

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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 Address33rd lane, Bagatelle Road

Location Colombo, Sri Lanka

Architect/Planner Geoffrey Bawa

Date 1960-1998

Building Type Residential

Building Usage Private residence

KeywordsAdaptive 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 adjacentto 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 ARCHITECTURAL DETAILING WITH LITTLE ORNAMENTATION.

• 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