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ARCADIA IN
AS designers search for essen-
SRI LANKA
nomy, based on the export of ly original form of a classic mical in their design and
tials in the art of architecture, tea, coconut and rubber, as style of colonnaded, courtyard construction, yet had consider-
it is refreshing to turn to the any country in the developing house, with tiled roofs and able character derived from
work of men who have been world. It was soon after that shaded courtyard paved with the originality of their design.
steadily following their own time that Geoffrey Bawa, then riverstones. Its large size is The Hanwella Farm School,
bent for decades, producing 32, put up the shutters of his deceptive, for it is built to the forms a particularly satisfying
buildings of common sense law practice in Colombo and edge of its site. This was the group of orange-tiled,
and quality, and ignoring to a decided to follow the direction architect's first tour de
force. whitewashed buildings along a
large extent fashionable of his private preoccupation. It was followed by a house low ridge. Here orphan girls
theories and fads. Britain has and enrol at the Architectural for a doctor in 1963 which was were trained in all aspects of
its own share of such men, like Association. After qualifica- subsequently acquired by the farming. It was judged impor-
Walter Segal and more recent- tion, he returned to Colombo architect's firm for use as an tant that the buildings "relate
ly Richard MacCormac, but to practise as a partner in the office. It is altogether grander to buildings in the countryside
we might wish there were firm of Edwards Reid & Begg. than the de Silva house, with a with which the girls were
more of them. Geoffrey Bawa His clear-sighted, unpre- formal entrance court, a ba- familiar" and which might be
in Sri Lanka is such an judiced view of the architec- lanced plan, and a succession repeated economically.
architect, and one of great ture of the island, with its of spaces culminating in what Geoffrey Bawa next
distinction. Buddhist simplicity in the rural is now the architect's office, embarked on larger projects.
Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, and religious buildings, and its with a wide garden court The Bentota Beach Hotel of
was for many years regarded colonial practicality in urban beyond. 1969 is sited like a fortress on
as "the jewel in the Indian architecture, produced some At the same time the Mon- the banks of a large calm river
Ocean". After independence remarkable buildings that are tessori School for St Bridget's as it enters the rough sea; it is
in 1948, the former British, as satisfying today as when Convent in Colombo (1963) approached through a podium
former Dutch, former Portu- they had just been finished. was designed, and a few years of rubble stone, executed with
guese colony was judged to One house, that for Ena de later, the Farm School at the same exquisite masonry of
have as prosperous an eco- Silva (1962) initiated an entire- Hanwella. Both were econo- the ancient buildings of the
Top left, Bawa's style: his
vintage Rolls-Royce with a
traditional Sri Lankan
backdrop; left, section and
plan ofthe architect's oflice,
1963. Opposite page: top right,
central courtyard of Bawa's
oflice - perfect fusion of
interior and exterior spacel
left, Bawa's skill as architect,
gardener, decorator and
collector combine to produce
such exquisite set pieces as this
courtyard corner; far right,
the architect's studio, a world
ofwater, shade and calm
which acknowledges the
dazzling heat and light outside.
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island, then up a flight of stairs this are probabty the Neptune open lobby across a wide he has developed towards
into a long space with a ceiling and Triton Hotels (1974 and swimming pool to the beach reinforced concrete to give a
entirely of golden batik, which 1981) with their broad sweep- and ocean beyond. High inner great structure five storeys
a wide court and
faces into ing spaces, though the archi- courtyards on both sides of the high the scale and articulation
pool. The main rooms and tect himself is fond of the lobby are surrounded by corri- of much smaller, more familiar
bedrooms of the hotel have Serendib Hotel (1969). dors and are reminiscent of buildings. Surrounded by a
fine woodwork and light tim- Bawa's designs really start colonial domestic buildings, man-made lake and with a
ber verandahs. with nature. Tremendous with coloured plastered walls number of small pavilions
ln later buildings he handles pains are taken to site the and broad white plastered demarcating the edge of the
reinforced concrete with the building carelully. In the Tri- frames around small window island. the Parliament buitding
same attitudes he has to the ton Hotel. one of the latest openings. is approached by a great
use of brick, tiles and timber. and most characteristic of his In the Parliament building ceremonial causeway. The re-
The frames are always clearly hotel buildings, a curving drive of Kotte (l9tt2), Bawa has lationship of the pavilions to
expressed inside and out, and on both sides of the great combined his understanding of each other, and their place-
are used to articulate walls and entrance lake gives a stunning the traditional architecture of ment on the tiered terraces,
spaces. The finest examples of view through an immense Sri Lanka with the approach leads to a cohesive whole.
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The apogee of Geoffrey his own. One climbs up Turning from these gran- the :kilful u:e of proportion
Bawa's work so far is un- through the buildings and look diose schemes to the simpler rnateriul: lntl cclkrur. com
doubtedly his new Universitv down over incredible orange buildings does not bring any binetl s ith the clarity of simpl
of Ruhuna at Matara, which is tiled roofscapes below and. diminution of quality. Irr fornr:. can crcate tremendou
as yet not complete. Here he beyond. the Indian Ocean. numerous small houses and in archrtecturll satisfaction an,
has created a skein of stairs Modern and traditional nrat- such building groups as the deli,'rht.
and walkways draped over a erials match and blend perfect- Club at Madurai in South C)n unrrther level are th
steep hillside. He has captured ly, and the whole is organised India (197.1) and the Adult expennrcntal buildings. suc
every conceivable view, and with the strictest discipline by Training Centre at Pilyandala as the nuninral steel and glas
where there was none. created a highly disciplined mind. (1981) Bawa shows again how Cerlon Perilion at Expo 7[
30 RIBAJ February 1
and the project for the Bank of Left, lobby of the Triton Hotel,
Ceylon in Colombo (1981), Ahungalla, 1981, across the
which was unfortunately not pool at night; below, view from
built. under the great projecting
It is hard to imagine an eaves across the beach to the
interior designer ever contri- sea.
buting to a Bawa design.
Inside and out everything has
been either designed or chosen
and placed by him: from
furniture and curtains, down
to the ashtrays. Bawa also
loves landscape design, and it
was his enjoyment in making
of the garden at Bentota that
convinced him that he wanted
to train as an architect. That
garden continues to grow to
this day, pieces of jungle left
here and there, but in between
'civilised' by artifacts and
plants that lead the eye across
expansive lawns. The training
he thus gave himself in the
creation of deliberate visual
experience shows continually
in his buildings, which inciden-
tally also attempt to relate Right, plan of the Triton Hotel:
spaces and elements back to the planning of the hotel was
nature wherever possible. The largely determined by the long,
cumulative effect of this con- narrow site: the sea is visible
cern with visual connections is across pools and polished lobby
that the best of his architecture floors from the entrance roadl
transcends the dichotomy be- as with all Bawa designs, the
tween exterior and interior. building is open to the natural
and achieves a unity of build- world.
ing and landscape which is
often breathtaking.
Bawa's architectural vocab-
ulary has fevv geographical
limits. Itis derived from his
wide experience of many
countries, and - more often rrE
perhaps - from the influence
of numerous amusing people
with whom he has struck a
rapport wherever he has been.
His influence is spreading, and
architects from all over the
world seek him out in Colom-
bo, visit his works and are
invited to his office.
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34 RIBAJ Februarv 1