Geoffrey Bawa was born in 1919 in Ceylon to wealthy parents of mixed European and Ceylonese descent. He came late to architecture at 38 years. After reading English at Cambridge and Law in London , he was called to the Bar in 1944. After the war, Bawa joined a Colombo Law firm, leaving it shortly after to travel widely for two years, almost settling in Italy . However, he returned to Ceylon in 1948, though now with a more European perspective. He bought an old rubber estate off Bentota called Lunuganga. His dream of transforming tropical chaos into an Italian garden stalled for lack of expertise. This proved the catalyst for change. He became apprenticed to the architectural practice of Edwards Reid and Begg in Colombo . After qualifying at the Architectural Association, London in 1952, he returned to steer Reid's practice. An ensuing close association with a coterie of like-minded artists and designers, including Ena de Silva, Barbara Sansoni and Laki Senanayake, produced a new awareness of indigenous materials and crafts, leading to a post colonial renaissance of culture.
Ulrik Plesner and K Poologasundaram were significant partners. The former a young Danish architect, worked closely with Bawa from 1959 until 1967. The latter was an engineer who was with him for the next twenty years, establishing the practice as the most reputed and productive in the island. Their portfolio covered a great range of briefs, establishing prototypes for each area in the process. Bawa's standing was endorsed when he was asked to design the new Parliament at Kotte in 1979 and the Ruhunu University near Matara in the 1980s. These projects brought wider international recognition but left him exhausted. He was 70 and ending his partnership. He started designing with a small, young team from his Colombo home where many ambitious plans were made though not built. Some ideas from these test beds bore fruit in three later hotels: the Kandalama, the Lighthouse and the Blue Water. Bawa worked into his eighties, producing modernist masterpieces that are highly evocative of tradition. His last house was a retreat on the cliffs of Mirissa.
In 1998, a massive stroke left Bawa paralysed and robbed him of the ability to speak. Led by Channa Daswatte his office continued the projects that were in hand. Geoffrey Bawa died on 27th May 2003 and was cremated on the Cinnamon Hill at his beloved Lunuganga.
(read less)Geoffrey Bawa was born in 1919 in Ceylon to wealthy parents of mixed European and Ceylonese descent. He came late to architecture at 38 years. After reading English at Cambridge and Law in London , he was called to the Bar in 1944. After the war, Bawa joined a Colombo Law firm, leaving it shortly after to travel widely for two years, almost settling in Italy . However, he returned to Ceylon in 1948, though now with a more European perspective. He bought an old rubber estate off Bentota called...
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