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Bawa and tropical modernism
 

The fifth death anniversary of Sri Lanka's most prolific architect falls today.


Geoffrey Bawa. Picture by Dominic Sansoni

Geoffrey Bawa is Sri Lanka's most renowned architect who has moulded many astounding creations of imagination into real-life replicas. His work has had a tremendous impact upon architecture throughout Asia and his creations are known to be some of the finest pieces of art in global architecture and design. He is also the principal force behind what is known as 'tropical modernism' today.

Geoffrey Bawa was born to a wealthy family in Ceylon while the country was under the rule of the British in 1919. His father, Benjamin Bawa, was a successful lawyer of Muslim and French parentage and his mother, Bertha, mixed German, Scottish and Sinhalese descent.

His brother was the famed landscape gardener and aesthete Bevis Bawa, the creator of 'Brief'. He was educated at Royal College, Colombo, before attaining his BA at Cambridge University. He studied law at Middle Temple, London and became a barrister in 1944. After World War II Bawa joined a Colombo law firm but he was already showing signs of tiring of the legal profession.

In 1946 Bawa took off on a journey, touring the Far East, USA and Europe. His first wish had been to settle down in Italy, in a villa overlooking Lake Garda but his dream never took shape. He returned to Sri Lanka and bought an abandoned rubber estate at Lunuganga on the Southern-West Coast between Colombo and Galle.


Bawa’s masterpieces

His goal was to bring the Italian element from the tropical wilderness of the environment but he soon made the discovery that such a transformation is impossible without technical knowledge.

In 1951 Bawa joined H.H. Reid, the sole surviving partner of the Colombo Architectural Practice of Edwards, Reid and Begg. A year later, after Reid's death, Bawa left for England to enrol as a student at the Architectural Association in London. Bawa qualified as an architect in 1957 at the age of 38.

He returned to his motherland to take over what was left of Reid's practice and soon gathered a cluster of talented young designers who were equally enthusiastic about exploring and uncovering the secrets behind the island's architectural heritage and discovering new ways in designing and building monumental giants.

The group included many of Sri Lanka's most well-known faces connected with creativity, designing and architecture: the batik designer Ena de Silva, the designer Barbara Sansoni and the artist Laki Senanayake. Ulrik Plesner, the young Danish architect, joined Bawa in 1959 and the two struck a close friendship and working relationship till Plesner left for Europe in 1967. He also became an associate of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects during this period.

K. Poologasundram, an engineer, met Bawa and assisted him for the following 20 years when the practice developed itself into carving a niche in the field as many religious, social, cultural, educational, governmental, commercial and residential buildings were attributed to its name. A whole generation of fresh young talent joined the scene through the practice.

One of Bawa's earliest works includes a courtyard house built in Colombo for Ena de Silva. This domestic dwelling, set up in 1961 was said to be the first to fuse elements of traditional Sinhalese domestic architecture with the modern concept of open planning, bringing nature into the creation.

Sri Lanka's first purpose-built resort hotel, the Bentota Beach Hotel, took form in 1968 and soon a string of exquisitely designed buildings creating an environment of a workplace set in the backdrop of a tropical city followed.

His growing prestige was recognised in 1979 when he was invited by President J.R. Jayewardene to design Sri Lanka's new Parliament in Kotte. The swampy site was dredged to create an island at the centre of a vast artificial lake, with the Parliament building symbolising an asymmetric composition of copper roofs floating above a series of terraces rising out of the water.

Bawa also designed the new Ruhunu University near Matara but both these huge projects consumed much of his energy so much so that he took refuge in his home in Bagatalle Road, Colombo, where together with a group of young architects he engaged on toying with novel ideas in designing.

Some of Bawa's most significant creations include the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects Head Office, Club House, Ratnapura, Club Mediterranee, Nilaveli, Club Villa Hotel, Bentota, Lunuganga, Bentota, Jayewardene house, Mirissa and State Mortgage Bank, Colombo.

The Kandalama in Dambulla, the Lighthouse Hotel in Galle and the Blue Water Hotel in Colombo are known as Bawa's masterpieces. Kandalama (now known as Heritence Kandalama) is an austere jungle palace snaking along a rocky outcrop at the edge of the ancient Kandalama reservoir, hidden in the lush vines and surrounded by tropical wildlife.

The Lighthouse Hotel defines the Southern oceans from its rocky site while the Blue Water Hotel is a cool pleasure pavilion set within a sedate coconut grove on the edge of Colombo.

The renown architect won a number of national and international awards for his work including the Chairman's Award of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in recognition of a lifetime's achievement in contribution to the field of architecture in 2001.

In 1998, at the age of 79, tragedy struck. Bawa suffered from a massive stroke which left him paralysed and unable to speak. A small group of colleagues, led by Channa Daswatte went on to complete some of the projects Bawa had initiated before his illness. Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka's master of architecture, passed away on May 27, 2003 and was cremated on the Cinnamon Hill, Lunuganga.

Though five years have elapsed since his death, the creations he left behind have never ceased to captivate and amaze witnesses of the present generation as they did in the past.


 

Constant change was Bawa's forte

Renowned architect, Channa Daswatte had been working with Geoffrey Bawa for many years. Following are excerpts from an interview with Daswatte on which he shared his views on what it was like to have worked with Sri Lanka's most influential architect.


Architect
Channa Daswatte

Bawa was known for using local materials, environment and traditions in his creations.

At a time when Sri Lanka was having political ideologies that encouraged self sufficiency and sustainability Bawa began to realise that there is a society which had certain craft traditions and certain abilities among its people which had gone completely modernist.

Adapting to ideas of the west was considered to be very fashionable during that era. Geoffrey too started off like that because of his western education but later he used the materials with the western sensibility of space to see if buildings can be created using local technology, material and skills. This method was used for one of the first buildings he designed, the Ena de Silva house.

What do you consider as Bawa's greatest creation?

The Ena de Silva house is one of his greatest creations where he made a big change in the way all of us would see Sri Lankan architecture.

We have lost the tradition of courtyards through the colonial period and when he designed the house it was quite revolutionary.

Architecturally I would say one of his greatest creations is the Kandalama hotel.

I feel that Geoffrey too would have agreed with this because for the passion he had for it even after it was built. You can see that it was something which engaged him a great deal.

Do you think his work gained him the recognition that he deserved?

Yes. From my visits to India when students say they knew Geoffrey Bawa it is like you knew someone next to god. There is a huge recognition for the man and President Ranasinghe Premadasa recognised him as Deshamanya.

Many books were published about him and he was talked about as someone who changed the face of Asian architecture.

What do you have to say about people desecrating Bawa's creations in the name of 'renovation'?

This is one of the aspects of architecture. It is very difficult to keep things as they are and even Geoffrey himself, though not a Buddhist, possessed the attitude that there needs to be a change. But I agree with you there needs to be a certain respect for some of the elements of the building. The Hanwella orphanage does not even exist today.

Often you get complaints about hotels but hotels need renovation and updating. It is necessary that whoever does this needs to understand the principal behind the creation and try not to destroy the most important parts. This refers not only to Bawa's buildings but a lot of our historical buildings because they are actually a resource left to us by past generations.

Fortunately there are some buildings which are beautifully restored such as Bawa's office, the Gallery Cafe. Some buildings belonging to the state sector such as the Mahaweli building built for the Ministry of Mahaweli Development is in a terrible state and two or three bungalows can be well looked after if we had the resources to maintain them.

Are people still following Bawa's principals or are they moving away from them? The question is, what are Bawa's principals? I believe that there is a large crowd who appreciate his work and his attitude to architecture. Yes, there is a whole tradition of Sri Lankan architecture which derives a lot from Bawa. There is a certain way of space which relates to the outside, relates to each other and materials are used to create those open spaces.

Lots of young architects have begun to create Sri Lankan architecture which is very stylish and very much their own. It is very interesting that those who visit from neighbouring countries are impressed with some of the smaller architectural creations. Have all the projects he had taken up been completed?

No architect has all his projects completed. In Bawa's case there are many which are completed and many never completed or just forgotten. There were a few projects like one he designed for a client in India more than 15 years ago and project he got involved in trying to renovate an old fort in Bangalore. Both went to mitigation and trouble because the clients had not sorted out the property before approaching Bawa but both are in touch with me and looking forward to building the creations according to Bawa's designs.

What are the future plans of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust?

The trust is giving away the Geoffrey Bawa award on July 23 and they have gone through the process of shortlisting nine beautiful projects. We also have his two properties, his house in Colombo and his gardens at Lunuganga open to the public.

The trust is involved in various projects for artistes and we hope to have a writers' conference at Lunuganga.

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SARE Creating music for life

Looking for the latest trends in the music scene and the scoop of a shocking celebrity scandal? Then get your hands on SARE, the latest music magazine. Every monthly issue promises amazing star gossip, the 'in thing' of the era, side splitting cringes, exclusive posters and more.

The name of the magazine derives from a shortened version of sa-re-ga-ma and the focus is on the local and international music industry. With the fast growth of the industry it is no wonder that music is changing with the blink of an eye. New fusions between the oldies join in with Sinhala and Tamil hip hop mixed with English being the latest craze.

Many talented youths joined the scene and a number of talent search programmes are under way.

Published by Infotainment (Private) Limited, the team of SARE will be spearheaded by songwriter, artiste and journalist, Wasantha Duggannarala. He is the Managing Editor while well loved personalities relating to the music industry: Kelum Srimal, Narada Bakmeewewa, Iraj Weeraratne, Jayantha Gallage, Mayuri Liyanage, Kanapathi Pillai and Lahiru Mudalige make up the editorial team. They also invite artistes and readers to contribute and hope to launch many exciting competitions.

SARE is mainly aimed at teenagers, youth and the mature audience ranging from 30 to 45 years.

It comprises material relating to music for all ages in Sinhala, Tamil and English. The magazine is available at book stores, supermarkets and news agents islandwide.

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Days and Beyond



‘Beauty and ugliness’ by Sisira

What started off as a workshop soon developed into an exhibition project. Under the guidance of photographer Jagath Dheerasekara, 10 photographers from diverse areas of the island got together to present 'Days and Beyond', an exhibition of photography comprising themes selected by the individuals themselves. The exhibition is taking shape at Alliance Francaise Colombo till May 31.

The focus is mainly on documentary photography and enabled the participants to express themselves through different subjects that relate the topic to their individual experiences. The result is a collection of photographs richly diverse in subject matter as well as styles.

The participants of 'Days and Beyond' are Chandima Dharmadasa (Kandy), Dinali Cooray (Colombo), Harshana Henarath (Kurunegala), Muditha Adikari (Pannipitiya), Neville M. Gamage (Galle), Niroshana de Silva (Embilipitiya), Sisira Gintotage (Matara), Thushantha Vidanage (Panadura) and Vajira Hapuhinna (Hanguranketha).

Chandima Dharmadasa deals with the topic "life beyond home". She has provided an insight into the life of a border in Colombo.

Dinali Cooray presents "lives of pets" where she had traced the relationship of humans and domestic animals.

Harshana Henarath has worked on the subject of "getting ready", a preparatory process in life.

He has captured this feature of life which is manifested in every physical facet such as semi-constructed houses. Muditha Adikari provides an interesting study of diverse spider webs and its complex architecture in "spider web".

He comments that the manner in which the spider struggles in frequently rebuilding its web in different designs each time is a beautiful and awe inspiring process to witness. Neville M. Gamage had turned to a religious theme in his photo-documentary. His subject is woven around the Buddhist Sunday school, the Daham Pasala. The calmness, dignity and tranquillity is captured on lense to bring forth his collection of images.

Niroshana de Silva has captured his son on images to bring "my son" as his theme. The snaps show his son engaged in a series of activities.

Ratnanantha Aroodguhan who hails from Jaffna sees life in the city to be confined by walls. His "over the wall" capture the road that leads to his apartment.

"Beauty and ugliness" is the theme taken up by Sisira Gintotage. His snaps are moments captured on a beach in all its glory as well as its sorrowful plight.

Thushantha Vidanage's "fisherman's life" traces the unseen facets of the tough life of fishermen in Sri Lanka while Vajira Hapuhinna captured an insight into the life of animals in the zoo in "cell animals".

"Putting together 'Days and Beyond' has been amazing experience. We gradually learnt to see photography in a different light. We learnt to read between the lines rather than take things at face value by exploring and investigating.

"It was a very satisfying and productive experience," the team commented on their debut attempt at documentary photography.

RJ

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Yugandaraya examines backdrop of JVP uprising

Yugandaraya a teledrama directed by Somachandre Wijesuriya examines the socio-political reasons for the 1971 armed uprising of the youth of the country against the state. The story is about the decay and fall of a fictional teacher and his family that lived in the Kegalle area during 1956-71.

The episode of the original youth uprising three decades ago is now only in memories of a few people because no film or TV feature maker tried to tackle that theme. Tissa Abeysekera who viewed the teledrama has commented that it is a rare theme that has come to the small screen.

It is based on the English novel 'First Rising' of the director and examines how political and social forces that unleashed the 1956 victory of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike led to the crises of the regime fifteen years later. The novel was based on years of research and was nominated for the 1988 Gratiaen Awards. Professor Thiru Kandiah who adjudicated in the awards commented that the novel portrays the betrayals in the postcolonial era that led to an impasse in history.

Yugandaraya was shot in scenic Rattota area in 58 days with a cast of over 60 headed by Maurine Charuni, Somasiri Gamage, Nimal Yativella and Wimal Jayakody and three British talent headed by Daniel Collins who was attached to the British Council Colombo. Music is by Ravindra Guruge and the camera was handled by Asoka Hewage. It was a co-production by the director and Kosala Tantula, a USA domiciled Sri Lankan. R. S. studio handled the equipment support.

Brett Lauter, a Californian based TV program agent has reviewed the drama and has commented that it is 'artistically and technically well done' and thus the drama is poised on the foreign market.

Dr. Tudor Weerasinghe who was in the panel for reviewing teledramas for the state teledrama competition has said that Yugandaraya is miles ahead of over 30 teledramas he has reviewed. Yugandaraya is currently awaiting release in state or a private channel.

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Highlights from Raigam Tele Awards 2007

Raigam Tele Awards 2007 saw a host of top Sri Lankan artistes take to the stage at BMICH as the ceremony was held for its fourth successive year. Upcoming young director Senesh Dissanayake Bandara clinched the award for best director for his creation, Rala Bindena Thena which was telecast on Swarnavahini. It was also adjudged as the best teledrama of 2007 and was produced by Ananda Abeynayake.

Lead actress Chandani Seneviratne was named as the best actress for the third time at the Raigam Tele Award Festival. She bagged this year's award for her dynamic performance in Rala Bindena Thena while Vishvajith Gunasekara bagged the award for best actor.

The ever charming Chathurika Peiris won the title of most popular actress while the talented young Amila Abeysekara strolled away with the award for most popular actor. Paba, telecast on ITN, was adjudged as the most popular drama.

The judging panel comprised Kelaniya University's Senior Lecturer Patrick Ratnayake, Colombo University's senior lecturer Ajantha Hapuarachchi, Veteran author Jayantha Rukmani Siriwardana, Kelaniya University's senior lecturer Chandrasiri Bogamuwa, Veteran journalist Gunasiri Silva and Visharada Edward Jayakody.

The ceremony was put together by Dr. Ravi Liyanage, Kishan Rohana Theodore, Ganaka Amarasinghe, Jagath Dharmajeewa, Prashantha Nanayakkara and others.

Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara was the Chief Guest while Ministers Bandula Gunawardana, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana, North central Province Governor Karunaratne Divulgane, Dr. D. B. Nihalsinghe, Ravindara Randeniya and others graced the occasion.


Chandani and Vishvajith

Samitha and Jagath

Chathurika and Amila

RJ

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Kakul Hathare Ilandariya at Lionel Wendt Theatre

Kakul Hathare Illandariya is the latest stage play of veteran Dramatist R. R. Samarakoon who has produced Kelani Palama, Ahasing Wetunu Minissu, Duwili, Idama, Charitha Dekak, Kaputu Bo and host of other plays. It will go on the boards at the Lionel Wendt Theatre, on June 8 at 7 p.m.

Senior lecturer Ariyarathna Kaluarachchi handles the choreography. The sets are been done by lecturer Lionel Bentharage and the music has been composed by Shantha Peiris. Ravindra Ariyarathna and Asoka Zoysa are in charge of the stage management. Sound operator is Chandana Nishantha Peiries.

Wijaya Nandasiri, Saman Hemarathne, Rathnashila Perera and Anusha Disanayake play the key roles in the play. Kakul Hathare Ilandariya is presented by Jude Srimal.

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