Geoffrey Bawa

1. Geoffrey Bawa Theory of Architecture II Assignment #1 Get a copy from http://hmun2.tripod.com End the show

2. Bawa in lines 1/2 • 1919: born in British colony of Ceylon, father: muslim wealthy, successful lawyer, mother mixed German, Scottish and Sinhalese descent. • 1938: studied English at Cambridge. • After World War II he joined a Colombo law firm, • and qualified as a barrister. • He was, by his own admission, a bad lawyer. He wasn't much good at anything else either. • 1946: tired of the legal profession and in set off on two years of travel. • In Italy he toyed with the idea of settling down permanently and resolved to buy a villa overlooking Lake Garda. he become more and more European in outlook, his ties to Ceylon were also weakening • 1948 he returned to Ceylon where he bought an abandoned rubber estate at Lunuganga.

3. Bawa in lines 2/2 • 1951: received his first commission, failed to execute it because of his lack of technical knowledge . He was apprenticed to H H Reid, the sole surviving partner of the Colombo architectural practice Edwards, Reid and Begg. • 1952: Reid died, Bawa returned to England and enrolled as a student at the Architectural Association in London. • 1957: qualified as an architect at the age of thirty-eight and returned to Ceylon. Gathered together a group of talented young designers and artists who shared his growing interest in Ceylon's forgotten architectural heritage, and his ambition to develop new ways of making and building. • He was joined in 1959 by Ulrik Plesner, a young Danish architect who brought with him an appreciation of Scandinavian design and detailing, a sense of professionalism and a curiosity about Sri Lanka's building traditions. • In 1998 Bawa was tragically struck down by a massive stroke that left him paralysed and unable to speak.

4. Bawa’s concept 1/2 Geoffrey Bawa doesn't work without first reading the lines of the land, the influence of the climate, the kinds of things that grow here or there. He thinks through the landscape, opens space up to it His structures are airy and light, open and outstretched; they speak of bright winds, partake of greenery, breathe the warm breath of the beach. For Bawa, a space cannot be conceived from a stationary perspective: movement is essential to both its concept and the experience of it. As he says, "A building can only be understood by moving around and through it and by experiencing the modulation and feel of the spaces one moves through. He grasps a multiplicity of perspectives as he moves, considers the interaction of various lines of vision, and finally integrates all of this information into a unified design.

5. Bawa’s concept 2/2 Early in his career, Bawa revolutionized the Sri Lankan concept of urban living space, turning houses in on themselves to make the most of limited building plots and subverting the distinction between indoors and outdoors. Working in the parlous economic conditions of the Sixties and early Seventies, he was forced to use cheap local materials and finishes and made a virtue out of necessity by highlighting instead of disguising them - a coup de theatre that was to lay him open to accusations of 'vernacularism' in later years. He also drew inspiration from the topographically-governed aesthetic of ancient Sinhalese architecture, with its tropisms toward landscape and water. Bawa continued to develop these themes throughout his career, refining them to a point where some of his late works are almost indistinguishable from the landscape around them.

6. His Projects 1- Triton Hotel on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka 1/2 Typically Bawa, this hotel design conforms to the contours of the site. Easily accessed from the Colombo-Galle Road at the end of a long approach that hightens the drama of the view of the sea just beyond a large reflecting pool, the gleaming lobby floors and then a swimming pool. From the entrance portico continuous sight lines carry the eye to the pool and then the sea without a visual break. A series of related pavilions, the lobby, coffee shop, lounge and pool, share the predominat view of the sea.

7. 1- Triton Hotel on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka 2/2 Coconut trees surround a lobby-level, ocean-view pool at Bawa's Triton Hotel on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka. The expansive body of water outside appears reflected by the tranquil pool within. The sense of place remains unbroken: even inside its walls, the horizontal structure seems to perpetuate the openness of the beach and the sea.

8. 2- University of Ruhunu 1/2 Spectacularly situated atop three hills that are reached from sea level with views across a lake southward to the ocean, the 50 individual pavilions composing the campus are linked by a system of covered loggias. The campus was built in two phases. Phase I was the Science Faculties and Staff Residences and phase II involved erecting the Arts and Science Faculty, Library and Administration Building.

9. 2- University of Ruhunu 2/2 Residential buildings are located on one hill, while the Arts and Science Faculty occupy the other two hills. The valley between these two hills is bridged by the library, open air theater and a coffee shop. Planned on an orthagonal grid, relying on an architectural vocabulary taken from medieval Porto-Sinhalese traditions, the buildings and topography combine to create dynamic, varied vistas and closures. The campus is modern and sprawling but intimate.

10. 2- A courtyard house built in Colombo for Ena De Silva in 1961 1/2 This courtyard house, designed for a friend, was Bawa's earliest building. By fusing aspects of traditional Sinhalese domestic architecture with modern concepts of open planning, Bawa demonstrated how a small urban plot can convey notions of the outdoors. The plan is driven by linked pavilions and modest courtyards around a central court (meda midula) that is contained by a wall that stretches the perimeter. The site is a small corner plot in the Colombo suburb of Cinnamon Gardens.

11. 2- A courtyard house built in Colombo for Ena De Silva in 1961 2/2 Inspired by traditonal manor houses the patron had known as a child, and by using local materials, as well as minimal amounts of glass, and steel reinforcements only for the first floor slab and supporting frame, the urban dwelling assumes an otherworldly, naturalistic pose. The mature mango tree was not displaced but was integrated into the site by building the courtyard around it. The equally large Plumeria was planted in the courtyard with the help of an elephant.

12. 3- Sri Lanka's new Parliament at Kotte1/2 The site was to be located eight kilometers east of Colombo in Kotte, an important pre-colonial city. Bawa was given a freehand so long as the building was finished in time for the 1982 official opening. Bawa suggested they flood the marshy valley of the Diyavanna Oya to create an artificial lake, in the center of which the Parliament would rest on a knoll of high ground. Copper roofs appear as floating above water from two kilometers away on the approach road

13. 3- Sri Lanka's new Parliament at Kotte2/2 The plan radiates from the main central building that is surrounded by five peripheral pavilions. Each building is both articulated and syncronized by the plinth that puts all the structures at the same level and outlines each unique pavilion form. The main pavilion, housing the debating chamber, is juxtaposed in its symmetrical balance with the irregularly shaped, autonomous surrounding pavilions. The main pavilion is set three stories above the two tiers of terraces and galleries that have administrative offices and committee rooms.

14. 4- The Kandalama hotel 1/2 Commissioned to design a hotel at the foot of King Kasyapa's rock citadel, Bawa accepted the commission but suggested a site 15 kilometers to the south on a rocky formation above the ancient Kandalama tank. Conceived as an austere jungle palace, snaking around a rocky outcrop on the edge of an ancient tank in the Dry Zone; the Lighthouse at Galle, defying the southern oceans from its boulder-strewn headland; and the Blue Water, a cool pleasure pavilion set within a sedate coconut grove on the edge of Colombo.

15. 4- The Kandalama hotel 2/2 In its final form the 160 room hotel wraps around two sides of the rock. Rooms face across the tank toward Sigiriya and the neighboring town Dambulla. Two wings are related by a hall running through the rock leading from the entrance to the main reception area. The hotel mirrors the shape of the ridge as stated with its opensided corridors running alongside the cliff face. A concrete frame and flat roof complement the context allowing the hotel to emerge from the site. Timber sun breakers bearing a screen of vegetation rests against the frame. A flat roof serves as a planter for a tropical; garden. The design evokes his earlier house at Polontalawa.

16. 5- Geoffrey Bawa's House 1/2 Positioned on a narrow suburban cul-de-sac, the original structure, third in a row of four small bungalows, permitted Bawa to create a living room, tiny kitchen, bedroom and a servant quarter.

17. 5- Geoffrey Bawa's House 2/2 As soon as the fourth bungalow was put up for sale Bawa purchased it and converted it to a dining room and second living room. Ten years later, the remaining bungalows were integrated into the composition. The first was demolished to accommodate a four-story structure with a library and roof terrace. The second was used as a guest wing until it was converted to be used as the 'home office.'

18. 6- The Garden, Lunuganga 1/2 The plot is defined by a low hill, covered with rubber and fruit trees and coconut palms, that tapers towards rice fields. Dedduwa Lake, a backwater of the Bentota River, frames the property. Situated in the the lake is an island that now serves as a bird sanctuary and since the 13th century was a burial place for priests of local temples. The property had one modest structure when Bawa bought the property.

19. 6- The Garden, Lunuganga 2/2 Characteristic of Bawa, the house and its natural surroundings are fused into a symbiotic architectural force. In order to create views, trees have been strategically felled and land forms carefully manipulated to forge garden spaces.

20. Special Thanks Special thanks for those people who helped me doing this presentation: • Hamza Al-Ghatam ( Presentation advises, ideas ) • Husain Mubarak ( Audio, presentation techniques )