Geoffrey Bawa

An updated book including the full range of Sri-Lankan born Geoffrey Bawa's architectural designs. It examines the Kandalama Hotel in Dambullah, the house on the Cinnamon Hill at Lunuganga, and his achievements in Sri Lanka and other parts of southern Asia. Personal in his approach, Bawa balances an appreciation of the western humanist tradition in architecture with local needs and lifestyles. The book discusses Bawa's houses, schools, offices and public buildings, with particular emphasis on his own garden at Lunuganga. Essays are included by the designer Barbara Sansoni and the architect Ulrik Plesner.

A Sri Lankan architect who fuses the culture of ancient Ceylon with modern technology, Bawa designs offices, schools, houses and hotels that are in and of the landscape, almost part of nature itself. A postmodernist of sorts, he ransacks various cultures and epochs for ideas. One elegant house transforms the fortress concept used by Portuguese and Dutch invaders. The architect's private garden, nurtured over 30 years, mirrors a 16th century Italian garden. Built on an island, Sri Lanka's Parliament Building complex set amid pavilions and terraces is the quintessence of unimposing serenity. In creating Ruhunu University, which overlooks the sea, Bawa carefully laid out gazebos and verandas to give space for respite and the meeting of minds. Whether because of the disappointing photographs or the elusive quality of his work, this lackluster album does not adequately convey what is distinctive about Bawa's architecture to the Western reader.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.