The stunning vision of Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka’s legendary architectural genius, is difficult to overstate, and the world is once again waking up to the impact he has made on tropical urban and pastoral landscapes.
It is fully exemplified in a newly published book in which Bawa’s legacy is reflected in the work of 21 Sri Lankan architects who have flourished in his shadow while pursuing their own distinctive design philosophies.
The book, The New Sri Lankan House, is reviewed for the GDC Interiors online journal, and describes how “the criteria used for the selection of the best of today’s Sri Lanka house designs is largely based on Bawa’s checklist for building in the tropics, a list that is as founded on pragmatism as on sustainability and always mindful of the human experience.
“In particular, the experience of foremost importance for Bawa was the happiness or pleasure derived from one’s home. ‘Pleasure cannot be omitted’ stated Bawa, ‘It is as important as shelter from the rain’.”
Written by architects Robert Powell and David Robson, with stunning photographs by Sebastian Posingis, the book is a testament to Bawa the incomparable visionary, whose “great strength was to articulate climate-appropriate solutions and buildings possessed of a powerful sense of place, that proudly built on vernacular traditions that had been largely ignored in the aftermath of colonialism”.
Read the full review here.
