Geoffrey Bawa House

The Life of Geoffrey Bawa
The Sri Lankan Architect Geoffrey Bawa is now regarded as having been one of the most important and influential Asian architects of the twentieth century. His international standing was confirmed in 2001 when he received the special chairman’s award in the eighth cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, becoming only the third architect and the first non-Moslem to be so honoured since the award’s inception.
“When you look at the better examples of what remains to us of these earlier buildings, you will find that they all look at life in Ceylon squarely in the face. They look at the rain, at the termites, at the social needs, at the view to be had from verandahs and windows, at the needs of life at the time…”

Geoffrey Bawa, The Times of Ceylon Annual, 1968
I have always thought that Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, that seemingly thin and surface-like play about invented, courtly, sentimental and disguised love, is strangely his most universal work.

EARLY LIFE OF THE RELUCTANT LAWYER
Geoffrey Bawa’s family background neatly reflects the ethnic and cultural diversity of his native Sri Lanka. His paternal grandfather, Amaduwa Bawa, was a Moslem lawyer from the ancient Arab port of Beruwela who traveled to England to further his studies and there married Georgina Ablett, an Englishwoman of French Huguenot extraction. Their eldest son, Benjamin, became one of the most successful Colombo lawyers of his generation and in 1908 married Bertha Marion Schrader, a Dutch Burgher of mixed European and Sinhalese descent. That marriage produced two sons: Bevis born in 1909 and Geoffrey born in 1919. Benjamin Bawa died in 1923 and his sons were brought up by their mother and two maiden aunts in their Darley Road home.

Practice
Between 1957 and 1989 Geoffrey Bawa was a partner in the firm of Edwards Reid and Begg. His fellow partners from 1957 to 1967 were Jimmy Nilgiria and Valentine Gunesekera. The Danish architect Ulrik Plesner joined the practice in 1959 and worked as a close collaborator with Bawa until the end of 1966.

The Number 11 Colombo Residence

Introduction
33rd Lane Colombo, 1960-1970
The house in 33rd Lane is an essay in architectural bricollage. In 1958 Bawa bought the third in a row of four small houses which lay along a short cul-de-sac at the end of a narrow suburban lane and converted it into a pied-à-terre with living room, bedroom, tiny kitchen and room for a servant. When the fourth bungalow became vacant this was colonised to serve as dining room and second living room. Ten years later the remaining bungalows were acquired and added into the composition and the first in the row was demolished to be replaced by a four-storey tower.

Accomadation
The Geoffrey Bawa residence is considered a special architectural marvel which also houses art and artifacts from the collection of the Late Archt. Geoffrey Bawa. Whist the Geoffrey Bawa Trust endeavors to encourage stays for those enthusiasts of Architecture and the Art, it is important to note that this residence is not run as a regular hotel.
The two rooms available are within a suite on the 1st floor. They are attached and come with one common bathroom and a sitting room. The 3rd floor is a loggia and the 4th is an open viewing deck. The rooms are given only to a single party at any one time.
For inquiries and reservations: admin@gbtrust.net

Tour
Geoffrey Bawa’s Colombo Residence “Number 11” is open for public viewing only by appointments