Transcript Geoffry Bawa - theory 2 assignments

Who is Bawa
His concept
Projects examples
Theory of Architecture II
Assignment #1
Geoffrey Bawa
Get a copy from
http://hmun2.tripod.com
End the show
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.'
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
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.
hmbk|hamza
Special Thanks
Special thanks for those people who
helped me doing this presentation:

Hamza Al-Ghatam
( Presentation advises, ideas )

Husain Mubarak
( Audio, presentation techniques )
hmbk|hamza