26/01/2026
Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka’s visionary architect, created more than 200 original designs—from private homes to Parliament, from the in Colombo to the lush . He came to architecture late, largely self-taught, developing his sensibility through travel, friendships, landscape, and relentless curiosity. His Lunuganga estate became a lifelong design laboratory.
His Colombo home—Number 11, which Peter and I visited last year through the —was a living experiment built up over decades, quietly expanding by acquiring neighbouring plots. The result, as Bawa once put it, contains “all the essentials of life in Sri Lanka.”
Bawa belonged to a generation of Sri Lankan eccentrics who came of age around independence and were deeply connected both to the world beyond the island and the world within it. Ancient engineering, traditional architecture, biodiversity, and craft traditions shaped their thinking. His peers included sculptor Laki Senanayake, batik artist Ena De Silva, and illustrator and founder of Barbara Sansoni. There was a quiet renaissance from the 1950s onward—and one can’t help but wonder how much further it might have gone had the civil war not set the country back by decades.
Moving through Bawa’s spaces a few months ago felt less like visiting buildings and more like entering a philosophy: sustainability without labelling it, modernity without erasing history, ambition without screaming it out loud. It reminded me that originality comes from eccentricity—from going deep into your interests, trusting your curiosity, and shaping a life with care so it continues to affect others long after you’re gone.
If you’re visiting Sri Lanka: tour his home, Number 11, eat at his former office, now , and seek out a few of his unique buildings sprinkled across the island.
