INTRODUCTION The Architecture of Geoffrey Bawa has influenced not only Sri Lanka but also the south

Asian countries. His works have been described as regional, traditional, culturally rich and often though with some qualification, modern. His projects are a synthesis of Modernist vocabulary and distinct contextual elements, rooted in regional identity and lifestyle of users. Bawa is very much a man of the end of the era - especially when seen in the context of modern movement in the west - because he was trained abroad, is widely read and widely travelled. His architecture seeks to create a situation where man and nature can commune. His work is manifested by two essential factors of time and geography. Rarely do his designs allow architecture to pre-empt the primordial importance of natural surrounding, either by scale or use of material. His most celebrated works are creation of places for vistas onto nature. Barbara Sansoni in Brian Brace Taylors Geoffrey Bawa aptly quotes - Arguably, Geoffrey Bawas architecture has a meaning to a Sri Lankan far beyond it may have to a foreigner. To Sri Lankans it represents the distillation of centuries of shared experience and links at first level of achievement, its architecture to that of the modern world. 1 Bawas architecture is significant to our times as it suspends between the dichotomies that derives the contemporary architectural debates - regional vs. global, spiritual vs. telematic, traditional vs. futuristic and east vs. west. More important, it is significant to us, developing south Asian countries, which with the present day globalisation have not completely lost their culture. This dissertation attempts to understand critical regionalism and its features, and why it is important to us today. Today because we too are following the trends of the developed world and repeating their mistakes. The dissertation also describes and analyses the works of Geoffrey Bawa to identify him as a critical regionalist. Kenneth Frampton postulates the theory of critical regionalism - to mediate the impact of universal civilization to elements derived indirectly from the place has been treated as an essential premise for this dissertation. Also the basic understanding of pluralist architecture as discussed by Norberg Schulz and Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivres paper on Why critical regionalism today?, forms a base to understand critical regionalism. The first chapter helps in understandings a few terms that are related to the dissertation and is necessary to understand them. Thus, it clearly identifies these terms and distinguishes them from one another. This chapter describes my understanding of critical regionalism and its features. It also explains how critical regionalism is different from other forms of regionalism and why it is important to us today. The second chapter gives a brief account on Bawa and his architecture. It describes changes and events that are responsible for the contemporary architecture in Sri Lanka. It also puts forth the basis for selection of case studies. The framework of analysis based on the features of critical regionalism has also been described in this chapter. The third chapter explicitly describes the cases with necessary visual images. It also analyses these cases, based on the framework of analysis supplementing with available visuals and sketches to support the analysis. Finally the above analysis is concluded with a comparative review that would verify Bawa as a critical regionalist.

AIM: To study critical regionalism and its features, and analyze the work of Geoffrey Bawa to conclude whether he could be called a critical regionalist. OBJECTIVES: To understand critical regionalism and its importance today, especially in the developing countries. To create a framework of analysis from the study of feature of critical regionalism. To study the works of Bawa over the period of time and its response to the features of critical regionalism Establish Bawas position in todays context and whether he could be called a critical regionalist. SCOPE & LIMITATIONS Sri Lanka being relatively similar to India in terms of climate, history, socio-cultural setup, politics, etc., the relevance of study to Indian conditions is possible. Geoffrey Bawa has done some projects in India, which would help to understand his approach to design in a context more known to us. Since most of Geoffrey Bawas work is done on site hence availability of some drawings is difficult. Also most of the information is dependent on secondary sources, some aspects of Sri Lankan culture and parameters of analysis cannot be studied in detail. RESEARCH METHOD The overall research schedule was divided into three phases. The first phase involved the collection of secondary data on concerned issues in the dissertation. This data further analysed created a firm platform proving the susceptibility of this dissertation. The second phase essentially dealt with analysing the literature review for the framework of analysis, selection of cases and furnishing them with necessary building drawings. The literature review became the base for the framework of analysis against which the cases were analysed. The availability of information on the projects accrued from secondary sources was an important parameter for the selection of cases. Also the selection of projects from a different time of the overall time-span of Bawas architectural creations was another parameter. Hence the four decades of Geoffrey Bawas work period were chronologically divided into three phases. A case was selected from each. Selecting similar projects would help to compare and study the changes with respect to time in his work. The architects residence is also analysed which would create a clearer understanding of his architecture. The final selection of cases was followed by the preparation of building drawings of the respective projects. The last phase was the detailed description and analysis of his projects. The analysis was furnished with necessary sketches to support it. This phase also included the comparative study of these projects and the final conclusion proving Bawas position as a critical regionalist. Western critics have often described Geoffrey Bawas architecture as Vernacular and Regional. It therefore becomes inevitable to understand these terms in reference to this dissertation. This chapter deals with understanding such terms i.e. Vernacular Architecture and Regional Architecture. It extensively describes Critical Regionalism, its features and its importance today. It attempts at distinguishing these terms from one another. The features of Critical Regionalism are the base

VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

1.1

The word vernacular is derived from a socio-economic concept, verna meaning slave and vernacular signifies a person residing in the house of the master. The meaning thus was applied first to the language and then to the art of indigenous and lowly forms. Steven Holl aptly states It is vernacular that most clearly expresses the unique in a culture. Vernacular architecture develops from the characteristics of place rather than imposition of external meanings. It distinguishes itself as an important source where the basic components such as climate technology, culture and related symbolism have existed and matured over centuries of mans involvement with architecture.2 According to Suha Ozkan, in a very broad classification we observe two approaches to vernacularism. First is the conservative attitude and other is the interpretative attitude. Both have ideals of bringing the new and contemporary existence of vernacular forms and spatial arrangement. They differ only in the way they treat technology and community. Conservative vernacularism emerged as an approach to bring back vernacular modes, building traditions using innovative design technology with same local material and environment. A pioneer of such approach is Hassan Fathy. Interpretative or neo-vernacularism emerged as an approach to bring new life to vernacular heritage for new contemporary functions. Modern comfort, ease of construction and maintenance are inevitably important factors. They utilized levels of technology that had nothing to do with those existing originally. Thus, architecture became an expression of local shapes and forms where culture was reduced to souvenirs and folklore. A pioneer of such trend is the tourism development. REGIONALISM 1.2

In an essay on Regionalism, Peter Buchnan defines regionalism asa self- conscious continuation or re-attainment of the formal and symbolic identity. It is rooted in the specific of situation and mystiques of local culture. Like the local culture it is less concerned with the abstract and rational issues and more with adding sensual physicality, depth and nuance to lifes experience. According to him, a healthy regionalism is not a regressive return to the forms of the past; nor is it a camouflage mere fitting or a fancy dress. Instead it is the synthesis of what is most common-sense, dignified and enriching - sensually and symbolically - from tradition with freedom, comfort and securities offered by the industrial civilization.3 Regionalism, thus, is much more than mere stylistic change or elaboration returning to a sense of place and belonging also involves redefining goals and processes in planning and politics and no less reviewing aspiration and lifestyle. CRITICAL REGIONALISM 1.3

The term Critical Regionalism was first coined by Alex Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre in The Grid and The Pathway, 1981. Kenneth Frampton in Modern Architecture - A critical history, further elaborated it 1938. Norberg Schulz, in 1975, in his book Meaning in Western Architecture, describes the same as Pluralist Architecture. Frampton describes Critical Regionalism as-a term that was not intended to denote vernacular, as it was spontaneously produced by the combined interaction of climate, culture, myth and craft but rather to identify the recent regional schools whose primary aim has been to reflect and serve, in a critical sense, the limited constituencies of in which they are grounded. Such a regionalism depends upon a connection between the political consciousness of the society and the profession. it is one of the main springs of regionalist culture, an anticenterist sentiment - an aspiration for some k ind of cultural, economic and political independence.4 Frampton further asserts that- Critical Regionalism is a dialectical expression. It self consciously seeks deconstructive universal modernism in terms of value and image, which are locally cultivated, while at the same time adulterating these autochthonous elements with paradigms drawn from alien sources. Critical regionalism recognizes that no living tradition remains available to modern man other than the subtle procedures of synthetic contradiction. Any attempt to circumvent the dialectics of this creative process through the eclectic procedures of historicism can only result in consumerist iconography masquerading like culture. Critical Regionalism upholds the individual as well as local architectural features against the more universal and abstract ones. It involves a critical synthesis of a regions history and tradition and their reinterpretation and finally the expression of these in modern terms. Hence the fundamental strategy of critical regionalism is to mediate the impact of universal civilization with elements derived

indirectly from the peculiarities of a particular place. It depends upon maintaining a high level of critical consciousness. Although critical of modernism, it adopts the emancipator progressive aspect of modern architecture. At the same time its fragmentary and marginal nature serves to distant it both from normative optimisation and naive utopianism of the early modern movement.5 Later in 1990, Bontand Bognar reviews the theory of critical regionalism as prepared by Kenneth Frampton. He agrees that . . . while aiming at fostering local character and identity, critical regionalism constantly remains open to and selectively accepts elements and ideas from sources other than its own. It is open to interpretation of global perspective, that is to say it does have the capacity to stimulate other cultures and influence the thinking and perception of other people. It returns to the source and approaches tradition by the way of prob ing into them and challenging them and only by doing so it is able to reinscribe them in a new and contemporary form. Such a regionalism is always critical on involvement with the present rather than escape from it.6 The paper on Why critical regionalism today? clearly states that . . . critical here does not connote a confrontational attitude towards modernism, in fact it is a regionalism that is self-examining, self-questioning and self-evaluating, that not only is confrontational with regards to the world but also to itself. The essential character of critical regionalist buildings is that they are critical in two senses. in addition to providing contrasting images to the anomic, atopic and misanthropic ways of a large number of current mainstream projects constructed world wide. They raise a question in the minds of theirs viewers about the legitimacy of regionalist tradition to which they belong.7 Summarizing this theory of Critical Regionalism, Kenneth Frampton describes what one would call the features of critical regionalism. FEATURES OF CRITICAL REGIONALISM 1.4

Kenneth Frampton states that Critical regionalism although critical of modernization it adopts the emancipatory progressive aspect of modern architecture. At the same time, its fragmentary and marginal nature serves to distant it, both from normative optimisation as well as naive utopianism of the early Modern Movement.8 He summarizes the aspects stating that critical regionalism manifests itself as consciously bounded architecture and rather than emphasizing the building as a free standing object, it places stress on the territory to be established by the structure erected on site. It favours the realization of architecture as a tectonic fact rather than the reduction of built environment to a series of ill-assorted scenographic episodes. Critical Regionalism invariably stresses certain site-specific factor, ranging from the topography, considered as three-dimensional matrix into which the structure is fitted, to the varying play of local light across the structure. Light is the primary agent by which the volume and tectonic value of the work are revealed. An articulate response to climatic conditions is a necessary corollary to this. Critical Regionalism is opposed to the tendency of universal civilization, to optimise the use of air-conditioning. It tends to treat all openings as a delicate transitional zone with a capacity to respond to the specific conditions imposed by the site, the climate and the light. Critical Regionalism emphasizes the tactile as much as the visual. It is aware that environment can be experienced in terms other than sight alone. It is sensitive to such complementary perception as varying levels of illumination, ambient sensations of heat, cold, humidity and air movement, varying aromas and the sensation of touch, which causes body to experience involuntary change in the posture gait etc. It is opposed to the tendency of replacing the experience by information. While opposed to the sentimental stimulation of local vernacular, Critical Regionalism reinterprets vernacular elements and inserts them as disjunctive episodes within the whole. As Tonis Alexander & Lefaivre Liane would describe it selects these regional elements for their potential to act as support, physical or conceptual of human contact and community what may be called as place defining elements and incorporate them strangely rather than familiarly. In other words it makes them appear distant, hard to grasp, difficult even disturbing. It frames as if it were a sense of place in a strange sense of displacement. It endeavours to cultivate a contemporary place, oriented by culture, without becoming unduly hermetic, either at the level of formal reference or at the level of technology. Thus, Critical Regionalism tends to flourish in those cultural interstices which in one way or another are able to escape the optimising thrust of universal civilization.9

WHY CRITICAL REGIONALISM TODAY?

1.5

Today the whole world is increasingly getting interlocked in a single global civilization. It has many obvious benefits i.e., most needs are readily and to some extent cheaply fulfilled. But this civilization also has a powerful tendency of homogeneity and mediocrity, this is particularly reflected in the built environment. The most visible evidence of this universal civilization is that everywhere one finds the same commercial thrash of curtain wall office blocks, tacky apartments, hamburger chains and even trashier entertainment. The results are too depressingly familiar. Towns everywhere look increasingly similar with new building as only temporary inhabitants, not staying long enough to integrate into the setting or living of citizens. Peter Buchnan in an essay on regionalism puts forth It is now critically urgent that the damaging impact of international modernism be checked or tempered. Yet ironically, though we now decry losing the patina of time and sense of place from buildings and cities, for modernism, it is an intention triumphantly achieved. Modern architecture hoped to transcend history and place.10 Such architectural practice brought into focus the issue of regionalism. It was called a movement as a reaction to internationalism or implicitly to modernism. It has always been seen against the background of the global advancement and this phenomenon by no mean was new. Thus Bontand Bognar correctly states of the emergency of various regional architecture from about the beginning of the industrial revolution and the European enlightenment i.e. the dawn of western modern age, with its direct impact on the evolution of modern architecture. Speaking of internationalism Peter Buchnan says- The very concept of international style was a dreadful mistake was further exacerbated when reduced to more commercial packaging that everywhere substitutes for architecture . True functionalism would always have been to some degree regional. Accommodating local lifestyle and exploiting climate , local technology and material should always have resulted in a form of regionalist expression.11 Alex Tonis and Liane Lefaivre in The Grid and The Pathway critics on the inherent ambiguity of regionalism stating that On one hand it has been associated with movement of reform...on the other, it has proved a powerful tool of repression and chauvinism.12 Botnand Bognar in his essay On the critical aspects of regionalism agrees to the above stating Nevertheless regionalism, although long-standing with its own traditions, has not always played an unequivocally positive role in the history of architecture. With its frequent pursuit to assert the local over the general or universal it often tended towards shallow provincialism and parochialism.13 Thus what is required of the current revival of regionalism is what Buchnan states -. Returning to the scene of place and belonging also involves redefining goals and process in planning and politics and no less, reviving aspirations and lifestyles... it is a synthesis of what is most common sense dignified and enriching - sensually and symbolically - from tradition with the freedom and comfort and securities offered by industrial civilization. But to create a successful and convincing synthesis of the best of tradition and scientific modernism requires faith in both.14 Critical regionalism the more contemporary trend of regionalism has come about as a response to the new problems posed by contemporary global development of which it is strongly critical and that the poetics of this movement are to a great extent different from it, not antithetical to the other architectural regionalist techniques of the past. As Bontand Bognar describes While aiming at fostering local architecture and identity, critical regionalism constantly remains open to and selectively accepts ideas from sources other than its own.; in turn it is also open to interpretation from a global perspective; that is to say it does have capability to influence the thinking and perception of other people. It returns to the source and approaches tradition by way of probing into them, challenging them and only by doing so, it is able, in a curious and paradoxical manner, to reinscribe them in a significantly new and contemporary form.15 Frampton clearly defines critical regionalism as Critical regionalism is not intended to denote vernacular as this was once spontaneously produced by the combined interaction of climate, culture, myth and craft, but rather to identify those recent regional schools whose primary aim has been to reflect and serve the limited constituencies in which they are grounded. Such a regionalism depends by definition, on a connection between political consciousness of a society and the profession.16 Critical regionalism thus resolves the paradox raised by Paul Ricouer- How to become modern and return to the source, how to revive an old dormant civilization and take part in the universal? 17 It searches for meaning in architecture, as meaning is the basic human need. It looks forward towards the future but is rooted in the past and its present makes clearer mans position in space and time.

ARCHITECTURE IN SRI LANKA

2.1

Sri Lanka is a tear-shaped island, 270 miles long and 140 miles wide, situated on the southern tip of India. It has a humid tropical climate with a wet zone in the southwest quadrant and a comparatively dry zone towards the core. It has a recorded history over two thousand years old when an advanced hydraulic civilization flourished here. Independence in February 1948 brought an end to 100 years of foreign domination by the Portugues e, Dutch and the British each of whom left its own stamp on the culture of the island nation. The vernacular architecture consists of two different strains, namely Buddhism and the native Sinhalese. The island received Buddhism from Nepal three centuries before Christ. The Sinhalese built their first palace city at Anuradhapur in the 6th century BC. It was a vast complex within which each religious, administrative or ceremonial functions had its own specific building. A similar pattern was followed at Polonnaruva, which became the Sinhalese capital in the 7th century AD. The comparatively royal palace at Kandy, with its distinctly double-pitched roof survives even today. The Kandyan holds particularly fond association for the fiercely nationalistic Sinhalese for resisting fully three centuries of Portuguese, Dutch and British rule, before finally succumbing in 1818. The Portuguese settlers in the early 16th century, brought the brick and tile vocabulary. They built many forts in Ceylon- though some were completed and used by the Dutch. Here the town houses are arcaded with arches under which the vendors trade. There are carvings on the doors and the front facade of the medieval churches which seem to have Hindu excesses; and on the rampart of frontier towns, Portugal and old Ceylon becomes one. The roots of this architecture were Hellenistic and the pollinating bees of cross-cultural influence were Muslim. Colombo had been a Muslim settlement before the Portuguese and so was Galle outside the fort and Weligama and Beruwela in the Kandyan Kingdom, Muslims from Sanna and Hadramat from Yamen had been totally assimilated into traditional Kandyan society by the king. The Dutch are still remembered for their fine churches and houses with Roman tile-roof, their legacy of courtyards, loggias and verandas and for the tradition of fine turned furniture and carved architectural devices. Ceylon was ceded to the British by Holland in the treaty of 1796 but the settlers who were not only Dutch, but French, German and Italian had become the permanent residents. The more sophisticated English-educated settlers from Mutwal and Pettah moved to new Colombo and together with the Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim friends formed a circle of the city social life. The British are remembered for their public buildings and stately mansions, such as Colombo museum (1876) Torrington house (1915), New Town Hall (1927), a splendid legacy of the empire. The Baurs building (1941) established the international style on the island. Another potent of t e international style in h Srilanka was the Englishman, Andrew Boyd. The decade immediately preceding independence saw the reawakening of interest in the past fostered by the pride of newly emancipated country. Minnette de Silva, the first Asian woman Associate of Royal Institute of British Architects was one of the early architects to experiment modern regional architecture in Ceylon. Though her early series of houses were within Corbusian framework, but from mid-sixties onwards, the form and functional aspects in her building were directly inspired from Asian traditions. In 1957, a Danish architect Ulrik Plesner arrived in Sri Lanka at Minnettes invitation. Later he joined Geoffrey Bawa as a partner in Edward Reid and Begg. They taught the newly established architectural courses at the technical college Katubdda from 1961 onwards. Geoffrey Bawas architecture made a profound impression on Sri Lankan architecture. The important aspect of his work is that other than being contemporary, regional, modern, etc., there exists a historical dimension in his work. Shanti Jayawardene describes it as The historical significance of Bawas work for Asia and Sri Lanka lies in its reflection of economic, political and cultural climate of emerging nationalism and independence from colonial rule as it occurred in Asia in the fifties and sixties. The formal architectural language expressed in his work sought inspiration in the traditional building forms and techniques peculiar to Sri Lankan and Asian region.18 Peter Buchnan analyzed the work of Bawa stating Bawa is a native of Sri Lanka, designing for a unabashedly hedonistic contemporary lifestyle. Instead of abstracting, he intensifies elements collected from the past or made by local craftsmen by deploying them with modernist sensibility into a sumptuous scenographic setting.19 A breed of young architects Anura Ratnavibhushana, Pheroz Choksy, Ismeth Rahem and Vasantha Jacobson completed their post-graduation studies in Denmark and continued to work for Geoffrey Bawa. T hey became the architects of the new generation. People from other fields other than architecture have also made notable contribution. Even the government at times has encouraged good

architecture like The New Parliament, Staggered stepped housing (Kandy), Ruhunu University etc. By the eighties, Sri Lanka had five dominant firms. Sri Lanka did not resist the influence of modern movement or the international style. Also many recent buildings defying generalization formed a part of the street vista in the cities. Some of these are symbolic while others are bad duplication of the classical European architecture. There have also been misunderstood imitations of the Bawas style, limited to material. But the conscious efforts of Minnette de Silva, Ulrik Plesner, Geoffrey Bawa etc. and the recent ones like Anjalendran C., Anura Ratnavibhushana, etc., Sri Lankan architecture is yet rich in its culture and history and the modern technology. Being in the equatorial belt, the climate of Sri Lanka has always influenced its architecture. Indirectly the lifestyle of the people is also affected. Heavy rains all around the year especially around the coast make architectural features like sloping roof a must in these areas. the projections are kept large to prevent water from coming in. Sri Lanka is also excessively hot and humid. The spaces are well cross ventilated with courts, covered walkways being an important regional feature. Water bodies also become a part of the built form. Thus most of Sri Lankass regional or traditional architecture reflect these. Sri Lanka being a small country though it has an abundance in natures wealth. It is dependent on other countries for a lot of other necessary resources. hence some construction material like metals (iron, steel), stone (marble, granite) etc. are expensive. On the other hand locally manufactured goods are inexpensive and more easily available. Similarly timber being easily available is extensively used. These are some of the important factors that have resulted in the regional architecture in Sri Lanka.

GEOFFREY BAWA- BIOGRAPHY

2.2

Born in Colombo in 1919, Geoffrey Bawa, known to us as an architect and a landscape designer, read English and Law in Cambridge having attained his degree, he spent 4-5 years travelling to America, Europe, and the Far-East. But it would seem that Italy was a catalyst in his architectural thinking. Returning to Ceylon, he became totally involved in altering his house and transforming the rubber plantation into a beautiful rolling landscape, stair -cased and terraced with squared paddy fields on the edge of a long lake with a wild island in its centre. This he so enjoyed that he decided to become an architect. Receiving his diploma in architecture in 1956 from Academy of Architecture, London, he came to practice his profession. His buildings in the last 35 years or more are widely acclaimed in Sri Lanka and even abroad. He received the Pan Pacific citation from the Hawaiian chapter of the American Institute of Architects, 1967. Some of his other achievements are 1969 President, Sri Lankan Institute of Architects 1983 Honorary Fellow, AIA 1986 Reserve Judge, Indira Gandhi Memorial Competition 1989 Juror, 4th Aga Khan Award for Architecture 1993 Deshmanya, honours list of the President of Sri Lanka FRAMEWORK OF ANALYSIS Site and Local Context Critical regionalism asserts the importance of site and the region (context) in architecture. Hence the planning of the built form is analysed with respect to the site i.e. its shape, orientation, natural feature, topography, view etc. and the context i.e. the surrounding nature and built form, skyline, etc. The inflection of the built form on site is also analysed. The response of the built form to the local architecture or the region in a broader sense, are reviewed. The architecture and built form have also been analysed with respect to the time or history. Climate Critical regionalism, like any other sensible theory in architecture, signifies the importance of the regional climate. The form and the planning of the building are analysed with respect to climate along with the architectural elements and materials. Spaces Architecture is best experienced through spaces. The spaces thus are differentiated and analysed as one experiences the built form and the natural environment. The above two cannot be separated for analysis since Bawas architecture is beautiful synthesis of both. The inflections of the architectural elements on the spaces are also analysed. Architectural elements Kenneth Frampton states C. R. is critical synthesis of a regions history and tradition, and their reinterpretation, and finally their expression of these in modern terms20. Hence the architectural features are analysed tracing its inflection on the built form and spaces. Light and Texture Light is the primary agent that reveals the volume and tectonic value of work. But Critical Regionalism emphasis both the tactile and the visual. It is sensitive to the complimentary perception of varying levels of illumination, ambient sensation of heat, cold and humidity, aromas and sound given off by different materials in different volumes and event the variant sensation induced by floor finishes which cause the body to experience involuntary change in posture, gait, etc. therefore the inflection of different materials, textures and light are analysed with respect to their corresponding spaces. 2.3

Technology and Material Peter Buchnan states A healthy regionalism is a synthesis of what is most common sense, dignified and enriching - sensually and symbolically with freedom & comfort and securities offered by industrial civilization. 21 Hence it becomes inevitable to analyse the technology adopted and the material used in the built form and also with the surrounding. SELECTION OF CASES 2.4

The dissertation is based on the information collected from secondary sources. Hence the availability of necessary information became an important parameter for the selection of cases. Another important parameter was the framework of analysis based on the features of critical regionalism. Also, as Frampton states . . . . such a regionalism depends on the political consciousness of the society and the profession.22, which implies that it responds to time. Hence the overall time-span of Geoffrey Bawas architectural creation i.e. four decades is chronologically broken into three parts and a case is selected from each. To study this change in contemporary architecture of Bawa, it would be easier if similar projects would be selected. Also it is noticeable that most of the important works of Bawa have been hotels and schools/ educational campus. Hence the three important hotels were selected, also because of the availability of information. The Bentota Beach Hotel (1969) was one of the first, large, luxury hotels in Sri Lanka and is one of Bawas most recognized projects. The Triton Hotel (1981) soon became recognized for the view it revealed. Kandlama Hotel (1994) recently built, was a contrast to the other two with respect to site and context. A different approach towards luxury hotel is visibly seen. The residence of the architect (1958-69) is analysed since it is then that most architects are able to express themselves most clearly. Moreover, the house slowly came into its present form. The dissertation would rather look incomplete without the analysis of this project.