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Lunugangrt (Geo/lier Butu'.s Grtrdert), Bentotu, I 948-98

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GA: We have visited Sri Lanka to

see some

works by Geoffrey Bawa (tqts-zootr, and I

had an impression that the essence of

Bawa's architecture has yet to be discovered by the world. That is why we would like to ask you, Mr. Harano, to tell us about
the kind of person that Bawa was, his architecture, his cultural background and the particularities of Sri Lanka, since you have been living in Sri Lanka for four years as a

Hill rl9+l-r. lr-ho is one oithe archite.'rs ui:.r designed Aman Resorts. savs he rr'as inl.luenced by Bau'a. In thct. some hotels at Aman Resorts feature an island-like landscape set up on a large basin u'ith nicelooking trees where you can take a tour around them, or a tapered swimming pool where you can only see water at its edge, or water left to flow out like a river. They are successful in introducing designs that suit
the terrain.

G-{: H:":ng itr.ked at l^-rs uars..::s:.: ing eris:ing buildin-ss rnd iarCs.-": somelhing ttrld me that he \\as 3 --.r---seur

oi evenrhing. .{

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I guess..\n ordinan'local buildin-l:-- tumed into a n'pical Bas'a. \or base; , certain st1'le of architecture. L'ui ..-.Bawa's aesthetics.... It is almost :. were something different than the a,-: :: :. signing. When you commented I:i3 ri-:
day that Bawa is like Jiro.\o1ama I thought you hit the bulls-e1'e.

member of Shigeru Ban's lab supervising construction sites of Ban's houses, and been familiar with most of Bawa's works.

.-

--:=-

GA: It's all about finding the right location. And Bawa is very good at it. Harano: Yes he is. I believe it is one of Bawa's specialty that a project begins with the choice the location. In other words, he is a connoisseur of location.

Harano: Conventional materials anc

A Connoisseur of Location
Yasunori Harano: Initially, what launched Bawa's fame was hotel architecture. Kerry

niques that no one cared about ber't:-: of a sudden so genuine the momen: ::. Bawa combines them to introduce in :-' .' chitecture. Bawa is like Aovama in i:.: -

Lanuganga, 1948-98

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not trying to create something totally

and revolutionary. They are both capa-

reu

:le of presenting new, fascinating things .rsing familiar things that already exist.
\-ukio Futagawa once said that 'Bawa's ar;hitecture is a rich man's avocation' but *hen you look at what he has created, you lre amazed how high the quality is. Also fascinating is his use of antiques.
The antique market is quite popular in Sri Lanka where you can easily find doors and '.r'ooden columns that are more than 100 '. ears old, in the spirit of recycling. Bawa is

but when it comes to choosing and arranging them, no one can do it like Bawa. Many people go looking for antiques and try to alrange them, but they come nowhere near
Bawa.

be taken outside, under the shades'. This is why he is bad at restaurants (laughs). His

indoor restaurants are large but with low ceilings. They feel cramped. Instead, the
outdoor tables are extremely comfortable to

His being good at choosing terrains, a connoisseur oflocation, is certainly a point, but that is not a11..... For example, with Blue Water Hotel (1996-98) which is located
area, Bawa turned the entire first floor into a pilotis, making it an almost external space, and surrounded it with a number of small basins that became the source of constant cool breeze blowing to the pilotis. So it is comfortable as long as you are in the shade. Bawa in person never dined indoors, insisting that 'meals should

sit and dine. And his way of proposing a whole lifestyle for a certain climate is another point of fascination.

in a hot weather

Caltural Background

GA: I have come upon a text on Bawa's

cultural background stating that 'Bawa is
a

hybrid'. That there is a mixed-race culture

in the island of Sri Lanka, which is a meeting point of Europe and Asia. It also mentioned about his elder brother. While their parents both had European blood in them,

:rcellent at using them. G.{: Was Bawa the first to do that? Harano: There had been markets carrying rntique fumiture and building components,

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his brother was a big man with dark skin looking definitely non-Caucasian, and Bawa was a tall, blond-haired handsome
guy who looked very European. Which brings me to the point that, it is the self-notion of who he is that has become the background to his creations in architecture. With a cultural background that is partly European, he is an expert in Asian spaces through his own experiences in Sri Lanka, and he still had a longing for Europe. Harano: I think that he was quite aware of the fact that he has Western blood in his veins. What is interesting though is that he eventually gave shape to this notion in Sri Lanka. He never wanted to build a successful career in England.

started his life as an architect when he discovered a vast garden

GA: After all, he

the eyes at Aman Resorts right away.

that became Lunuganga (1948-98). And it occurred to him that he wanted to build there
a house

of his dreams.

Harano: Bawa is especially skilled in arranging the Colonial style which was introduced during the time of English, Dutch and Portuguese occupancy in a way that the Colonial flavor itself remains unnoticed. So if people ask me if Bawa's works are Colonial, I would say no, not really.

GA: Those elements are used in a contemporary context. And the result is a sort of imagery that is not as extravagant as a
style, but is transnational and yet appealing

I understand that looking from a distance you feel a great amount of Colonial aspect and a closer look reveals the contrary. Still, even though you can tell an architecture specialist that 'this is different from Colonial style', the public visiting th; resort villas are more likely to perceir e some Colonial-like flavor in them. So the way I see it, while maintaining such imageries, he was actually challenging a variety of new things. Would you give us sonre examples of his arrangements that break down the Colonial aspects?
Harano: As you might realize from his portfolio, what makes Bawa interesting is the fact that he has designed a lot of Mies-

to Europeans, the likes that would capture

4#

Bentota Beach Hotel, Bentota, 1967-69

for Dr. Bartholonteus: (former Geoffrey Bav'a's Ol.lic. Colombo,1961-63

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.ike or Le Corbusier-like buildings. Proba:11 . he did so in attempt to create modern :rchitecture with local techniques, based on

though this house was one of the most distinguished among Bawa's houses, it was
alas demolished last year.

is he accepting Colonial scale on a certain

level?

:nformation from international sources.

f'onstructors in Sri Lanka are not so tech !l\'\'y. If you look at Mies' Glass Skyscrap:rs and wish to do the same thing, you just --ln not. In fact, with State Mortgage Bank .q-o-28) he did that in concrete and added --riginality in the arrangement of the upper section. In ASH de Sitva House (tsss-oo), \lies' plan for the Country House is used .r.-is. Ena de Silva House which was completed two years later features heavy use

He was certainly always determined to use new information as soon as he had access

Harano: Colonial scale is somewhat huge. But the moment it is taken in Bawa's design it becomes comfortable. becomes smaller? In other words, in an Asian type of scale?

to them, in his own original way. And I guess that he took advantage of such information in his arrangements to neutralize

GA: Do you mean it

Harano: For instance, Bartholomeusz

House ltoot-03), former Geoffrey Bawa's

the Colonial aspects. In terms of materials, Colonial architecture often makes use of brick columns, and

Office which is now converted into a restaurant, features a colonnade in the

sometimes concrete ones, whereas Bawa,

adopting a wood-based local building

method, tends to use wood or coconut trunk columns.

of

:he golden proportion. A quite conscious ',rse of it, as dimensions split up extensir ely, like Le Corbusier used to do. Al-

GA: How about the issue of scale? Is

Bawa's space in a Western type of scale or

courtyard that is rather short-spanned. GA: I have a feeling that this space focuses on the very act ofbuilding a colonnade. So it does not matter if as a whole it looks like a miniature. He just needed to have one there. Even though he claims to discard

Triton Hotel, Ahttngalla, 1979-81

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style, it might be a person who is conscious of it. There was also a pond in the court1.'ard. If you were to place a colonnade there, it has to be bigger to make the spatial proportion right. But he does not care and goes on creating his scenery that fits in there, like a miniature garden. Harano: He surely intended to 'fit'. The

An lcon of Glocality

of course the presence of Aman Group

recogmade a big difference, for sure (laughs).

GA: I believe that his international

nition came when he received the Aga

Khan Award in 2001, around the time when in a worldwide trend the term 'glocality' became increasingly popular, taking over from 'international'. One example would

Harano: Exactly. Bawa has been widelr

known throughout Southern Asia, but alier he received the Chairman's Award of th.' Aga Khan Award he became the focus o:
international attention. Then with his ponfolio being published he came to be bette: recognized. But before that, there was th. new tide of resort architecture led by Aman Resorts, that attracted the public by venturing into setting up luxurious spaces in remote areas surrounded by nature. And since Bawa has been looked upon as the pionee: of such trend, he was already considerabl'. famous through his hotels. Bawa's reputation being built solell' r.r::

span between columns could be more sparse, but he made it dense. But in this restaurant you do not feel like there are too
much columns. Because there is a good balance between their diameter, pitch and height. Speaking of fitting like a miniature

be Glenn Murcutt, an architect who has been building nothing but houses in Australia, who won the Pritzker Prize, an international award 1zooz.y. But Bawa came under the spotlight before that. When I come to think of it, in terms of glocality, he is probably the first person to be exposed to the world. I suspect that it was the presence of such global backdrop that led a person from utterly domestic to wider recognition. And

garden, this restaurant and Ena de Silva

House are the best examples.

Triton Hotel

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-,:s hotels, Lunuganga and other houses irre rarely mentioned. But I believe that it . his houses that Bawa should be appreci.::d for. Mentalities involved in design are ::l-l'erent in hotels and houses. The recent

product of ten years of purchasing and

adding up row houses and subsequent endless remodeling that culminated in the labyrinthine state that it is today. GA: It is likely that he demonstrated a sort of systematic mentality while working on hotels. He develops his images to a certain point but avoids further elaboration. After all, they are commercial facilities. On the other hand, his houses, especially his own

his mentality.

Harano: His hotels clearly show a transition in style, from his early Bentota Beach

Hotel
Hotel

(1967-69),

Triton Hotel (tszs-at)

3-rs'a boom started from his hotels, but if ..-.u pay attention to his houses, you should :: able to find much more. For Bawa, a plan for execution is not .:rportant. When he works on a house, he ::,.-uses on what is necessary to the site, be.-:r'ing in his own senses. So the plan con:-rues to change, even during construction.

decade after, to the series of three hotelsLighthouse Hotel (199s-92;, Blue Water
(1996-9s)

and Kandalama Hotel (tsst-

eq-that

are largely different in style.

'.i.ith Lunuganga, which took fifty years to

:.rmplete, Bawa had it his way and kept al::ing through the years. His own residence

Colombo, the 33rd Lane itero-es1, is

residence, are designed in an extremely personal manner with much delicacy. Every detail is laid out to the inch. He does it with determination, true to his senses. A design that no one else is allowed to lay a hnger on. That would be possible with a house, but never with a hotel, so he had to switch

GA: Kandalama Hotel is a building that appears to assimilate into the jungle. Some call it Bawa's magnum opus.
Harano: At first, it was planned on another site. But Bawa did not like that place and
according to an anecdote went hunting for a better one aboard a helicopter. GA: Bawa began working on hotels in the 1960s. Was it an instant success back then?

Blue Water Hotel, Iladduwa, 1996-98

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The images that he created were certainly targeting vacationers from abroad. Did they catch on frorn the start'l Harano: The success of a hotel depends not only on the architecture but on a variety of factors such as service. so I guess that the client's side played a rather important part in it. But Lighthouse and Kandalama were popular right frorn the start. And so rvas Blue Water after a while since it was the only luxury hotel in Colombo. They

had a constant flow of clients from the beginning. The Japanese see Sri Lanka as one

GA: A folklore style... or a sort ol

r.l

of many developing countries, but

peans see

E,uro-

it as a resort island surrounded by sea, so the country has always been a

tourist destination.

GA: And where did those travelers

were not the foreign-investment type of commissions as the clients were mostly local investors who knew Bawa in person. so in terms of architect-owner relationship, both parties could work in mutual understanding. That rnight be the reason why he

used to stay, before Bawa started to design hotels? Were there any resort hotels? Harano: Yes. there were. GA: What types of architecture were they? Harano: To cite one characteristic. the roof

designs tend to be ratlrer awkward. They would put roofs on virtually everything. A building with a tiled roof on top of eaves that run along two houses would be a typical example.

nial-ish (laughs) style? Harano: Ycs (laughs). Prior to Bawa, a 100-room hotel ur....either be a local type offeatureless buildi::with brick walls for the most part and c.: crete used only in beams and columns. ..: ,, recycling of old building from the Coltrr'..., period. Probably because during the I 9r. the increase of plane travels created :r: demand for 100-room class hotels to -,-comrnodate fbreign tourists, and Baua ',i -.. able to build his career in hotel desi_un Lrp, '
such social needs.

Architecture nrust be Experienced Harano: Bawa's architecture is diftil.'.

'

33rd Lqne (Geollrey Bawa's House), Colombo, 1960-98

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trom others in that it deals with a space in rvhich people are expected to walk around b1' design. When people are in a dark place and see there is a bright light ahead, they sould want to walk up there. His design makes the best of such natural physical responses. Putting people in darkness and let-

there. He was an artist who did not work by the plan, so he would throw such gimmicks in the layout along the process. A bright place is usually a vast, open space which consists of a spot garden or a

pond, sometimes lined with colonnade.

Corridors surround the space so that people can, as they wader about, really feel how wonderfully comfortable that space is. There is a quote that Bawa left behind: 'architecture must be experienced.' I think that he was an artist who placed more importance on building up a prelude toward a place that he wanted to show the most by making people walk, rather than creating photogenic forms. His own residence consists of four connected row houses. He first

ting them walk toward the light. What

au,aits them there is a space that Bawa really wants to show. A dark place is usually a corridor, nar-

bought the second house from the end, so he made a long hallway to reach it, which is reminiscent of a runway in a Kabuki theater. It gives an impression of a device that leads up to the main stage. Although architects today are not so eager to use corridors, it is interesting to see that Bawa's corridors are devices that are necessary for creating a
sequence.

Le Corbusier used slopes and spiral

in order to make people walk in a visual manner. In Bawa's case, human nature is effectively architecturized, not as part ofsuch visual elements. GA: Contrast of light in a space-compressed in dark places and exploding in the
staircases

row in width and with low ceiling. And ri.hen you see a light down the hall you

Ifthe dark corgets boring so he provides a sequence that is in a way dramatic, * ith a small bump here and a slight curve
spontaneously start to walk.

ridor is too long

it

light-as

a method was frequently used by

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101

people such as Frank Lloyd Wright and

Luis Barrag6n. Back in the time when he attended the AA School of Architecture he seemed to

have developed a penchant for Wright rather than Le Corbusier or Mies. He must

have studied about him. But Bawa is unique in that he does not appear to have 'studied'. He just 'gets it right' with nonchalance. When

chitecture based on motifs from traditional houses. So my impression on Bawa was that he resembled him. Harano: Certainly. He and Barrag6n share many aspects. Other examples would be their aristocratic descent or their commitment to landscape and gardening. Even the climate in Sri Lanka seems to be close to that in Mexico.

busier and Kahn that allowed names like

Balkrishna Doshi (tqzz-) and Charles Correa
(1930-)

to launch to the world. And

thar

never happened to Bawa.

GA: But would he want that to

happen? I

mean, he was born rich. Maybe the man was not full of blazing ambition in that
sense.

I say 'a rich man's

avoca-

While Wright and Barrag6n both enjoyed worldwide fame during their lifetime, the best that Bawa could do was to put out his messages as far as South Asia. The prolonged civil war made it difficult for him to transmit information overseas. Also, the neighboring India had an advantage in that it was in possession of works by Le Cor-

Harano: You have a point. We do not find in him an ambitious person who would

tion' there is nothing negative about it.

Even Barrag6n would ultimately reach that state of the rich man's avocation. In Barrag6n's case, he was at first very much into modernism and created modern architecture, but at one point in time he stopped that and began creating contemporary ar-

wish to promote his works around the world and rise to stardom. Through his upper-class background, it is quite obvious
that from the earliest stage of his practice as architect he already had access to a certain amount of power inside the country: tr took him only ten years to become the

33rd Lane (Geoffrey Bswu's House)

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102

ihairman of Sri Lanka Institute of Archi:icts.

G.{: I have been visiting Bawa's buildings '.i hile accompanying Yukio Futagawa's
:hoto sessions, and my architectural experi:nce there was, as you mentioned, some:hrng that a still camera can hardly capture. Str in that sense, they are like landscapes 'lnd gardens. Gardens in general cannot be :rasped in a panoramic way. You have to rialk there to see the whole picture. Archi:ecture usually has a package-type ofaspect :hat is dominant, so a look of its exterior re'. eals pretty much everything. But Bawa's

totally different from each another. Perhaps the fact that even though he keeps adding things and expanding his buildings, their form never becomes annoying, means that he is not competing on external forms and
completeness. Harano: I suspect so. He is competing on

of them (laughs). Maybe it all started u,rth

the desire to do something with his oun garden, which lead him to a definitive architectural attitude. And I have a feeling that it all comes down to this point. These type of things are at the other end ofthose that can be learned

the spatial experience including the inner

courtyards, rather than on the outer appearance.

flipping through a textbook at school. which is also the reason why I would describe them as a rich man's avocation. A
connoisseur's ability to appreciate things
can never be taught.

The other day when

visited his resi-

.rrchitecture is nothing like that. Still, it Itres flot demonstrate a unified imagery or .tnlthing, because some of his buildings are

dence I took a look at his bookshelves and was amazed at how much he has been reading about gardens. The number ofbooks on the garden was way beyond that of books on architecture. GA: I remember you were taking pictures

Interview by Yoshio Futagawa (G.1t Januarr 5th, 20 I I at G.4 gullen

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