by David Robson | photography by Sebastian Posingis
ISBN 9789810999728
234 x 210mm
Hardback; 144 pages
Pub Date: August 2016
BIC: WTH, AMV, AMX
This book answers some important questions about Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka’s pre-eminent architect, and his legacy. A sizeable introduction to Bawa’s world, life, education and work is reviewed by eminent Bawa scholar, David Robson. This precedes a site-by-site tour of 45 of his buildings scattered throughout Sri Lanka. Many are considered “pilgrimage sites” by up-and-coming architects, designers and lay people interested in his extraordinary and enduring talent. Insightful texts, contemporary and archive photographs and a plethora of drawings illustrate the individual buildings that range from private dwellings to public buildings, schools and hotels. Each is representative of Bawa’s pioneering work on tropical modernism. The book ends with a brief section on buildings that have been transformed, lost or are at risk for one reason or another.
THE AUTHOR
David Robson is an architect, academic and writer who had a personal friendship with Geoffrey Bawa. He is Bawa’s official biographer, having published three books — BAWA: The Complete Works (2003), Beyond Bawa (2005) and Bawa: The Sri Lankan Gardens (2009). He is also the author of Anjalendran: An Architect of Sri Lanka (2011) and wrote the texts for The Architectural Heritage of Sri Lanka (2015), a historical portfolio of many of the island’s architectural treasures that features scores of measured drawings from Anjalendran’s studio. During a long and illustrious career, David has contributed to many academic journals and books.
THE PHOTOGRAPHER
Sebastian Posingis spent much of his childhood in Sri Lanka and India and gained a degree in anthropology from the University of Canterbury in the UK before turning to his first love as an architectural photographer. He contributed the photographs for The New Sri Lankan House (2015), a showcase of the island’s latest residential architecture, as well as some of the photos for Sri Lanka — The Island from Above (2015). His clients have included the Four Seasons hotel group, Waldorf Astoria and Conrad Hotels & Resorts. His work has also appeared in Der Spiegel, New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, Geo Magazine, International Herald Tribune, Condé Nast Traveller and Vanity Fair.