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The Geoffrey Bawa Awards 2010/2011 :
Living philosophy of architecture
By Ranga CHANDRARATHNE
We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.
- Sir Winston Churchill
Architecture is to make us know and remember who we are.
- Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe
  “As a writer, I must say enviously from all the arts, architecture,
probably, has the most far reaching and subdued effect on us and our
imagination. .... most of our lives are unmapped and unhistorical,
what’s sacred from being unhistorical is arts …. What arts I mean not
just artists but citizens who were recognised themselves and discovering
themselves in a familiar place….I have learnt in the West and only
recently I have discovered I still follow, I suppose that I have guessed
at, the aesthetics that come from the East. Donald Reggie, the American
writer who spent over sixty years in Japan writes about the different
between the West and the East.
He says that in the conventions of the Western discourse or a logical
progression, symmetry imposed upon subjects and aspects that does not
belong to it. Eastern aesthetics suggest that ordered structure can
triumph and lodge like expedition farcifying and those linear
consecutive apartments eventually limit. I end up with a remark by
Balzac ‘The events of human life, be they public or private, are so
intimately bound up with architecture that we can reconstruct nations or
individuals in the full reality of their behaviour from the remnants of
their domestic remains”-
Thus, Booker Prize winner Michael Ondaatje enunciated the philosophy
of architecture which has a overarching influence on the human sphere of
activities, delivering the keynote address at the Jeffery Bawa Awards
ceremony hosted by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust at the Park Street Mews.
Apart from the awards conferred on outstanding architects of Sri
Lanka, it is an occasion where the architect fraternity of the country
celebrated the rich and enduring legacy of legendary Sri Lankan
architect Jeffrey Bawa, who’s minimalistic and innovative architectural
corpus continues to inspire generations of architects who are the
fully-fledged tradition-bearers to the prosperity. Without doubt the
built environment will not only serve a utilitarian purpose at its
rudimentary level but also stands out as a living monument of the nation
and its citizens.
  Out of 59 projects, the panel of judges shortlisted 8 projects namely
British High Commission in Colombo, Lion Museum in Biyagama, Holiday
Bungalow in Thalduwa, Sarath Abyeratne House, Houses for Tsunami
victims, Holiday House in Ulpatha, Udayapuram School in Periyakala and
Kalundawa resort. Following the evaluation of the technical committee
the converted Geoffrey Bawa Award 2010/2011 for Excellence in
Architecture was presented to Architect Thisara Thanapathy for his
design of the Sarath Abeyrathne house in Colombo.
The First Runner-up ‘Commendation’ award was conferred on Architect
Yudish Ganesan for the Udayampuram School at Periyakallar, a tsunami
school. The New British High Commission designed by Richard Murphy
Associates and the Holiday Bungalow at Ulpotha also designed by Thisara
Thanapathy, were hailed as two Honourable Mentions. Lifetime Achievement
Awards were conferred on Ena de Silva Aluwihare and Barbara Sansoni
Lewcock for their contributions to the Arts and Architecture of Sri
Lanka.
| Barbara Sansoni
Lewcock |
Ena de Silva
Aluwihare |
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