Geoffrey Bawa was a Sri Lankan architect regarded as one of the most important and influential Asian architects of the twentieth century. He is also known as the force behind what is today known as ‘tropical modernism’.

Although best known for his private houses and hotels, Geoffrey Bawa’s portfolio also included schools and universities, factories and offices, public buildings and social buildings as well as the new Sri Lanka Parliament.

Bawa produced “sustainable architecture” long before the term was coined. His designs broke down the barriers between inside and outside, between interior design and landscape architecture, and reduced buildings to a series of scenographically conceived spaces separated by courtyards and gardens.

Bawa was also known for his close association and role in creating new awareness of indigenous materials and crafts, leading to a postcolonial renaissance of culture.

Bawa modeled his own garden at Lunuganga after an abandoned rubber estate, he continued to work on it for more than fifty years and used this project as a test bed for his emerging ideas. The result, is a series of outdoor rooms conceived with an exquisite sense of theatre as civilized wilderness on a quiet backwater in the greater garden of Sri Lanka.