Kinfolk Islands by John Burns

Author:John Burns
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Artisan
Published: 2022-10-11T22:32:30+00:00

Typically, the forty-five-minute public tour at Number 11 begins with a small documentary about the house, which is then toured with a guide. The villa is actually a row of four bungalows that were bought and combined by the architect over the years. Bawa demolished the first one, building a four-story tower in its place, with each floor connected by a curved, white staircase. There are two small but comfortable guest rooms with a common bathroom on the first floor, which art and architecture enthusiasts may book as accommodation. After passing through a loggia—a covered exterior corridor—on the third floor, visitors arrive at an open, cemented terrace that looks out over the city and its skyscrapers.

Visitors can’t take photos of Bawa’s private rooms, but you do get to see the lounge courtyard, where finger palms rustle and rainwater drips, and the master suite, which overlooks a large frangipani tree. De Silva says that Bawa’s designs exemplify the ways of the island, which is to say living seamlessly with the outdoors.

Before his death in 2003, Bawa designed a series of individual houses, hotels and public spaces in Sri Lanka, including the nation’s parliament building. A 2-mile (3 km) ride from Bawa’s compound takes you to the De Saram House on Ward Place, which was renovated by Bawa in 1986 for the acclaimed pianist Druvi de Saram and his family, and later restored by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust.

The small southern town of Bentota, 63 miles (102 km) from Colombo, is also a good place to see Bawa’s work, including the fully restored Cinnamon Bentota Beach hotel, a late ’60s building situated between the beach and the Bentara River. Like most other properties designed by Bawa, the hotel brings greenery, natural light and open-plan facilities into one harmonious space. A vibrant batik ceiling by artist Ena de Silva is not to be missed.

Another of Bawa’s inventive, and perhaps most iconic, buildings in Bentota is Lunuganga, his country retreat. Surrounded by greenery on the banks of Dedduwa Lake, the 12-acre (5 ha) property was bought by Bawa in 1948 and slowly transformed into a country residence over fifty years; the entire estate has been preserved as it was found upon his death. Visitors can book one of five private suites onsite.

Climbing up the steep track from the property’s entrance gate to its main bungalow, the property’s romantic, magical garden comes into view. The bungalow’s veranda overlooks a lawn that sweeps down toward Cinnamon Hill, where a large Chinese urn is nestled under a Spanish cherry tree, and beyond, to the lake. Bawa had no formal plan for the garden; it unfurls and sprawls over the landscape, barely taming the jungle.

It is here in Lunuganga’s garden, among water lily–filled ponds and ornamental rice fields guarded by tropical frangipani trees, where sunlight dapples the ground and birds sing and leaves rustle, that Bawa’s soul is revealed.

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