Celebrating excellence
View(s):The shortlist had been announced three months earlier and for the nine architects in the running for the 2013/2014 Geoffrey Bawa Award for Excellence in Architecture, it was a tense period. The final announcement came on July 23 at an elegant evening ceremony organised by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust at the Park Street Mews. Pradeep Kodikara had won the award for the design of a holiday home cum boutique hotel, ‘Kadju House’.
The Chitrasena Vajira Dance Foundation set the stage with the premiere of their new work ‘Moksha’ danced with great skill by the company’s principal dancer Thaji. There were other highlights of that evening, notably the presentation of lifetime awards to Prof. Ronald Lewcock and Prof. Senake Bandaranayake, but unfortunately the magic of the moment was somewhat lessened by the overlong citations read out. The keynote speaker whom the audience was eagerly anticipating was the colourful Mira Nair, acclaimed Indian film director who spoke eloquently of her long Bawa connection and the challenges of her own career.
Pictured here are some of the moments from the evening.
 Himasha and Sanjay |
 Anjana and Yudish Ganesan |
 Mira and the Chitrasenas: From left, Umi, Heshma, Upeka, Thaji and Mira |
 Sinan and Shahravan |
 Sinan and Shahravan |
 Maithri Wickremesinghe and Senaka Bandaranayake |
 Prof. Ronald Lewcock and Barbara Sansoni |
 Channa Daswatte |
 Zaineh and Saarah |
 Ranjan and Shaunagh |
 Teruni |
 Jeff, Ranithri and Khadija. Pix by Susantha Liyanawatte |