Second win for Thanapathy
Architect Thisara Thanapathy did it once again, bagging the Geoffrey Bawa Award for Excellence in Architecture for the second time. Thanapathy won the 2016/2017 Award for his design of the Spa at Santani, a wellness resort located close to Kandy. He had previously won this prestigious award in 2011 for his design of the urban Sarath Abeyrathne house.
“The Bawa award was a recognition of our vision. We believe in the real need for creating a multi-sensory, pre-conceptual experience of authentic architecture in the contemporary context of consumerist culture,” Thanapathy told the Sunday Times via email after his win.
“The seductions of consumerism and technological advancement promise creature comforts through marketable visual images of instant gratification. But they detach people from their sensory capacities and their human-natural essence. I am especially happy that the judges for the Bawa award recognised and appreciated the subtle qualities of spiritual silence in the landscape of Santani Spa.”
The Geoffrey Bawa Awards 2016/2017 took place last Sunday, July 23 at the Park Street Mews, on what would have been Bawa’s 98th birthday. The Award, set up by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust recognizes and rewards significant examples of contemporary Sri Lankan architecture and architectural design.
This year’s award saw many firsts including the shortlisting of a non-architect, and judges visiting the submitted entries as part of the judging process. But most notable was the introduction of six new categories to the award. The newly introduced categories, namely Residential, Institutional, Leisure and Entertainment, Industrial, Heritage and Conservation, and Commercial, were created as the judges felt that it was not equitable to compare buildings of such contrasting functions, forms and even budgets.
Winners were selected from the 11 shortlisted designs in each category except for Heritage and Conservation as none of the projects fell within this category. In the Residential category Architect Palinda Kannangara won for his design of the Studio Dwelling in Rajagiriya, and Dutch architect, Michael Daane Bolier received an honourable mention for the Olu Beach Villa design. Architects Chinthaka Wickramage and Nileeka Senerath were adjudged best in the Institutional category for their design of the Kaithady District Vocational Training Centre with Architect Yudish Ganesen receiving honourable mention for the Auditorium & Accommodation of the Chinmaya Mission in Ramboda. In the Industrial category, Architect Thusara Waidyasekara won for the design of the Sterling Aftercare Centre in Galle. Architect Shayan Kumaradas won in the Commercial Category for the design of the Citizens Development Business Finance Bank Building in Colombo. The overall winner Architect Thisara Thanapathy also won in the category of Leisure and Entertainment for the Spa at Santani.
The Bawa Trust also honoured Professor David Robson with the Geoffrey Bawa Award for a Lifetime contribution to architecture. Professor Robson’s contributions include those made to architectural education in Sri Lanka in his capacity as a lecturer at the University of Ceylon, as well as to Sri Lanka’s social fabric through his work on the One Hundred Thousand Houses programme, and his efforts towards researching and disseminating the work of Bawa throughout the world. “What worries me about the lifetime achievement award is the implication that somehow my lifetime is over,” Professor Robson quipped after receiving the award. Past winners include Ena de Silva, Barbara Sansoni, Prof. Senaka Bandaranayake and Prof. Ronald Lewcock.
Keeping with its tradition of having a keynote speaker from a different artistic discipline, Australian artist Fiona Hall was the Guest Speaker at the event. Having been an artist in residence at Bawa’s Lunuganga estate, Hall spoke of her interactions with the legendary architect during his final years. Hall commented on how even at that time “The creative mind (was) never still.”
The judges commented on the diverse nature and high standard of the entries for this year’s award, and said they hoped to receive entries from the public sector and in the area of urban planning in future cycles. The judging panel consisted of Singaporean Architect Mok Wei Wei, Professor at the National University of Singapore), Dr D. H. Wijewardena (President of Sri Lanka Institute of Architects), Ward Beling (Trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust) and Sharmini Pereira (Founder and Director of Raking Leaves).
| The full list of winners: | |
| Winner of the Excellence in Architecture Award Architect Thisara Thanapathy (Spa at Santani)
Award Winners in each category
Winner – Architect Palinda Kannangara (Studio Dwelling)
Winner – Architects Chinthaka Wickramage and Nileeka Senerath
Winner – Architect Thisara Thanapathy (Spa at Santani)
Winner – Architect Thusara Waidyasekara (Sterling Aftercare Centre)
Winner – Architect Shayan Kumaradas (Corporate Office of |
The 2016/2017 winners receiving their awards from Bawa Trustee Suhanya Raffel:
Chinthaka Wickramage
Shayan Kumaradas
Prof. David Robson with his Lifetime Achievement Award
Thusara Waidyasekera
Michael Daane Boulier
Yudish Gan esen
Thisara Thanapathy Pix by Indika Handuwala