From apartment in Colombo to resort in the wilderness; the Bawa awards shortlist
Chairman of the Bawa Trust Channa Daswatte announcing the shortlist. Pic by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi
The shortlist for the 5th Triennial Geoffrey Bawa Awards for Excellence in Architecture, for 2019/2020, has just been announced. Chosen by a panel of eminent judges comprising Prof. Barry Bergdoll, Meyer Schapiro, Professor of art history in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University; Nadija Tambiah- trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust;Veranjan Kurukulasuriya, President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects and Swarna Mallawarachchi, film star, the shortlist sees some very distinctive buildings blossoming harmoniously against diverse locales from residential lanes to coastal wilderness.
The list is as follows:
No. 12 Flower Road by Suresh Mudannyake; Cafe UFO by Rapa Chartered Architects; Proposed Office Building for Colombo Municipal Council by Pulasthi Wijekoon Guruge and Ruwani Thusara Waidyasekara; Frame Holiday Structure at Imaduwa by Palinda Kannangara Architects; Lanka Learning Centre by Feat.Collective; the Santhi Children Home by The Associate Professorship of Architectural Design and Timber Construction; Studio Apartment for Lavan by MMGS Architects and Wild Coast Tented Lodge by Nomadic Resorts.
Each building in the shortlist will be visited and examined by a technical team as well as the judges themselves.
Speaking at the event Channa Daswatte, Chairman of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust said that the judges and the trust consider the shortlist ‘almost more important’ than the winner- as the motive of the award is to generate conversation on architecture in our society.
Daswatte quoted his mentor Bawa who famously said, “When one delights as much as I do in planning a building and having it built, I find it impossible to describe the exact steps in an analytical or dogmatic way…I have very strong conviction that it is impossible to explain architecture in words…. I have always enjoyed seeing buildings but seldom enjoyed reading explanations about them…architecture cannot be totally explained but must be experienced.”
Emphasising the importance of the awards Daswatte said that “we have to speak about and discuss architecture. It changes the way we move.”
The winner of the Geoffrey Bawa Awards for Excellence in Architecture for 2019/2020 will be announced at a ceremony on July 23.