How Geoffrey Bawa’s legacy lives on: Sri Lanka’s celebrity architect left his country with beautiful buildings like Lunuganga and Anantara Kalutara Resort – and now you can stay in them

Nov 10 , 2022

Work began on Geoffrey Bawa’s final project, the Anantara Kalutara, in 1995 before the civil war, and was finished by his protégé Channa Daswatte. Photo: Anantara

Sri Lanka’s most famous architect Geoffrey Bawa trained in the UK before returning home in the 1950s, where his optimistic designs chimed with the hopes of a newly independent country

Since his death in 2003, his most monumental works have been repurposed for tourism – including his home Lunuganga, beach villa Claughton House and his final project, The Last House

“Architecture cannot be totally explained but must be experienced. It should play to all the senses – the smell of vegetation after rain, the sound of birds and the wind in trees,” said the Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa.

Returning to his native Sri Lanka in the 1950s after training in the UK, he went on to become the master of “tropical modernism”, his designs helping to spearhead an optimism in what the future held for the then newly independent country. Today, his work can be experienced by staying in luxury hotels and villas across the island – each a lesson in preservation, yet not stuck in the past. Instead, like their creator always did, they look to the future.

Geoffrey Bawa is regarded as Sri Lanka’s most influential architect. Photo: Geoffrey Bawa and Lunuganga Trust

Bawa’s own beautifully preserved home, Lunuganga, where he lived up to his death in 2003, is the greatest example of his work. Set inland from the southern beach resort of Bentota, this 1930s plantation bungalow, hidden in the jungle on the banks of Dedduwa Lake, offers atmospheric accommodation and spectacular views. The Italianate garden is a masterpiece, from the butterfly-shaped ponds to emerald rice paddies to gardens dotted with Ming jars. Renowned batik designer Ena de Silva’s house is also on the estate. The three-bedroom property, with its vibrant interiors, was moved here brick by brick from its original site in Colombo.

The entrance to the Glass House on the Lunuganga estate. Photo: Lunuganga

In April 2021, Teardrop Hotels came on board to manage Lunuganga and Ena de Silva’s house in partnership with the Geoffrey Bawa Trust. Lunuganga’s rooms, five of which are housed in tiny pavilions, are still filled with eccentric objects from Bawa’s travels.

“The bedrooms, living areas and overall design of the property is what preserves Bawa’s work,” says Henry Fitch, CEO of Teardrop Hotels. “Many of the current staff worked at Lunuganga while Mr Bawa lived there, so they are fully aware of how the property should be maintained and, indeed, where guests can follow in his footsteps.” This includes Bawa’s own bedroom, which opened on November 1, with its glistening plunge pool. A larger swimming pool, on the lawn in the exact location Bawa planned himself, will be finished in December.

The renovated lounge area at Lunuganga. Photo: Lunuganga

Asked what Bawa would think of his home being turned into a hotel, Shayari de Silva, curator of art and archival collections at the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, replies, “The decision to make the rooms at Lunuganga available to guests has allowed the spaces and collections to survive. It is vital to underscore the enormous resources needed for this work, and I’m very grateful we still have them in ways that present and future generations can experience and study.”