Geoffrey Bawa, one of Asia’s most influential modern architects, created spaces where light, landscape and architecture merge into a deeply sensory experience. For the retrospective at the Vitra Design Museum, exhibition curator Johan Deurell speaks with co-curator Shayari de Silva of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust about the atmosphere of Bawa’s buildings and the historical forces that shaped his work. Their conversation highlights an approach rooted in context, attuned to nature, and strikingly relevant today, offering fresh insight into an architectural legacy that continues to inspire more responsible and imaginative ways of building.

Johan Deurell: The subtitle of our exhibition is Architecture for the Senses. When you think about Geoffrey Bawa’s work, what is the first image, feeling, or moment that comes to mind?

Shayari de Silva: Number 11, Geoffrey’s home in Colombo, served as the Trust’s office for several years. During the six years I worked there, I became fascinated by the way light moved through the house. Its loggias, courtyards and skylights act like a collective sundial, shifting over the course of the day to highlight different spaces at different times. The house felt completely transformed, yet equally magical, whether in bright daylight orduring a monsoon downpour. Even though we occupied this relatively small house so often, the experience felt special each time. The same is true of Lunuganga, perhaps even more so, and in fact, of all Bawa’s buildings, though just speak here about the place I spent the most time in. When a space connects you to nature or natural elements in this way, it situates you and puts you at ease. This is a key part of the singular appeal of Bawa’s work.

Over your years at the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, researching and curating his archive as well as leading an oral history project, you must have formed ideas about “GB” the person?

As I never met him myself, I can only piece together impressions from those who knew him. During the Oral History Project, as I interviewed several of his colleagues, clients, and friends, it became clear that, like most humans, he showed different sides of himself to different people. Some spoke of him as a guru and an authority in architectural design, and others as a trusted friend and confidant who is still greatly missed. It is also clear that he was very private and guarded about many aspects of his life. I’m always stuck by the clarity and precision of his writing, and by his ability to use so few words so effectively. And he had a fabulous sense of humour!

Could you briefly outline the context for Bawa’s work?

Bawa worked during a very challenging period in Sri Lanka – his career starts in 1948, the year that the country gained independence from the British Empire. From 1953 onwards Sri Lanka had a string of insurgencies, riots and a civil war from 1983 which was ongoing when Bawa died in 2003. The socio-political and economic context of these events is layered, and while they are not the focus of the exhibition, we try to unpack the implications on architecture and design for Bawa. It’s very easy to exoticize or fetishize the sensual, low-cost, and local aspects of his work but these qualities were fundamentally a response to the reality he found himself in.

With the exhibition we want to invite global audiences to discover or rediscover Bawa’s work. In your opinion, what are the key characteristics of his work?

Geoffrey Bawa’s buildings are deeply sensual and cinematic: in person, you are completely absorbed by their experience. There is modesty in the structures and finishes that are made of readily available materials. That perception is then expanded on by the luxury of perfectly framed views, spaces filled with natural light, art and objects that feel inseparable from the architecture. The multi-faceted richness of this experience is carefully calibrated in Bawa’s approach. His architecture’s response to site and embrace of nature are also key. Bawa was highly attuned to context in every sense: the topography, the climate, and the socio-economic conditions governing a project. By understanding and responding to these aspects of a project, Bawa found a way of building that endures, and continues to inspire more than two decades after his passing.

What perspectives do you think visitors will gain through the exhibition?

I hope visitors will understand that part of the power of Bawa’s work lay in his masterful ability to unite teams of collaborators across disciplines and mine their individual strengths – creating architecture in which the whole exceeds the sum of the parts. His work also speaks compellingly to the time in which it was created and yet is also timeless – a trait which is shared by the best kind of creative endeavours.

«Geoffrey Bawa: Architecture for the Senses», on view from 26 September 2026 until 28 February 2027 at the Vitra Design Museum. A richly illustrated catalogue featuring essays, project descriptions, and interviews with architects Kengo Kuma, Tatiana Bilbao, Marina Tabassum, and Lina Ghotmeh was created along the exhibition.