Lawyer turned architect Geoffrey Bawa was one such man, who is not only the omnipresent father of Sri Lankan architecture, but also a continuing influence throughout South East Asia, on what is sometimes called ‘tropical modernism’.

Bawa’s extraordinary 40 year career may have started late – at the age of 38 – but he produced numerous significant projects including landmark hotels, private residences, temples, a university and the parliament building of the new Sri Lankan Republic. How remarkable that the stratospheric trajectory of his career began somewhat serendipitously, when he set off to London in 1945 to gain qualifications simply for the purpose of redesigning his own house.

Bawa’s great strength was to articulate climate appropriate solutions and buildings possessed of a powerful sense of place, that proudly built on vernacular traditions that had been largely ignored in the aftermath of colonialism. His solutions involved overhanging eaves, deep verandas, interior courtyards and the minimal use of glass. These resulted in the blurring of the boundaries between ‘indoors’ and ‘outdoors’ – that became one of Bawa’s signature contributions to modern tropical design. This did not mean however that he rejected western classicism, which he often lovingly referenced as one of the twin features of his cultural identity. Indeed it was the European classical tradition that he chose for the design of his own beloved Lunuganga Estate – Bawa’s colonial style country house that is now a hotel. Bawa’s style may have embraced a wide body of influences including the fusion of Western and Sri Lankan, vernacular, modern and post-modern designs, but it was always faithful to his basic principles.