Join Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator at M+, Hong Kong, for a special talk on Isamu Noguchi’s transdisciplinary work in sculpture, design, and landscape architecture. M+ holds over 36 works and a permanent ‘Playscape’ garden by the Japanese American artist.

Isamu Noguchi famously referred to his larger spatial works comprising multiple objects as gardens–suggesting that plants were optional in a garden, but what mattered was the ability to contemplate “the relative in space, time and life.” Noguchi’s work in landscape architecture was in a continuum with other mediums, genres, and disciplines he worked in, such as modernist sculpture and industrial design. Ultimately, his vision was a transdisciplinary one, perhaps in reflection of his transcultural background. In that sense, Noguchi remains, like Geoffrey Bawa, a lodestar for navigating contemporary discourse on creative practice.

Doryun Chong was appointed as the inaugural Chief Curator in 2013, he oversees all curatorial activities and programmes at the museum. He has curated or co-curated critically acclaimed exhibitions for M+, including Noguchi for Danh Vo: Counterpoint (2018), Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now (2022), and Picasso for Asia—A Conversation (2025). Prior to joining M+, Chong worked at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

This event is supported by the Graham Foundation and is part of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust’s On Gardens series. It follows a talk by Isabela Ono on the work of Roberto Burle Marx.

Image: Isamu Noguchi, ‘M+ Playscape’, West Kowloon, Hong Kong © The Noguchi Museum / ARS. Photo © Lok Cheng.

Located in the heart of Bangkok, Lumphini Park plays a crucial role in the city's social, economic, and environmental well-being, benefiting both residents and local wildlife. Established by King Vajiravudh (King Rama VI) in 1926, Lumphini Park celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2026 as Thailand's first public park

In this talk, Dr Pramote Triboun, a senior scientist and Head of the Plant Seed Bank at the National Biobank of Thailand, will explore some key lessons on planting and managing urban green space from Lumphini Park. The discussion will look at the importance of urban ecology and green infrastructure in a metropolitan city and consider their role in meeting the challenges of the next century. 

Lumphini Park was originally designed for a national exhibition to boost the economy. The 140-acre oasis in central Bangkok serves as vital green infrastructure, providing a range of ecosystem services. The centennial marks the park’s transition into a modern, sustainable, and "Smart Park" for the future. 

As cities become more densely populated and concerns over climate change impacts intensify, urban parks are recognised as powerful tools for communities and local economies. At the same time, they provide essential recreational opportunities, increase property values, boost the local economy, and protect cities from environmental hazards.

Dr Triboun holds a PhD from the Faculty of Science, Khon Kaen University, Thailand, and has decades of experience in botanical research and conservation, including the description of several new-to-science species. He is also a member of the board of botany of the Royal Society of Thailand and of the Natural History section of the Siam Society. Dr Triboun has also served on the steering committee and as a juror for the Thai exhibition of the renowned Botanical Art Worldwide network, which was held at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre in 2025.

This talk is supported by Siam Nivasa Colombo

This interactive session uses storytelling and exploration to introduce children to the basics of architectural design, raise awareness of the spaces they inhabit, and consider how design can offer solutions to everyday needs.

Part of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust’s Saturday Story Club, this session will explore the Bawa-designed Kannangara House (now the Geoffrey Bawa Space) and examine how the building was reimagined from house to workplace.

This one-hour event invites children aged 5–12 to reimagine spaces and create their own “dream” houses. Refreshments will be provided, and adults are required to remain on the premises throughout the programme. Older and younger siblings are also welcome.

Join us in April for the first in our new series of Design Talks at the Bawa Space. This ongoing series will feature architects, designers, artists, and researchers from across Sri Lanka. 

This design talk by Indudunu Kariyawasam presents a journey through a series of architectural photographs from his work. Moving across projects, it reflects on the quiet importance of architecture and the sense of joy found in shaping space. Through close attention to detail, material, and spatial experience, the work reveals an ongoing search for a certain kind of serenity. It also considers how these spaces are formed with care and intention, and how an honest approach to making allows them to unfold with clarity and meaning.

Indudunu Kariyawasam is a Sri Lankan architect whose work brings together traditional sensibilities and modernist clarity. Based in Galle and Colombo, his practice spans residential, hospitality, and commercial projects, with a focus on functional design, material honesty, and craftsmanship. His work is defined by a restrained, considered approach, resulting in spaces that are both modern and quietly poetic. He apprenticed with Anura Ratnavibhushana and worked as a project architect at Palinda Kannangara Architects from 2017 to 2020, experiences that continue to inform his approach to practice.

What does it mean to design for ecological coexistence?

Join architect Sunela Jayewardene and ecologist Chaturangi Wickramaratne for an open discussion on how design can meet the needs of both humans and nature.

This panel is the first in a series of events that will expand upon and illustrate the Moonamal Award’s vision of ‘design for ecological coexistence’. These events aim to catalyse new conversations around how interdisciplinary collaboration can design projects that address the growing gap between design, ecology, and the environment.

The ‘Geoffrey Bawa Moonamal Award’ recognises projects that decentre the human, reverse anthropogenic degradation of the environment, and foster ecological regeneration through interdisciplinary collaboration for the coexistence of all lifeforms and landscapes. Nominations will open in August 2026, alongside further details on the Award fellowship.

Solve puzzles, search for clues, and find the treasure in this unique theatre performance with our friends at Clown Compass.

Join Andare the Junior and Granny Sisi for an interactive journey as they lead you through stories and secrets hidden within the Bawa Space.

This adventure is for kids aged 5-12 and their adults. Please wear comfortable shoes and bring your imagination. Admission is free, but places are limited.

The adventure will run for approximately one hour, and refreshments will be provided. Adults are expected to remain on the premises.

By registering for this event, the parent/guardian acknowledges that the Geoffrey Bawa Trust is not responsible for the child(ren).

It is also acknowledged that photographs, audio recordings, and/or video recordings of the children may be taken by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust or its authorised representatives during the programme, in accordance with the Trust’s Social Media Community Guidelines.

Celebrate the city’s vibrant creative population this March at Open House Colombo. This year’s theme, Makers’ Spaces and Other Places, invites visitors to step into a range of architectural firms, artists' studios, and home-based practices rarely open to the public. 

Locations for Sunday, 29 March 2026:

M47 Architects, Hokandara
Open Access: 9:00 – 11:00

îlot Colombo, Polgasowita
Workshop + Tour: 10:00 – 12:00

KWCA, Pelawatte
Tour: 10:00 – 11:00
Tour: 13:00 – 14:00
Tour: 15:00 – 16:00

The Living Gallery–Home of Dilsiri Welikala, Battaramulla
Tour: 11:30 – 12:30
Tour: 15:30 – 16:30

Lala Studio, Pannipitiya
Tour: 14:00 – 15:00

JC Ratnayake Artist Retreat, Hokandara
Open Access: 16:00 – 19:00

Celebrate the city’s vibrant creative population this March at Open House Colombo. This year’s theme, Makers’ Spaces and Other Places, invites visitors to step into a range of architectural firms, artists' studios, and home-based practices rarely open to the public. 

Locations for Saturday, 28 March 2026:

M47 Architects, Hokandara
Open Access: 9:00 – 11:00
Open Access: 16:00 – 18:00

Mullegama Art Community (Pala Pothupitiye), Homagama
Tour: 9:00 – 10:00

Hema Shironi Joseph and Pradeep Thalawatte, Kaduwela
Tour: 10:30 – 11:30

Lala Studio, Pannipitiya
Tour: 10:00 – 11:00

The Living Gallery–Home of Dilsiri Welikala, Battaramulla
Tour: 11:30 – 12:30
Tour: 15:30 – 16:30

Studio 703 (Priyantha Udagedera), Kaduwela
Tour: 13:00 – 14:30

Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts, Athurugiriya
Tour: 15:00 – 16:00

JC Ratnayake Artist Retreat, Hokandara
Open Access: 16:00 – 19:00

Ways of Knowing takes the Lunuganga garden as a starting point to explore how we sense, remember, and pass on knowledge — not just through sight, but through sound, touch, movement, and memory.

On this tour, you’ll encounter a rich mix of mediums — from virtual reality and film to textiles, seeds, maps, and oral traditions — and discover how artists Clara Kraft Isono, Barbara Sansoni, and Ruvin de Silva, alongside objects from the Geoffrey Bawa Collection, reimagine the ways we learn from the world around us.

Explore the social production of space with activist, researcher, and educator, Nihal Perera.  

Contextualising within architectural practices in Sri Lanka, Perera’s presentation will highlight the unique contributions of Geoffrey Bawa and Ulrik Plesner.  It will focus on how their work has gone beyond designing for clients' specifications in a capitalist market that prioritises style and aesthetics. It will demonstrate what we can learn about our identities, spaces, and selves.

Professor Nihal Perera (Ball State University, USA) is a leading scholar of Colombo and Asian urbanism, and an original contributor to the study of “post-colonial urbanism”. His research examines how social space is produced through the occupation and definition of spaces by ordinary people, who are viewed not as victims of larger social structures but as agents of change.

Celebrate the city’s vibrant creative population this March at Open House Colombo. This year’s theme, Makers’ Spaces and Other Places, invites visitors to step into a range of architectural firms, artists' studios, and home-based practices rarely open to the public. 

Locations for Sunday, 15 March 2026

Wooden Gate (Channa Ekanayake), Ethul Kotte
Open Access: 9:00 – 17:00

Studio Dwelling + Soul Studio (Palinda Kannangara), Rajagiriya
Tour: 9:30
Tour: 11:30
Tour: 15:00

Mount Studio, Maharagama
Tour: 10:00 – 11:00
Workshop: 12:30 – 14:00

Marie and Marisa Gnanaraj’s Studios, Nawala
Tour: 10:00 – 11:00
Tour: 11:30 – 12:30

CoCA Arts, Borella
Tour: 14:30 – 16:00

Local Maker, Nawala
Tour: 10:00 – 11:00
Tour: 11:00 – 12:00

Don’t miss the final kids tour of the Ways of Knowing exhibition at the Geoffrey Bawa Space! 

This activity will include a kid-friendly look at some of the Ways of Knowing installations, followed by a craft activity in which participants can design and make their own rain stick (a homemade musical instrument that sounds like rain). 

On this tour, kids will explore the garden, contemplate colour, make noise, and maybe even discover the answers to some of life’s big questions, such as: what do our senses tell us and how do we know what we know?

This event is all about exploring spaces, using your senses, making noise, and having fun. 

The tour and activity will run for approximately one hour, and drinks and snacks will be provided. The activity is designed for children between five and ten years old with a parent, guardian, or carer. Younger and older siblings are welcome. 

Celebrate the city’s vibrant creative population this March at Open House Colombo. This year’s theme, Makers’ Spaces and Other Places, invites visitors to step into a range of architectural firms, artists' studios, and home-based practices rarely open to the public. 

Locations for Saturday, 14 March 2026

Wooden Gate (Channa Ekanayake), Ethul Kotte
Open Access: 9:00 – 17:00

Mount Studio, Maharagama
Tour: 10:00 – 11:00

MdS A Studio, Pitakotte
Open Access: 9:00 – 17:00

Artist Studio–Mahen Perera, Colombo 03
Tour: 15:00 – 16:00
Tour: 16:30 – 17:30

CoCA Arts, Borella
Tour: 14:30 – 16:00

Celebrate the city’s vibrant creative population this March at Open House Colombo. This year’s theme, Makers’ Spaces and Other Places, invites visitors to step into a range of architectural firms, artists' studios, and home-based practices rarely open to the public. 

Locations for Sunday, March 8 2028

ApiHappi, Nawala
Open Access: 10:00 – 17:00
Workshop: 10:00 – 12:00
Workshop: 14:00 – 16:00
Drum Circle: 15:00 onwards

Ivy Ceramics Studio, Borella
Open Access: 10:00 – 17:00
Tour: 12:30 – 13:00
Tour: 16:00 – 16:30

Clay Vibes Academy, Colombo 07
Open Access: 10:00 – 12:00
Open Access: 13:00 – 16:00

W A Silva Museum, Colombo 06
Open Access: 10:00 – 17:00
Tour: 11:00
Tour: 15:00

University of Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo 07
Tour (English): 11:00 – 12:00
Tour (Sinhala): 14:00 – 15:00

Park Studio, Colombo 05
Tour: 17:00 – 18:00

Celebrate the city’s vibrant creative population this March at Open House Colombo. This year’s theme, Makers’ Spaces and Other Places, invites visitors to step into a range of architectural firms, artists' studios, and home-based practices rarely open to the public. 

Locations for Saturday 7 March 2026:

Maradana College of Technology, Maradana
Open Access: 10:30 – 12:00

Nåd Store, Colombo 07
Talk: 10:00 – 11:00
Open Access: 11:00 – 17:00

Clay Vibes Academy, Colombo 07
Open Access: 10:00 – 12:00
Open Access: 13:00 – 16:00

W A Silva Museum, Colombo 06
Open Access: 10:00 – 17:00
Tour: 11:00
Tour: 15:00

Park Studio, Colombo 05
Tour: 11:00 – 12:00

Tanya and Suren Wickremasinghe Architects, Borella
Tour: 13:30 – 14:30
Tour: 14:30 – 15:30

AMESH Studios, Mount Lavinia
Tour: 14:30 – 15:30
Tour: 16:00 – 17:00

PWA, Colombo 05
Tour: 16:00 – 17:00
Tour: 17:00 – 18:00

Open House Colombo 2026 begins with an evening of thoughtful discussion and a celebration of Colombo’s urban environment at the Bawa Space in Colombo 07.

Join Iromi Perera, founder and director of Colombo Urban Lab, for a look at how cities are increasingly being impacted by city-making processes that don't consider or align with our natural environment. In Sri Lanka, public spaces are built and maintained with public funds, yet citizens remain users—not shapers—of these environments. Iromi will reflect on how deepening inequality and the climate crisis are reshaping urban life and leading to less inclusive urban planning, and on ways we can all contribute to creating more inclusive cities.   

Iromi’s talk will be followed by refreshments and conversation. The event is also an opportunity to meet and talk with the artists, architects, and creatives who are opening their spaces for the festival weekend.   

What do we know about the home gardens of urban Ceylon, and how are these spaces remembered through literature and history? Drawing from the burgeoning field of plant humanities, this talk reads the literary gardens in Sri Lankan writing alongside those recorded by colonial travel writers to rethink the garden as a more-than-human space where memories, bodies, and biopolitics shape how it is imagined, perceived, and experienced. By situating the gardens within the larger organism of the city, the talk also invites us to experience them as spaces transformed by our changing relationships with both past and future urban life.

Pawan Wijesinghe is an educator and researcher whose work spans literature, cultural studies, and the environmental humanities. His research interrogates the representation of the body, animality, and ecology across diverse literary and visual cultures, with particular emphasis on interdisciplinary and premodern literary traditions.

In February the Trust will host Somil Daga, ecological gardener and a native plant enthusiast, as part of an exchange facilitated by the International National Trusts Organisation. 

Somil’s presentation celebrates the idea of embracing the wilderness, creating sustainable landscapes in the face of climate change, and how habitats can be created for plants and animals in highly populated urban environments.

This talk will take you on a journey of restoring the wilderness of two heritage landscapes in the desert cities of Jodhpur and Nagaur in Rajasthan, India. During this talk, Somil will share his experiences working as Park Director at Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park in Jodhpur and the Project Director at Abha Mahal Bagh in Nagaur. 

This talk is part of the Intersectional Ecology talk series at the Geoffrey Bawa Space. Somil’s talk is supported by a grant from the International National Trusts Organisation.

Ways of Knowing takes the Lunuganga garden as a starting point to explore how we sense, remember, and pass on knowledge — not just through sight, but through sound, touch, movement, and memory.

On this tour, you’ll encounter a rich mix of mediums — from virtual reality and film to textiles, seeds, maps, and oral traditions — and discover how artists Clara Kraft Isono, Barbara Sansoni, and Ruvin de Silva, alongside objects from the Geoffrey Bawa Collection, reimagine the ways we learn from the world around us.

This workshop will explore the ways in which we love and show love to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us.  

Led by self-taught calligraphy artist Aisha Anver, this workshop will show participants how to design and make their own zine. As small, homemade booklets, zines offer the perfect medium for sharing and communicating love (or other emotions) and offer the maker artistic freedom to express themselves through words, drawings, or other chosen forms. 

This workshop is open to all ages.

The Jim Thompson Arts Center in Bangkok is a four-story haven for all things creative, hosting some of the most exciting exhibitions, talks, workshops, and events in the city. 

American architect and OSS officer James H. W. Thompson was an influential cultural icon in Bangkok in the 1950s, known not only for reshaping Thailand’s silk industry, but also for his reassembly of traditional Thai houses and collection of art and antiques from Thailand and Asia.

Join Artistic Director  Gridthiya Gaweewong for a discussion how the Art Center—part of the Jim Thompson Heritage Quarter—builds on Thompson’s legacy to link historical memory with present artistic inquiry while opening speculative perspectives on future cultural imaginaries.

Gridthiya Gaweewong co-founded Project 304, an alternative space in Bangkok, from 1996 to 2002. She has curated numerous regional and international exhibitions across Asia, Europe and beyond. Gridthiya received the Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence  in 2025, and she currently works as the Artistic Director of the Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok.

Join our Saturday Story Club at the Bawa Space in Colombo 07.  Together we will read books, do a simple craft, and chat about how we know what we know. Book and craft themes will focus on art, architecture, and the environment. 

This event is part of our current Ways of Knowing exhibition, which looks at the different ways we learn about the world around us, and how we share our knowledge with other people.   

The Saturday Story Club is suitable for children between the ages of 3–6 years and their parents, guardians, and carers. Older and younger siblings are also welcome.

Explore the varied textures and materiality of clay while crafting a personalised mosaic tile.

Ceramics are utilised regularly in daily life, yet the full diversity of this form is rarely experienced.  Join ceramicist Senali Cooray (Ivy Ceramics), for an exploration of clay’s varied forms—liquid, pliable, dry, brittle, crumbling, or dense—and discover how it can hold a memory of the hands or the tools that formed it. 

Participants are requested to bring items such as leaves, seeds, coins, or small items that hold personal meaning to imprint in the clay.  Finished tiles will be glazed and fired and available for collection from the Ivy Ceramic Studio or the Geoffrey Bawa Trust.

Senali Cooray transitioned into ceramics after studying and working in interior design. Her work is known for pushing the sculptural boundaries of ceramics, using its form and materiality to reflect the human experience and explore themes of childhood, memory, culture, and religion as a social construct.

Do you know the story of the king who had the seasons as his gardeners? Or the tree who played witness to a divine wedding? Join Soham Kacker, the curator of living collections at Lunuganga for an evening stroll through Viharamahadevi Park for an exploration of plants and storytelling. 

Drawing on stories, myths and legends from across the subcontinent, this tour will reveal the layered and complex relationships between plants and people. We will explore how poets, authors, and narrators have viewed plants as symbols, metaphors, innuendos, and powerful beings, influencing the ways we know our surroundings and ourselves.

Meeting point: Viharamahadevi Park Buddha Statue by 4.20pm

Explore design and stamp making through the Ways of Knowing exhibition at the Geoffrey Bawa Space! 

On this tour kids will design and craft their own stamps (made from potatoes!), and use them to share their feelings, knowledge, and views on their surroundings. The event will start with a brief look at our current Ways of Knowing exhibition, encouraging participants to look around them and ask some of life’s big questions,  such as: how do we know what we know?

Make Your Mark is all about asking questions, thinking about the world around you, and exploring how design and art can help us express our feelings, as well as what we know about the world around us.

The tour and activity will run for approximately one hour, and drinks and snacks will be provided. The activity is designed for children between five and ten years old with a parent, guardian, or carer. Younger and older siblings are welcome. 

Ways of Knowing takes the Lunuganga garden as a starting point to explore how we sense, remember, and pass on knowledge — not just through sight, but through sound, touch, movement, and memory.

On this tour, you’ll encounter a rich mix of mediums — from virtual reality and film to textiles, seeds, maps, and oral traditions — and discover how artists Clara Kraft Isono, Barbara Sansoni, and Ruvin de Silva, alongside objects from the Geoffrey Bawa Collection, reimagine the ways we learn from the world around us.

Ways of Knowing takes the Lunuganga garden as a starting point to explore how we sense, remember, and pass on knowledge — not just through sight, but through sound, touch, movement, and memory.

On this tour, you’ll encounter a rich mix of mediums — from virtual reality and film to textiles, seeds, maps, and oral traditions — and discover how artists Clara Kraft Isono, Barbara Sansoni, and Ruvin de Silva, alongside objects from the Geoffrey Bawa Collection, reimagine the ways we learn from the world around us.

Join architectural and urban historian Pamudu Tennakoon for a discussion on how Colombo’s colonial architecture continues to influence negotiations of the city’s history.

The recent surge of interest and investment in colonial architecture in Colombo demonstrates that colonial architecture still provides the backdrop for negotiations of the city’s history. This talk closely explores the De Soysa building, a recently demolished shophouse complex in the neighborhood of Kompagngna Veediya. Refracting multiple historical narratives of this building (which now exists as rubble), this talk questions how people continue to occupy and relate to the material remnants of their colonial pasts. Ultimately, this work pushes against the discomfort present in allowing archival, oral, and artistic narratives alongside each other to underscore the importance of reconciling these histories.

Pamudu Tennakoon is an architectural and urban historian who holds a PhD in History of Art and Architecture and an MA in Anthropology from Brown University. In January, she will be joining the Colombo: Layered Histories in a Global South City project at Cambridge University as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

Join Dr. Pirasri Povatong, Thai architectural historian, for an exploration of the legacy and preservation of modern architecture across Thailand. 

Following social and political transformation in the wake of World War Two, Thailand experienced significant industrialisation and urban renewal. Embracing the global modernism movement, leading Thai and international architects explored new ways of creating spaces and forms that embraced modern life in the Tropics, balancing the desire to be both modern, by international standards, with Thai traditional design.

In this lecture, Dr. Povatong will look at how many of these modern masterpieces have become obsolete functionally, economically, and structurally in today’s Thailand. Drawing from his research and teachings at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, he will also discuss how we can preserve memories of the vanishing creativity and complexity of modern Thai architectural design.

This lecture is the third in our Thai Architecture Programme.  In collaboration with the Royal Thai Embassy in Colombo, the Programme presents talks and workshops by Thai architects visiting Sri Lanka.

Pirasri Povatong, Ph.D., is an architectural historian specializing in architecture and urbanism of Thailand during the 19th and 20th centuries. After finishing his study at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, he has been teaching at the Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University, in Bangkok, conducting research on the development of modern architecture in Thailand, and the preservation of modern architectural heritage through archival materials, walking tours, and other public education programs.