Take a tour of the Design in the Moment exhibition with Channa Daswatte, co-curator of Design in the Moment and Chairperson at the Geoffrey Bawa Trust.

Friday, 16th May, 2025; 6.30 p.m.
The Bawa Space, 42/1 Horton Place, Colombo 07

Limited spaces available; registration required.

Tuesday, 6 May 2025
6.30 p.m.
The Bawa Space, 42/1 Horton Place, Colombo 07
Register here

Join us in May for a discussion on how gardens inspire architecture with Chinese architect, scholar, and critic Professor Qiuye Jin. The talk will explore how architects and designers, such as Geoffrey Bawa, capture garden-like qualities in built structures and integrate the essence of Western modernism with a sensitivity and spatial understanding unique to the East. Drawing from his research into how the art and gardens of China’s historical elite resonates in contemporary design, Professor Jin will discuss the modern transformation of Chinese architecture and landscape.

Professor Jin credits Bawa’s work as inspiration throughout his research, and has authored multiple papers on Bawa’s legacy, including the recently published Through Bawa’s Garden, a bilingual book in Chinese and English. Professor Jin is based at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture (BUCEA). He is also a MIT Research Scholar and author, editor, and translator of several academic books and publications. 

Professional accreditations include: MIT Research Scholar; Tsinghua University Ph.d; Comité International des Critiques d'Architecture (CICA) member; Architectural Society of China member; Professor at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture (BUCEA); Host of Jin Architects studio. Research fields include: translation of Chinese Traditional Design Language into Modern Architecture and The Contemporary Experimental Architecture in China. Professor Jin is the author of several academic books including: A House is also a Garden and Foreign Body Sensation. Editorial work includes publication serials such as: Arcadia: Painting and Garden and Readers on Chinese

This hour-long event will include a presentation followed with questions from the audience.

Take a tour of the Design in the Moment exhibition with Channa Daswatte, co-curator of Design in the Moment and Chairperson at the Geoffrey Bawa Trust.

Friday, 21st March, 2025; 6.30 p.m.
The Bawa Space, 42/1 Horton Place, Colombo 07

Limited spaces available; registration required.

Join us at the Bawa Space for a morning of craft and conversation with origami artist Shazad Synon. Blending furniture design with the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, this workshop is an opportunity to learn a new skill or hone existing ones, while studying the form and structure of some of Geoffrey Bawa’s most iconic furniture designs.

During the workshop, participants will take a brief tour of the Trust’s current exhibition Design in the Moment: Furniture by the Geoffrey Bawa Practice, after which they will be guided on how to make their own piece of tiny paper furniture to take home. 

Shazad Synon is an origami artist and advertising creative. What began as a teenager’s creative way of procrastination has now grown into a passion that sees him conducting origami workshops at design schools, private homes, and art spaces.

LKR 2000/- per person: purchase here
(Scholarships are available, please email info@geoffreybawa.org)
Workshop materials and refreshments will be provided. 
For ages 12 and up

Kicking off our talk-series at the Geoffrey Bawa Trust this year, Sri Lankan-born Suhanya Raffel will speak about curatorial practice and institution building. Suhanya will present M+, the new museum of visual culture which opened in Hong Kong in 2020, where she has been museum director since 2016. Suhanya has also been a trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa and Lunuganga Trusts since 1995, and an important advisor to our curatorial team. The event will include a brief presentation, followed by a discussion, and end with questions from the audience.

Suhanya Raffel
Museum Director, M+

Suhanya Raffel is the Museum Director of M+ in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK). Since her appointment in 2016, she has overseen all museum activities at M+, including acquisitions, programming, collections care, development, research, institutional collaborations, and museum operations. Raffel has defined the museum’s mission, broadening its international reach and championing its deep connection with the local community. Before joining M+, Raffel was the Director of Collections and then Deputy Director at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Sydney, Australia (2013–2016). She has held many senior curatorial positions, including Deputy Director of Curatorial and Collection Development from 2010 and Acting Director in 2012 at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (1994–2013). There, she was instrumental in building the contemporary Asia Pacific collection and led its Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Raffel is the President of CIMAM, the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (2023–2025), and she has served on the CIMAM Board since 2016. She is also a member of the Bizot Group (2021–ongoing) and a trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust and the Lunuganga Trust, Sri Lanka (1994–ongoing). She is a member of the scientific committee for the Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT, Turin, Italy (2023–ongoing); the International Advisory Committee of the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2023–ongoing); and the Royal Board of Trustees of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain (2024–ongoing). She was awarded the title of Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2020 and the Sydney University Alumni Achievement Award for Cultural Contribution in 2022.

Join Channa Daswatte, co-curator of Design in the Moment, for a tour exploring how the exhibition objects capture the architect’s envisioned “moment.” This guided experience will highlight the spontaneous collaborations between designers and craftsmen that shaped each piece, showcasing their functional purposes and the creative spirit expressed through materials and ideas. 

Limited spaces available.

The 400 Blows, or Les Quatre cents coups, is a semi-autobiographical film by director François Truffaut about a young boy growing up in Paris named Antoine Doinel. Antoine faces adversity at every turn, from disinterested parents to unsympathetic teachers, and his only respite comes in the form of Balzac novels. This coming-of-age story ushered in a new genre of film, French New Wave, and is regarded as one of the best films ever made.

This screening is in partnership with the Alliance Française de Colombo and the Embassy of France.

Our monthly film club highlights the relationship between film and architecture. The series continues with a screening of Soviet Bus Stops, which follows photographer Christopher Herwig as he documents the diverse architecture of bus stops across the former Republic.

Our monthly film club highlights the relationship between film and architecture. The series continues with a screening of Metropolis by director Fritz Lang, which follows two characters in an urban dystopia marked by wealth disparities and class friction.

Chief Curator Shayari de Silva will deliver a lecture titled “Drawing from the Geoffrey Bawa Archives.” De Silva will share observations from the Bawa Archives and question what constitutes archives in the context of Bawa’s work.

As part of the opening of Geoffrey Bawa: It is Essential to be There at Yale University, Chief Curator Shayari de Silva will lead a curatorial tour of the exhibition.

On Saturday, 24th August, we will be opening the De Saram House for viewing and tours alongside an interactive activity.

A moderated conversation between our Programme Manager Shanika Perera and visiting volunteer from Open House Basel, Nora Volk, will follow, exploring the similarities and differences between the two festivals. If you’ve ever wondered about the logistics of planning a city-wide festival, this is your chance to gain insight from two experts who run the show from their corners of the globe!

De Saram House will open at 10:00 a.m. Tours will be offered at 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. The talk will begin at 11:00 a.m.

Registration allows for access to one tour plus the talk.

De Saram House Google Maps Link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/gMMr1XZbBFUo8amo6
Parking is regretfully not available at the De Saram House. Visitors may park on Ward Place at their own discretion, but using other forms of transport is encouraged.

This event is in collaboration with Open House Basel and supported by Atelier Mondial.

How does pedagogy, research and practice influence an architect’s work? Architect and educator Anupama Kundoo will explore this question over an informal two-hour session for young architects and students on Saturday, 10th August at 11:30 a.m. at the De Saram House. 

As a Professor of architecture with teaching experience at Technische Universität Berlin, Yale University, and Columbia University, Anupama Kundoo’s research-oriented practice—with studios in Berlin, and Pondicherry—has developed people-centric architecture prioritising low environmental impact. Her solo show, Taking Time, was on view at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art between 2020–21. She is the recipient of multiple accolades including the RIBA Charles Jencks Award and the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture. Kundoo’s practice centres human resourcefulness including ingenuity, care, and sense of community.

To register, please fill out this Google Form: bit.ly/KundooQA. Please note this event has limited capacity; once filled, registrations will close. If you are unable to attend, please cancel your registration so someone on the waitlist can be given your seat.

"Rethinking Material Resources alongside Human Resourcefulness"

Our built environment is the physical stage on which all human stories are lived out. This physical stage is the historical and ongoing manifestation of human imagination operating within real (or, imaginary!) constraints. Anupama Kundoo advances the idea that architectural imagination must transcend design and enter the realms of materials science and economics where some of the bigger questions reside. She will discuss the thrust of her inquiries which have been to find practical ways to fulfill the universal human aspiration for refuge, purpose, and social engagement through extensive material research and experimentation. She will discuss 'Human Time as a Resource' in the quest for new materiality and critically examine the way the time value of money has nudged us towards code-based design and the industrialized production of building components and, sometimes, even entire buildings themselves. She will discuss materiality and consumption of finite natural resources alongside their impact on human wellbeing and human resourcefulness.

Anupama Kundoo

Anupama Kundoo graduated from the University of Mumbai in 1989 and received her PhD from Technische Universität Berlin in 2008. Her research-oriented practice, started in 1990 in Auroville, has generated people-centric architecture based on spatial and material research for low environmental impact while being socioeconomically beneficial. Her body of works was recently exhibited as a solo show, Taking Time, at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark. She has taught Architecture and Urban Management at various international universities including Yale and Columbia, strengthening her expertise in rapid urbanization and climate change-related development issues. She is currently Professor at Technische Universität Berlin, Germany and the Norman Foster Visiting Professor of Architecture at Yale University. She received the RIBA Charles Jencks Award for her contribution to architectural theory, the 2021 Auguste Perret Prize for architectural technology, the 2021 Building Sense Now Global Award of the German Sustainable Building Council DGNB, and the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture under UNESCO patronage in 2022. Her studios are based in Berlin, Germany, and Pondicherry, India. Kundoo’s rigorous research and experimentation in new materiality for architecture is the result of questioning basic assumptions and construction habits that humanity has adopted during the long process of industrialization. Rather than focussing on shortage, she sought abundance through investing in human resources and human resourcefulness, such as ingenuity, time, skills, care and sense of community.

Join the Youth Advisory Board for a Lunuganga-themed scavenger hunt!

Our inaugural Youth Advisory Board (YAB) consists of six members in their teens to twenties who advise the Trust while devising ways to engage a wider network of young people. Join the YAB for a Lunuganga-themed scavenger hunt, which will be available to complete throughout the weekend before convening to share your finds.

Location: Field of Jars

Spend an afternoon picnicking at Cinnamon Hill with handheld snacks prepared by Colombo restaurant GINI. (5,000 LKR/person)

GINI Outdoor Kitchen will cater a picnic in the garden for guests to enjoy before heading home from the weekend’s festivities. The restaurant will offer an assortment of snacks off the grill to be enjoyed in a casual picnic setting.

This event is ticketed at 5,000 LKR/person. Payment may be made via bank transfer within 36 hours of registering.

Location: Cinnamon Hill

Take a (de)tour of Lunuganga by GBT Sr. Design and Communications Manager Thilini Perera and artist Chathura Nissansala.

The Order of Nature is a curatorial project exploring Lunuganga on the intersections of queerness, architecture, and landscape design. This detour explores the garden as a site for otherness, investigating how Lunuganga subverts established paradigms of garden design by its representational and ecological components. The Trust’s Senior Design and Communications Manager Thilini Perera and artist Chathuri Nissansala—who hope to question conceptions of what defines "normal" and "natural"—will lead the tour.

Join artist Firi Rahman for a tour of his Lunuganga installation.

Firi Rahman is a multidisciplinary artist whose work considers the relationships between people and nature. His two-part installation, In between: the Existence of Firdaus and Perch, addresses these connections through a series of drawings and an outdoor structure—a first for the artist. Rahman will offer a tour of his installation to allow visitors insight into his creative process and the experience of working within and alongside the garden.

Location: Field of Jars

Launch of 'Saudade: Encountering the Haunting Presence of Prince Dorovana' by artist Chathuri Nissansala

Inspired by Lunuganga as a fantastical landscape where queerness ekes out a claim, contemporary Colombo-based artist Chathuri Nissansala’s new installation investigates this presence as a sort of nostalgia-inducing spectre.

Enjoy a Lunuganga-inspired meal by Colombo restaurant GINI under the stars on the Red Terrace. (30,000 LKR/person).

GINI Outdoor Kitchen merges the traditional practice of live-fire outdoor cooking with contemporary takes on locally-sourced ingredients and spices. As a fundraiser to continue the work of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust to make art and architecture accessible to the public, this event will be ticketed and priced at 30,000 LKR per person for a unique culinary experience. GINI at Lunuganga will combine the shared philosophies of the restaurant and garden by serving a multi-course plated dinner—prepared in the restaurant’s signature style of cooking over an open flame—to an intimate crowd on the Red Terrace.

This event is ticketed. Payment may be made via bank transfer within 36 hours of registering.

Location: Red Terrace

Enjoy handcrafted cocktails from Colombo restaurant GINI on the Front Terrace at sunset.

Known for its open-flame cooking, GINI Outdoor Kitchen has also developed a reputation for producing craft cocktails using unique local ingredients. Guests are invited to sample specially-made drinks conceived with the history and flora of Lunuganga in mind as the sun sets over Dedduwa Lake.

Location: Front Terrace

Acclaimed musician Ravibandu Vidyapathi will perform his original soundtrack to 'Salt River' on the Front Terrace.

Salt River is a Lunuganga-focused film based in part on an idea from Channa Daswatte. Twenty years after its release, musician and dance artist Ravibandu Vidyapathi will re-conceptualise his soundtrack to the 2004 film through an originally-composed live performance featuring a sweeping orchestral ensemble.

Location: Front Terrace

Join artist Firi Rahman for a tour of his Lunuganga installation.

Firi Rahman is a multidisciplinary artist whose work considers the relationships between people and nature. His two-part installation, In between: the Existence of Firdaus and Perch, addresses these connections through a series of drawings and an outdoor structure—a first for the artist. Rahman will offer a tour of his installation to allow visitors insight into his creative process and the experience of working within and alongside the garden.

Location: Field of Jars

Join us for the launch of a new installation around Ena de Silva's work, located in her home on Lunuganga's grounds.

The Geoffrey Bawa Trust and Ena de Silva Foundation are close collaborators, born out of the friendship between Bawa and Ena de Silva. Placed within the house designed by Geoffrey Bawa for Ena de Silva, this installation is the culmination of unravelling Ena's deeply empathetic and keen observations of the natural world and its influence on not only her textile practice, but those around her. This installation will also showcase Ena’s son and “drawing hands” Anil Gamini Jayasuriya for his imperative contributions to the practice.

Location: No. 05 (Ena de Silva House) at Lunuganga

Join us at the Kannangara House for an opening reception and launch of the new 'Tree Talks' audio installation.

Join us at the Aelian Kannangara house—the new home of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust team—for a reception to inaugurate the space and kick off the To Lunuganga Season 3 launch weekend.

Channa Daswatte, Chairperson of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, will welcome guests to the Kannangara House, designed by Geoffrey Bawa (1959-61). Chief Curator Shayari de Silva will reflect on the To Lunuganga programme and introduce its third season. Light refreshments will be served. 

Tree Talks is a podcast series designed to unearth new narratives rooted in the flora of Lunuganga. The first season has explored themes such as rituals, healing, and habitats. Guests have included naturalist Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, fashion designer Sanjeewa Wijesundara, Intangible Cultural Heritage expert Dr. Danister Perera, and architect Aquila Peris. Curator Aneesha Mustachi will briefly introduce the project and the listening room, intended as a space to experience all five episodes released to-date alongside an installation, on view until Sunday, 14 July.

Location: Kannangara House, 41/2 Horton Place Colombo 07

Parking is not available at the Kannangara House. You may park at your own discretion on Horton Place, but using alternative forms of transport is highly encouraged.

Mirror by filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky is a drama that traces the life of a dying poet and the evolution of Soviet culture between the 1960s and 1970s. Semi-autobiographical in nature, the film features poems by Tarkovsky’s father as well as his wife and mother. Mirror takes on a nonlinear narrative structure that incorporates childhood memories, dreams, and newsreel footage to piece together a comprehensive, yet fractured, account of the poet’s story.

Animator, illustrator, comic artist, and storyteller Shenuka Corea will lead a counter-mapping workshop focused on hidden histories to mark the launch of her corresponding zine. This activity seeks to frame the garden from new perspectives and consider mapping as a practice of documentation to uncover what lies beneath the view of the naked eye or beyond a first glance. 

Participants will work together to create a collaborative counter-map of the garden based on their observations, photographs, and drawings. 

The zine and workshop are part of The Order of Nature, a curatorial project exploring the intersection of queerness, architecture, and landscape design within Lunuganga.

LKR 3,000 (includes transport to & from Bentota, lunch, and tea).
Scholarships available, please write to us at: programmes@gbtrust.net

“Let's Create an (Inclusive) Treasure Map!”

Let’s Build Great Things! will host a two-part children’s workshop focusing on skills including pattern identification, wayfinding, communication, and inclusivity. A tessellation activity will kick off the day, which will culminate in a special treasure hunt designed by participants.

Let’s Build Great Things! is an educational platform designed to develop and nurture autonomy in young children through interactive arts-based lessons rooted in architectural and design pedagogy. Exercises cultivate critical thinking and an interest in social engagement. The forthcoming Let’s Build Great Things! activity book, which fosters skill-building and whose contents are the basis for this programme, will be released soon in collaboration with the Geoffrey Bawa Trust.

LKR 3,000
For ages 6-13 years
For more information and registration, please email programmes@gbtrust.net