The Trust

The Geoffrey Bawa Trust is a non-profit, public trust that was established in 1982 by the late architect, with the objectives of furthering the fields of Architecture, the Fine Arts and Ecological and Environmental Studies. Since the architect’s passing in 2003, the Trust has sustained year-round public programmes comprising lectures, educational tours, scholarships, residencies and exhibitions which engage broader discourse on the built environment and the arts in both Sri Lanka and overseas.

The Lunuganga Trust  was set up in 1993 with the objective of managing and preserving the estate of  Geoffrey Bawa, with a focus on increasing access and scholarship around the built work and personal collections of the architect, which includes the archives of his architectural practice.

Since 2010, the Trust has been run as a limited liability company Lunuganga Trust (Pvt.) Ltd and the current Trustees are: 

Sunethra Bandaranaike  (retired 2019)
Ward Beling
Channa Daswatte (Chairperson, Geoffrey Bawa Trust)
Chamika de Alwis
Sanjay Kulatunga
Suhanya Raffel
Nadija Tambiah

The Trustees

Sunethra Bandaranaike (Emeritus Chair)

Sunethra Bandaranaike has worked as a researcher in the Minority Rights Group and the Overseas Development Institute and formerly held the post of Coordinating Secretary to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. She serves as the chairperson at the Sunera Foundation, an NGO established in 2000 which works with differently-abled youth and adults. She was a trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa and Lunuganga Trusts from November 1990 to February 2019, and was a close personal friend of Geoffrey Bawa.

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Channa Daswatte (Chairperson)

Channa joined Geoffrey Bawa’s architecture practice in 1991 and was the last partner of the firm. In 1998, he established MICD Associates, where he is a principal, in partnership with Murad Ismail. Channa was the Chairperson of the Galle Heritage Foundation and has worked on a number of architectural, conservation and curatorial projects, including the Corridors of Power Installation which was exhibited at the most recent Dhaka Art Summit in 2018. Channa authored and edited Sri Lanka Style (2005) has written for and edited a number of publications including A+U and Sri Lanka Institute of Architects’ Journal. Channa is the chairperson of the Geoffrey Bawa and Lunuganga Trusts.

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Chamika de Alwis

Chamika began his architectural career at MICD Associates and continues to practice at the firm as a Senior Associate. In 2016 he embarked on his own practice as the Principal Architect of C Atelier Consultants and CDA Associates. He has worked on numerous architectural and restoration projects of which one was the recipient of the Conde Nast Johansens Award for Excellence in 2020 – 21. He has also been involved in several curatorial projects in Sri Lanka including the exhibitions Second Skin in March 2017 and Revive; Ethical Use of Material  in June 2017 in collaboration with the Colombo Fashion Week. In 2019 he also curated One Won in collaboration with the University of the Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo in the aftermath of the Easter Attacks in Sri Lanka He is a Trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust and the Lunuganga Trust.

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Nadija Tambiah

Nadija Tambiah is a Barrister at Law (Middle Temple), UK and an Attorney at Law in Sri Lanka. She sits on the Group Executive Committee and heads the Legal and Company Secretarial functions of the John Keells Group, the largest diversified conglomerate in Sri Lanka. She also heads the John Keells Foundation its corporate social responsibility arm. She serves as a member of the Steering Committee on Arbitration and Mediation at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. She is a Trustee of the George Keyt Foundation, Geoffrey Bawa Trust, Lunuganga Trust, a member of the Executive Committee of the Colombo Museum of Modern Art and sits on the Council of the Sri Lankan Institute of Directors.

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Sanjay Kulatunge

Sanjay Kulatunga, a former Regional Analyst at Jardine Fleming Hong Kong, is cofounder and CEO of Lynear Wealth Management, one of the largest independent private wealth management firms in the country. He was a Founder Director of Amba Research Lanka and is an Independent Director of Expolanka PLC, a global diversified conglomerate rooted in Sri Lanka. Sanjay has served as President of the CFA Society of Sri Lanka, a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka and on the Financial Sector Stability Consultative Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. He currently serves as a Member of the  Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.
 

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Suhanya Raffel

Suhanya was appointed Executive Director of M+ in November 2016. Her curatorial career began in 1984 and she has over 30 years of experience as a museum curator and leader. Prior to joining M+, Suhanya was Deputy Director and Director of Collections at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia and Acting Director of the Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Australia. She is a Trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust and the Lunuganga Trust, and a Board Member of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM). She was awarded the Chevalier in the Ordres des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2020.

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Ward Beling 

Ward currently works in a global management capacity, with the multinational Oil and Gas company, Total SE. He is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in London. In addition to his extensive commercial background, Ward was a close family friend and associate of Geoffrey Bawa from a very early age and was one of the earliest trustees appointed to both the Geoffrey Bawa and the Lunuganga Trusts.