Geoffrey Bawa
place of great natural beauty whose nuances were closely felt andunderstood deeply.One of his most striking achievements is his own garden at
Lunuganga
which he fashioned from an abandoned rubber estate. This project occupied him for
fifty years
, and he used it as a test bed for hisemerging ideas. The result is a series of outdoorrooms conceived with an exquisitesense of theatre as a civilizedwilderness on a quiet backwater inthe greater garden of Sri Lanka. The garden at Lunuganga sitsastride two low hills on apromontory which juts out into abrackish lagoon lying off the estuaryof the Bentota River.In 1948, when Bawa first bought it,there was nothing here but anundistinguished bungalow surrounded by ten hectares of rubberplantation. Since then hills have been moved, terraces have been cut, woodshave been replanted and new vistas have been opened up, but the originalbungalow still survives within its cocoon of added verandas, courtyards, andloggias.To the north of the house lawns run down to the edge of a cliff whichlooks out across the lake. To the east a secluded terrace is defined be a seriesof pavilions Bawa’s office, a sculpture courts a small gallery. Steps lead downto the Cliff and the Broad Walk and eventually to the water gardens, withtheir checkerboard squares of rice paddy.To the west, hemmed in by forest, isthe Field of Jars which leads up to the Cinnamon Hill and the southern edge of the peninsula. The social setting of this lived dream was a society of generosity andacceptance, where sophisticated and educated men and women with widelydiffering ethnic origins had learnt to weave the many strands of theirinheritance into an elegant way of life with, as someone said, “ Great styleand humorous balance”. GeoffreyBawa himself is quoted as sayingonce, when talking of the making of Lunuganga that “It was not tied toany other world except peopleenjoying themselves within theircapabilities.” The places and rooms made in thisinhabited landscape respond also tothe many rituals of gracious livingattended by simple comforts andconveniences – rituals of arrival andreception, of bathing, of shared meals and convivial conversation, or solitarystudy and contemplation.Vishnu S6