TimeOut

LiL's adventures in Sri Lanka - Part 1 - Geoffrey Bawa Hotels..

 

Sri Lanka's brutal civil war between the Sinhalese dominated government and a separatist Tamil group finally ended in May last year. With this ceasefire, this lush gorgeous island is poised for mass tourism. NY Times in its travel section has nominated Sri Lanka as the "Best Destination" to visit in year 2010. Encouraged by this recommendation, my travel buddies and i took the 3 hour flight to this island just off the Indian continent.

An architecture buff, the highlight of the trip for me were the Geoffrey Bawa hotels. He is Sri Lanka's most prolific and influential architect and his work has had tremendous impact upon architecture worldwide.

Heritance Kandalama Hotel

This hotel was conceived as an austere jungle palace.

Access road to the hotel..

Mommy monkey feeding cute baby..

It incorporates many features linking it with its environment. Rocks, caves and cascades of rainwater add drama to corridors, foliage brushes the windows, flowering woodland creepers curtain balconies and the roofs are terraces of wild grass.

What a view..

Yummy lunch.. our best meal in Sri Lanka..

Owl... good luck as far as i am concerned..

Bawa's use of starkly concrete frame and a flat roof is appropriate to its Dry Zone location and the hotel seems to grow out of its site. The tectonic form makes it possible for the hotel to hug the shape of the ridge so that its open sided corridors run alongside the cliff face.

Do u spy a hidden cameraman ? No such thing as privacy here :o(

Infinity pool... what a view..

Comfy bed..

i want to soak in the bath all day long ..

interesting door..

Talented musician entertaining us with popular music..


Lighthouse Hotel

This hotel sits on a rocky outcrop above the beach, with terraces sweeping down to the golden sands and the Indian Ocean.

 



The main body of the hotel has corridors dappled by shadows from tall slender pillars and colonial night lamps.

Five star luxury.. definitely worth a visit..

A most distinctive feature at the hotel entrance is a sculptured metal ballustrade enclosing a spiral staircase which sweeps to the roof top. It depicts a tale of the Dutch invaders, featuring the Sinhala king playing his flute and life size horsemen in battle.

Lunuganga

The garden at Lunuganga sits astride two low hills on a promontory which juts out into a brackish lagoon lying off
the estuary of Bentota River. Lunaganga was conceived as a scenographic sequence of spaces.

The reading room..

Staircase to the loft.. be careful not to slip and fall..

Guesthouse..

View from his lunch table..

What a clever idea..

To the east a secluded terrace is defined by a series of pavilions - Bawa's office, a sculpture court and a small gallery

This is not a garden of colourful flowers, neat borders and gurgling fountains, it is a civilised wilderness, an assemblage of tropical plants of different scale and texture, a composition of green on green, an ever changing play of light and shade, a succession of hidden surprises and sudden vistas, a landscape of memories and ideas.

Water garden, with checker board squares of rice paddies

Windmill..

Charming dog, Coco... he would not leave us alone..

 
Main house..

"Secret" road... not visible from main house..

The whole of it can be taken in with a brisk fifteen minute walk, but it requires days to explore its every corner and appreciate its changing moods...

Lunaganga now seems to be so established, so natural, that it is hard to appreciate how much effort has gone into its creation. But this is a work of art, not of nature. It is the contrivance of a single mind and a hundred hands working together with nature to produce something which is supernatural.

To the north of the house lawns run down to the edge of a cliff which looks out across the lake


Note : Some of the text has been lifted off other websites.

This message has been edited by DRMW on 2010-02-02 09:32:47 This message has been edited by DRMW on 2010-02-03 23:54:46