Inside Out

With his easy, breezy buildings, Geoffrey Bawa changed the face of Sri Lankan architecture. Sarah Souli tours his most storied properties.

- Sarah Souli

FROM THE OUTSIDE, the Colombo house of Geoffrey Bawa, the late Sri Lankan architect and pioneer of tropical modernism, does not command much attention. Bleary-eyed from our long-haul flight, my friend Maia and I nearly walked past the white, cube-shaped building, which is partially obscured by trees. But we were soon warmly greeted by an attendant, who slid open a mahogany door to reveal a garage, complete with Bawa's 1934 Rolls-Royce. We slipped off our shoes and began speaking in hushed tones: even Bawa's garage called for a templelike reverence.

No. 11 (doubles from $143), named after its address on Bagatelle Road, is located in the genteel Kollupitiya district. It's open to the public for tours; a two-bedroom suite - Bawa's guest room is also available for overnight stays for design devotees like me. The room was still occupied when we arrived, so we padded down a white corridor, the eggshell paint reflecting sunlight and creating a mini hall of mirrors. At the end, a sitting room looked out to a small garden that lulled us with the sounds of rustling palms and trickling water.

Bawa, who died in 2003, believed in bringing the outdoors in, blurring the line between these two realms. In the more than 40 buildings he designed in Sri Lanka from 1948 until 1998, he made certain that they were built in harmony with the surrounding landscape. Bawa studied law and traveled the world before becoming the country's most celebrated architect. He married traditional Sri Lankan architecture with the more formal qualities of European Modernism to create a style that remains popular today. His sun-mottled courtyards, shaded verandas, and vaulted ceilings are perfectly suited to the country's tropical climate.