Archt. Thisara Thanapathy wins Geoffrey Bawa Award 2010/2011 for Architectural Excellence

The Geoffrey Bawa Award 2010/2011 for Excellence in Architecture concluded successfully with Archt. Thisara Thanapathy the proud recipient of the prestigious Geoffrey Bawa Award for Excellence in Architecture.

The award was made for Thanapathy’s work on the Sarath Abeyratne house which, the judges were unanimous in agreeing, was a model for suburban living in the new developments popular around the city. Archt. Yudish Ganesan was adjudged 1st Runner Up, for his work on the Udayapuram School, Periyakallar, Kallar, Batticaloa.

Archt. Thanapathy also received a commendation for his work on the Holiday Bungalow in Ulpatha, Matale, as did Richard Murphy Architects of Scotland, UK, for their design of the new British High Commission in Colombo.

This year, the Geoffrey Bawa Trust also celebrated the life and work of designers Ena de Silva and Barbara Sansoni-Lewcock with special Lifetime Achievement awards for their contribution to the arts and architecture.

The awards were made at a gala ceremony held on Saturday 23 July, which was well attended by architects, the families of the shortlisted finalists as well as Colombo’s socialites. The date marked the birth anniversary of Geoffrey Bawa, in honour of whom the awards are.

Thanapathy received a substantial cash award of Rs one million (Rs. 1,000,000), and the creatively designed Geoffrey Bawa Trophy. The trophy conferred on the winner and runner up is a replica of an obelisk on a gatepost at Geoffrey Bawa’s Lunuganga Estate. The design includes elements of the great gardens of Europe of which the architect was fond, and the shape is influenced by Assyrian, Egyptian, Greeks and Roman architecture, right up to renaissance Europe.

Many submissions reflected original designs of world class standard. Submissions - which must be built in Sri Lanka - included architectural designs of houses, hotels, a hospital, factories, sales points, churches, a performance theater, housing complexes, a brewery, a foreign mission and a recreation centre, all buildings that create a city. The following submissions were short-listed for the Award:

nUdayapuram Schoool, Periyakallar, Kallar, Batticaloa – submitted by Archt. Yudish Ganesan

nTsunami Housing Payagalawatte, Kalutara – submitted by Sheran Henry Associates

nLion Museum, Biyagama – submitted by Sheran Henry Associates

nHoliday Bungalow, Avissawella – submitted by Archt. Palinda Kannangara

nKalundewa Retreat, Dambulla – submitted by Archt. Sanath Liyanage

nThe new British High Commission, Colombo 7 – submitted by Richard Murphy Architects, Scotland, Scotland UK

nHoliday Bungalow, Ulpatha, Matale – submitted by Archt. Thisara Thanapathy

nSarath Abeyrathne House, Colombo 5 – submitted by Archt. Thisara Thanapathy

Booker prize winner Michael Ondaatje, who came to Sri Lanka especially for the awards, was Guest Speaker. He spoke of his close association with and admiration of Geoffrey Bawa and of Ena De Silva Aluwihare and Barabara Sansoni-Lewcock, tracing the link between good art and architecture.

Mandira De Saram, with Eshantha J. Peries accompanying her on the piano, kept the audience enthralled with a brilliant violin performance.

The Geoffrey Bawa Awards for Excellence in Architecture were established by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, to applaud and honour the passion of the people behind outstanding contemporary architecture in Sri Lanka, for their vibrant creativity and innovative execution that went into creating trail blazing work.

The awards also aim to foster the works of younger architects by being a forum for emerging talent, and to increase awareness of the significance of the built environment in the lives of the people. By this, the Awards aspire to be the icon for creativity that stimulates continual reinvention of the architectural craft that will drive Sri Lankan architecture to even greater heights of excellence.  Notably, the Geoffrey Bawa Awards celebrate the work of not just the winner but of architecture as a whole, and recognise dynamic new methods of solving architectural challenges rather than encourage imitation of the Geoffrey Bawa work and style. As such, the entire shortlist is given prominence and extensive focus with an exhibition of their work.

A series of events led up to the grand awards ceremony being held today. Seventy submissions were received from 40 participants and, following detailed evaluations of all submissions, the entries were shortlisted. The judges completed their technical and physical reviews of the shortlisted buildings in April this year, having met with the architects and their clients and spoken to a variety of users of the buildings.

As the Geoffrey Bawa Awards celebrate architecture as a whole, the judges are encouraged to shortlist a variety of projects that showcase many different aspects of architectural excellence. As the Award is for the project rather than the person, the entries received were from a cross- section of established architects, talented younger architects as well as some non-architects, both local and foreign. Following an extensive evaluation, the names of the six participants and eight entries were short-listed and the finalists announced were in June.

An exhibition of the work of the finalists was held at the Gallery Café from 19 July onwards and was also on display at the awards ceremony, at the Park Street Mews.

The judging panel comprised four independent judges appointed by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust. This year’s panel of judges are Suhanya Raffel – Trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust and Deputy Director, Curatorial and Collection Development at the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia, Archt. World renowned architect Kerry Hill from Singapore, who is one of Asia’s foremost architects and winner of numerous awards for architecture including  the Aga Khan Award in 2001, Archt. Jayantha Perera (Immediate Past President and nominee of the SLIA) and  Ajita de Costa (Textile technologist, industrialist and Chairman of the Heritage Foundation for the Environment and Arts). They were joined for the on-site Technical and Physical Reviews by Archt. Channa Daswatte and Archt. C. Anjalendran, to facilitate effective analysis of the submissions.

The awards are in three year cycles and are now in their second cycle. Modelled on the awards scheme of the prestigious Aga Khan Trust for culture in Geneva inaugurated by His Highness The Aga Khan in 1977, the Geoffrey Bawa awards cover concepts such as contemporary design, restoration, re-use and area conservation and are based on principles similar to those of the Aga Khan Awards for Architecture, which are acknowledged to have a significant impact on the architecture in developing countries. Geoffrey Bawa was the third recipient honoured with the special Chairman’s Award of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for a Lifetime’s Achievement in Architecture in 2001.

The Geoffrey Bawa Awards are open to all Sri Lankans as they seek out the broadest possible range of architectural submissions, so there are no fixed criteria as to size, type, nature or location. All types of building project, ranging from modest small scale interventions to major complexes in housing and urban complexes that keep a focus on the community and neighbourhoods, are eligible for participation, provided they have been built in Sri Lanka during the 10 year period preceding the awards, and have been in use for at least 9 months before the end of this period. Projects presented and not placed at the earlier inaugural cycle could also be re-submitted.

The current members of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust are Sunethra Bandaranaike, Ward Beling, Suhanya Raffel, Arch. Channa Daswatte and Eugenie Mack.