GEOFFREY MANNING BAWA: Decolonizing Architecture by Shanthi Jayewardene

Geoffrey Manning Bawa (1919-2003) is Sri Lanka's most renowned architect. Both nationally and internationally his award-winning a work has been acclaimed for its exquisite form and relationship with the historical traditions of Sri Lanka's architecture. 'this book is especially written for young South Asians who might seek alternatives to the mainstream narratives of modern architecture in Sri Lanka. It sets Bawa in the company of intellectuals near and of his generation who contributed to the discourses of decolonization, and pays tribute to his work which touched an ancient lineage in architecture reaching back over a thousand years.

The book chronicles Bawa's rupture with the colonial discursive formations framing European approaches to the architecture of the colonized and attempts to understand his complex, ambiguous engagement with European and indigenous design traditions he helped reimagine in the late twentieth century.

Published by The National Trust.