A major retrospective of the Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa has opened at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, bringing together more than 250 exhibits spanning five decades of his work.
Geoffrey Bawa: Architecture for the Senses was mounted by the museum in partnership with the Geoffrey Bawa Trust and officially opened on 25 September with a talk that drew an audience of over 450 and an opening-day turnout of more than 500 people, according to the Trust’s statement as reported by the Daily FT and EconomyNext.
What is on show
The exhibition assembles drawings, models, furniture, historic footage, artworks and photographs, including a large selection of objects, models and documents from the Geoffrey Bawa Trust. It is accompanied by newly commissioned photographs by Iwan Baan, shot to capture the lived-in quality of Bawa’s buildings today, and films by Kavindu Sivaraj and Ruvin de Silva.
Also included are works by the artists and collaborators who shaped Bawa’s interiors — Ena de Silva, Laki Senanayake and Barbara Sansoni — alongside archival images by Sebastian Posingis and Dominic Sansoni.
The exhibition design is by the architect Lina Ghotmeh, whose scenography is intended to turn the galleries into an immersive environment echoing the sensory qualities of Bawa’s buildings.
The argument the show makes
Bawa (1919–2003) worked for five decades on more than 200 projects — private houses, schools, hotels and factories, as well as Sri Lanka’s National Parliament complex.
“Rooted in Sri Lanka’s multiple architectural traditions, Bawa’s work offers a compelling alternative to the western narratives that have long shaped the architectural canon,” said Mateo Kries, director of the Vitra Design Museum. “Bawa’s relevance is just being rediscovered.”
Co-curator Johan Deurell pointed to “his close collaborations with local artisans and social enterprises, and his vision of building with nature rather than against it.”
Bawa is conventionally filed under Tropical Modernism, and the curators say the show deliberately resists that single label, presenting him instead through his collaborative method, his ecological thinking and the political and cultural setting he worked in — an argument for reading him as an early practitioner of socially responsible and sustainable building.
Where it travels
The exhibition runs at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein until 28 February 2027, after which it travels to M+ in Hong Kong, where it opens in June 2027. It is a co-production of the Vitra Design Museum, M+ and the Wüstenrot Foundation, in collaboration with the Geoffrey Bawa Trust.
Both Sri Lankan outlets are carrying the same Geoffrey Bawa Trust statement, which is the source of the attendance figures and the 25 September opening date. Neither filing gives the exhibition’s ticketing details, says whether any Sri Lankan institution will host the show, or names further venues beyond Hong Kong.
