In celebration of the Lunuganga gardens 75th anniversary, Tree Talks podcast explores the lives of flora and ecosystems within the gardens. Bought on the eve of independence in 1948, Lunuganga is Geoffrey Bawa’s first and longest running architectural endeavour, join us as we unravel the intricacies of this living archive.

This episode is a walk through Lunuganga on a cool January day with Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, naturalist, photographer and author of 'A Naturalist Guide to the Trees of Sri Lanka'. Gehan uncovers the intricacies of Lunuganga's flora and the fauna that flourish in its embrace as he reflects on the histories and migrations of select trees along the path and the influence of humans on globalised horticulture.

This episode follows a path from the Reading Room to the Field of Jars passing by the Jackfruit, Bilin, Mahogany, Mango, Araliya, Na, Fishtail Palm and Hora trees. A map with the sites and sounds of this episode along with other resources are available on our websites.

To Lunuganga: https://lunuganga.garden/Tree-Talks-EP01-Rooted-Histories
Geoffrey Bawa Trust: geoffreybawa.com/tree-talks

Special thanks to Mr Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne for his expertise and animated exploration of Lunuganga and Shamin de Silva for editing and sound design in this episode.

Tree Talks: Rooted Histories

British architect and educator David Robson authored a number of publications on Geoffrey Bawa and he has also been documenting the architectural landscape in Sri Lanka and southeast Asia.

David recalls meeting Geoffrey for the first time at the age of 25, when he came to Sri Lanka from England as a lecturer for the Department of Architecture, which was under the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Colombo. I met him at the guest suite at Number 11, Geoffrey Bawa’s residence in Colombo, where David himself had spent many days while working on his books. He discussed how his first publication titled Geoffrey Bawa: the Complete Works came into being, and how Geoffrey and his work have continued to fascinate him over the many years of his research. David remains amazed at the fact that Geoffrey Bawa took up architecture relatively late in life; having qualified as an architect at the age of 38, after first qualifying and practising as a lawyer.  He describes the unique style of architectural drawing that comes of Geoffrey’s practice and their continued influence. David also acknowledges the many engineers and architects that were an integral component of Geoffrey’s practice and were in fact the reason some of the bigger projects like the Parliament, Ruhunu University and Kandalama Hotel could be realised.

The Oral Histories Project is an ongoing endeavour that will continue after the centenary year celebrations, and the Trust encourages submissions of potential historians and anecdotes to archives@gbtrust.net.

Salt River

Oral Histories: David Robson

The Sri Lankan Architect Geoffrey Bawa is one of the most important and influential Asian architects of the 20th century. The podcast of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust builds on the repository of information available on Bawa and his practice, as well as the discourse on art and architecture in the island, through oral histories, lectures and discussions.

Oral Histories: David Robson

Geoffrey Bawa Trust

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