*Clarification [03:54]: Plant matter in general dates back four hundred to five hundred million years, not water lilies specifically.

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 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

Laki Senanayke’s prolific body of work spans a wide range of media which includes painting, architecture, sculpture and landscape design. More recently, he dived into digital art. Laki began his career as an architectural draughtsman. After losing his first job because he established a trade union, he started working for architect Valentine Gunasekera. At age 18, Laki began working with Geoffrey Bawa at Edwards, Reid and Begg where Valentine was also a partner, eventually leaving the firm a few years later to collaborate with Geoffrey’s dear friend and client Ena de Silva on her Batik workshop. 
Laki and Geoffrey continued to work together on several key projects and Laki did the large-scale murals and reliefs for Geoffrey’s Triton and Neptune Hotels. He also did the chandelier for the Sri Lankan Parliament Chamber — which was inspired by a drawing he did of a double coconut tree at the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens and the larger than life sculptural staircase he did at the Lighthouse Hotel in Galle. 

As the interview was conducted above Laki’s welding workshop, please note that jarring sounds can be heard in the following places within the recording; kindly skip over if necessary: 
24:20 – 25:00
27:00 – 29:30
32:05 – 34:20

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.

Oral Histories: Laki Senanayake

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: Laki Senanayake

Geoffrey Bawa Trust

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