Celebrating Geoffrey Bawa through his design principle
Reclaiming Modernity - Result Story
Offering an alternative to international modernism, Tropical or regional modernism demonstrated that architecture could reflect context, tradition, and time.
Humble, aesthetic, and radical, Tropical Modernism in Sri Lanka manages to reflect the country's traditional, cultural, and historical resources without rejecting new technological influences from the West, while engaging with broader cultural and political questions.
Considered to be one of Sri Lanka's foremost architects, Geoffrey Bawa is credited to be one of the founding fathers of Tropical Modernism.
Leaving an everlasting mark on Sri Lanka's built landscape, Geoffrey Bawa's designs establish a unique, recognizable style of design inspiring architects across the world; referencing local conditions while allowing for a modern lifestyle.
Gaining recent traction with the increase in environmental consciousness, Tropical Modernism today mediates between contextual, traditional, passive sustainability and modern construction technology, as well as the international and the vernacular.
Design challenge: Celebrating Geoffrey Bawa’s birth- centenary, explore how his principles and framework can be scaled to accommodate modern typologies or urban layouts, in this context an institute of learning and design.
The jury for the competition consisted of esteemed designers, professionals, and academicians from around the world. The Lead Jurors for the competitions were as follows:
Srijit Srinivas, Principal Architect, Srijit Srinivas - ARCHITECTS, Thiruvananthapuram, India
Nikhil Mohan, Principal architect, Thought parallels architecture, Calicut, India
Some of the Best of competition projects are:
Winning Project: Wind Conduit - Reclaiming Modernity
By: Sydney Lohkamp, Ananya Manian & Gabrielle Mauldin

Description: The building is organized as a multi-tiered base for flooding and circulation, a mat infill of program and modules, and a roof that utilizes wind conduits and creates a civic presence. The base and wind conduits reach through the modules to perform passive cooling, while the modules serve as an adaptable structural framework.
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People’s Choice: BRAID
By: Nishant Kumar, Yash Jain, Riya Khatri & Simran Kapoor
Description: Culture and Learning Centre Rajagiriya, Colombo A cultural and learning center for the people of Sri Lanka which welcomes people of all groups and encourages and promotes the traditional culture of Sri Lanka. Braid is a center that encapsulates flexible spaces enabling collaborating and outdoor learning.
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Editor’s Choice: Reclaiming Modernity
By: Studio PKA
Description: We are proposing a school for the performing arts that strives to maintain public space at all costs.
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Editor’s Choice: A 21st-Century School
By: Andrew Garden, Fatima Betts & Danielle Eke
Description: The urbanized 21st century is characterized by increasing political, ecological, and social uncertainty. At a time when the public realm is increasingly given over to private control, we believe modern civic societies require the school to evolve beyond its traditional conception to address the transience and metamorphosis required by our time.
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Editor’s Choice: Reclaiming Modernity
By: Rafael Armendariz
Description: We are proposing a vocational culinary and agricultural school in the Colombo district of Sri Lanka. Our concept stems from a focus on sustainability as a form, and on creating a school that becomes a part of the public infrastructure by continuously generating interest in the larger civic condition.
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Editor’s Choice: Reclaiming Modernity
By: Michael Azterbaum, Amaya C Dsouza & Nelly Garcia-Carrillo
Description: Situated within a residential colony in Colombo, the Learning Centre seeks to establish itself as a refuge for designers, artists, students, performers as well as the general public.
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Editor’s Choice: Celebrating Geoffrey Bawa
By: Dezhong Wang
Description: This is a design school which including a lot of public space
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Discover the design brief here:
https://uni.xyz/competitions/reclaiming-modernity/info/about
Discover the full results here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/reclaiming-modernity/entries
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Discover other design competitions to participate here: https://uni.xyz/competitions
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