Subtle Addressing of Caste in the Elite Domestic Architecture of Geoffrey Bawa

Abstract

During the immediate postcolonial decades, reverting to once-subverted indigenous architectural traditions with elite patronage was spearheaded by nascent Ceylonese architects. The most celebrated domestic architectural style from this period has been confirmed as Neo-regionalism of Geoffrey Bawa. This rubric has over the years, been labeled as the most apposite to the context of its inception. Further, it is widely acknowledged that Bawa’s domestic clientele was drawn from the elite of which, the bulk being Sinhalese in ethnicity. Sinhalese, the majority population is heterogeneous, which has primordially been assembled into numerous caste-based sub-cultures. The paper tackles some domestic projects by Bawa; for Sinhalese elite of Govigama and Karava castes – the most numerous two castes. The study strives to constitute the caste-based cultural strands to have survived and unraveled via architecture (along with periodic changes). It Adheres to a qualitative research methodology, and delves on case studies. A photographic survey affords the information to supplement extant literature. The analysis of key architectural traits is carried out and the final interpretation is through phenomenology. In-depth interviews compensate for gaps in literature. In this light, examining in a phenomenological perspective how architecture executed for the Sinhalese elite frame cultural peculiarities of caste, and also periodic changes, if successful, could be applied to similar cases elsewhere.