Reimagining Hospitality Architecture in the Tropics

Sixth Semester Design Studio: A Hotel at Bentota, Sri Lanka
Batch 2021–2026, DG College of Architecture, Calicut University
Studio Instructors: Ajay K. Jacob, Muhammed Yaseen, Shalu Madhurakuzhiyil

“It is essential for us to absorb what we absolutely need from the modern West, and to learn to keep the best of our traditional forms. We have to think understandingly in order to develop an indigenous contemporary architecture, and not to lose the best of the old that has meaning and value.”

— Minnette de Silva

This studio explored hospitality architecture through the lens of place, climate, and lived experience. Working on a site between the Indian Ocean and the Bentota River in Sri Lanka, students investigated how architecture can emerge from a close engagement with landscape, ecology, culture, and patterns of inhabitation.

The studio was structured around three interconnected modes of learning: precedent study, field observation, and design exploration. Through analytical drawings and physical models, students examined traditional and colonial architecture alongside the work of Minnette De Silva, Bevis Bawa, Ulrik Plesner, Geoffrey Bawa, and Vijitha Basnayaka, exploring responses to climate, materials, landscape, and ways of living.

A study trip to Sri Lanka formed the core of the studio. Through site visits, sketching, measurement, and discussions with architect Vijitha Basnayaka, along with associates and custodians connected to the work of Geoffrey and Bevis Bawa, students experienced architecture as a lived and sensory phenomenon - reinforcing Geoffrey Bawa's belief that architecture "cannot be totally explained but must be experienced."

1. Architect Vijitha Basnayaka at his studio (2017). Basnayaka’s design process begins with physical models, complemented by freehand perspective sketches and spatial diagrams. The models serve as an iterative design tool, enabling continuous exploration and refinement of spatial relationships, form, and material expression.

2. The study trip opened with a session at Vijitha Basnayaka's home and studio, where students were introduced to his design philosophy before visiting a selection of his built works. The journey concluded with a discussion at the Maulie de Saram House, providing an opportunity to reflect on the week's observations and connect lived experience with the themes of the studio.

3. Students at Sama Beach Hotel, Kosgoda. Designed by Vijitha Basnayaka on a site shaped by the 2004 tsunami and a former quarry, the project engages multiple ground levels, existing vegetation, and the memory of place. Through sketching, observation, and discussion, students examined how architecture can emerge from landscape, ecology, and cultural context, creating a hospitality environment that appears both effortless and deeply rooted in its setting.

4. At Bevis Bawa’s Brief Garden: Developed by Bevis Bawa over four decades, Brief Garden is a richly layered landscape that inspired Geoffrey Bawa to create Lunuganga Garden, a pursuit that eventually led him to architecture. Conversations with Dooland de Silva, who worked with Bevis Bawa at Brief Garden and served as landscape consultant for Geoffrey Bawa’s Kandalama Hotel, provided students with a rare first-hand perspective on the work, ideas, and legacy of the Bawa brothers.

5. Study model of Geoffrey Bawa’s Bentota Beach Hotel by Anyudh, Irfana, and Musliha, developed as part of the studio’s precedent studies.

6. Design development models by Nida, Jaseel, Hiba, respectively and physical model of the final design proposal by Jaseel.

7. Semester-end studio exhibition. Drawings, physical models, and design proposals produced over the course of the semester. Together, they reflect a process of learning through observation, making, and direct engagement with place, where architecture is understood through experience.

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