WEEK 4: Modernist Architect Task: Bricolage & Bawa

Geoffrey Bawa was an architect that expressed a true sense of contextualising and grounding a design with its surrounding area. One of the ways that he expressed this is through architectural bricolage. This is a method in which Bawa salvaged materials from various places during his travels, and also purchased some items from friends in order to incorporate them into his designs. His home at Number 11, 33rd Lane, is a true expression of bricolage within Bawa's designs. He used Sri Lankan and South Indian elements such as Chettinad doors, and wooden columns within his building, which 'age' and contextualise his modernist designs with a romantic gesture towards his own local architetcure and design. Bawa expressed bricolage in other buildings, including the Madurai Club in India. This building was also particularly unique as the client, Martin Henry, specifically wanted the materials for the building to come from within a 10km radius of the site. The only exception of this was when Bawa used bricolage to incorporate some Chettinad doors as features to the building.

For my storyboard, I particularly want to observe the 33rd Lane house, and inspect the features of bricolage in the building. This building is probably the building which most expresses Bawa's architecture in full. It blurs the boundaries between outdoors and indoors, has open spaces with no roofs, spaces without walls, verandahs and courtyards interconnecting. It also allows for room for him to display his collection of vehicles, incorporates nature, has a roof terrace with views out to the sea, and includes Sri Lankan, Portugese and Indian influences in its design. The building is also unique in that over a period of almost 40 years, Bawa bought 4 bungalows to develop the design and his home, continually modifying it over time to suit whichever needs he may have had at the time. Below is an image of a draft of the story board that I would like to develop for this building. I aim to explore the aspect of the building ageing and changing over time from four separate buildings into one, and the aspects of bricolage in the design.

Sources:

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/b/bricolage

http://www.thearchitect.lk/2010/04/heritance-madurai/

https://archnet.org/collections/10/sites/3019