[2][3][4][5] Geoffrey Bawa was born in Colombo on 23 July 1919,[5][6] the younger of the two sons of Major Benjamin Bawa, a Sri Lankan lawyer who was partly of European parentage,[7][8] and Bertha Marianne née Schrader, a Burgher of mixed Sinhalese, German and Scottish descent.

Bawa bought an abandoned rubber estate on the south-west coast of the island between Colombo and Galle at Lunuganga,[5] planning to create an Italian garden from a tropical wilderness.

[6] Bawa was influenced by colonial and traditional Ceylonese architecture, and the role of water in it, but rejected both the idea of regionalism and the imposition of preconceived forms onto a site.

An ensuing close association with a coterie of like-minded artists and designers, including Ena de Silva, Barbara Sansoni and Laki Senanayake, produced a new awareness of indigenous materials and crafts, leading to a post-colonial renaissance of culture.

[citation needed] [check quotation syntax] In 1979, President J. R. Jayewardene invited Bawa to design Sri Lanka's new Parliament building at Kotte.

[8][11] Geoffrey Bawa influenced a generation of architects in Sri Lanka after him, but his legacy was also embraced in Asia and around the world.