Geoffrey Bawa’s Creativity out of Tradition: Analyzing Kandalama Hotel from the Designed Correlation between Architecture and the Rocky Landscape

This article analyzes the spatial experiences Geoffrey Bawa created for Kandalama Hotel by scrutinizing one of his sources of inspiration, that is the long and continuous interdependence and intensive interaction between architecture and the rocky landscape in Ceylon culture. Bawa’s innovation partly derived from his familiarity with and clever use of Ceylon and western “traditions,” which may explain why his masterpieces touch the hearts of diversified cultures.In this regard, Bawa’s design for Kandalama Hotel could be seen as a tribute to two World Cultural Heritage sites in Ceylon, namaly Dambulla and Sigiriya.
/ By Meng-chi Hsueh

很少有建築師像傑佛瑞·巴瓦(Geoffrey Bawa, 1919-2003)這般得天獨厚，因為找不到滿意的建築師為他打造理想中的宅園、新點子多到用不完卻發現自己缺乏實現的技術知識，索性從律師轉行、重新學習建築設計。深具個人魅力和貴族式生活品味的巴瓦總能吸引一群優異的藝術家和建築師與他合作探索、相互激盪，在留下引起世人情感共鳴之傑作的同時，用盡一生琢磨、試驗、修改，力圖將自己生活的莊園營造至超越完美。巴瓦最終因開創、啟發亞洲熱帶酒店設計的風潮而備受讚譽，乃獲得2001年阿卡汗建築獎(Aga Khan Award for Architecture)終身成就獎的錫蘭/斯里蘭卡國寶級建築師。

巴瓦堪稱建築界的傳奇，他的作品高雅卻不給人壓力，看似以理性精確策劃、卻能引發使用者的情感共鳴；他的作品予人似曾相識的直觀感受，卻總有出乎意料之外、讓人拍案叫絕的新鮮感甚至驚喜。這些評價看似矛盾，卻如實地傳達出存在於巴瓦作品中的複雜張力。基於巴瓦步入建築領域的因緣，若要嘗試歸納他的建築設計觀、分析是何造就他飽含張力的設計，或許應先從他對「生活」、對「人」與對「物」的態度談起。

文、圖／薛孟琪（東海大學建築系專任副教授兼創藝院研究中心主任）