12/09/2026
Studying the Ena de Silva House | Geoffrey Bawa | Colombo, Sri Lanka | 1960–62
At Kashif Javed Design Hub, design is not only about producing spaces, it is also about observing, questioning, studying and continuously learning.
This exercise is an attempt to learn from one of the legends of tropical architecture, Geoffrey Bawa, through a close study of the Ena de Silva House.
Rather than simply looking at the finished project, I chose to read the plan through drawing and understand how its spaces, landscape and architectural elements come together.
01 — Tracing & Redrawing
The original plan was carefully traced and redrawn by hand to study spatial planning, circulation, proportions, indoor–outdoor relationships, courtyards, thresholds and the integration of landscape with the built form. The act of drawing becomes a method of reading the architecture.
02 — Rendering & Interpretation
The same plan was then explored through rendering to understand solid and void, light and shadow, materiality, textures, vegetation, landscape layers and the relationship between built and natural forms.
This is a self-directed learning exercise. A reminder that as researchers, designers and educators, we should remain students ourselves.
For me, studying the work of a master architect is about learning and understanding the thinking behind the design.
A small exercise in architecture, interior, landscape and research-led learning and another step in my continuing journey as a designer, educator and researcher.
Study & Redrawing Exercise
Ena de Silva House, Colombo — Geoffrey Bawa, 1960–62
Source: David Robson, Geoffrey Bawa: The Complete Works, Thames & Hudson, 2002, pp. 74–83.
Redrawn, studied & interpreted by: Kashif Javed Design Hub - KJDH
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SpatialPlanning LandscapeArchitecture InteriorDesign
