Vitra Design Museum opens Geoffrey Bawa retrospective in Weil am Rhein

The Vitra Design Museum opened Geoffrey Bawa: Architecture for the Senses in Weil am Rhein, Germany, on 26 September 2026. Running until 28 February 2027, the retrospective gives visitors a close look at how the Sri Lankan architect brought buildings, art and landscape together. The museum says it has assembled more than 250 exhibits, from drawings and models to furniture, film, artworks and photographs.

For visitors in the region around Weil am Rhein, the exhibition offers a way to encounter projects largely built in Sri Lanka through original material and new images. Wallpaper* reported on the opening on 25 September, describing a four-room route that moves from Bawa’s own homes to public buildings, artistic partnerships and entire sites. The exhibition is a collaboration between the museum, M+, the Wüstenrot Foundation and the Geoffrey Bawa Trust.

What visitors can see in the Geoffrey Bawa exhibition

According to the museum, the displays draw heavily on objects, models and documents held by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust. They also include archival photographs by Sebastian Posingis and Dominic Sansoni, alongside newly commissioned photographs and films. Photographer Iwan Baan’s new images show how some of Bawa’s buildings are used and experienced as places, rather than presenting plans alone. Architect Lina Ghotmeh designed the exhibition setting.

Wallpaper* reporter Ellie Stathaki describes the opening room as an introduction to Bawa’s homes and gardens, projects he kept developing over many years. The second places his work in Sri Lanka’s social context and turns to public projects, including St Thomas’ Preparatory School and the country’s parliament in Kotte. Later rooms examine the artists and craftspeople who worked with him, then widen the view to whole sites through drawings and aerial images.

How art became part of Bawa’s buildings

The museum names Ena de Silva, Laki Senanayake and Barbara Sansoni among Bawa’s collaborators. Their batik, sculpture and textiles, it says, helped shape the experience of the buildings themselves. The museum also says their workshops operated as social enterprises that provided local training and employment, giving the collaborations a significance beyond decoration.

Co-curator Shayari de Silva gave Wallpaper* a concrete example: a batik panel might itself form a ceiling. ‘It’s not art on a ceiling,’ she said. Her distinction helps explain why the display puts artworks and craft alongside architectural drawings. They are evidence of how the spaces were made, not simply objects brought in to embellish completed rooms.

Why landscape is central to the retrospective

The museum says Bawa’s buildings often followed existing contours and incorporated rocks, trees and other features of a site. It points to the Polontalawa Estate Bungalow and Jayewardene House as examples. In Wallpaper*’s account, museum director Mateo Kries said the show was designed to convey the intensity of places where Bawa built, including strong colours and fast-growing nature. The drawings, aerial views and new photography allow visitors to consider buildings in those broader settings.

Lunuganga offers a continuing link between the exhibition and Bawa’s work on the ground. The Geoffrey Bawa Trust says he acquired the Bentota property, then a rubber and cinnamon plantation, in 1948 and transformed it into a garden. The Trust now stewards his archive and four historic properties, including Lunuganga and his Colombo home, Number 11. Those collections and sites provide much of the material through which the retrospective can describe his long practice.

Bawa was born in 1919, worked as a lawyer and graduated from London’s Architectural Association in 1957 after retraining as an architect. He died in 2003. The museum presents his work as more complex than the label ‘Tropical Modernism’ alone, emphasizing local materials, collaborators and ecological context. That is the museum’s interpretation of his legacy; the exhibition lets visitors examine the projects and objects behind it.

Exhibition dates and planned next stop

Geoffrey Bawa: Architecture for the Senses is scheduled to remain at the Vitra Design Museum until 28 February 2027. The museum says the exhibition is planned to travel to Hong Kong from June 2027, with further venues still being planned. Its exhibition page provides the current programme and visitor information for the Weil am Rhein presentation.