101 \Architecture Festival Official Club/
- MAKOTO TADOKORO
- Feb 4
- 3 min read
"The World of Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka's Pride and God of Scenic Architecture" was held on January 26th last week.
I had the opportunity to speak about Bawa's architecture in Sri Lanka🇱🇰 at the Architecture Festival Official Club, an architecture community of over 350 members. I'm truly grateful!
The Kyoto Modern Architecture Festival, Kobe Architecture Festival, and Tokyo Architecture Festival are exclusive architecture communities for architecture enthusiasts, brought to you by the three navigators who launched each of these festivals: Kazuto Kasahara, Shunsuke Kurakata, and Naotake Maeda, and many members are not even professional architects.
Therefore, I tried to make the content as technical as possible without being too formal, but still keeping to the main points. Takayuki Ikura, who is famous for appearing on NHK's Bura Tamori, acted as the listener, offering responses and asking questions at the perfect timing, which helped to lighten the mood and ensure the event went smoothly.
The Architecture Festival Official Club is a paid membership salon, and the participants' insatiable curiosity and passion for learning were incredible, and we received some encouraging comments, so we would like to introduce them here.
[Comments from participants]
・I'm ashamed to say that I had never heard of Bawa. Sri Lanka is also strongly associated with Buddhist ruins, riots, and coups, and it's a country I've never thought of from an architectural perspective. This architectural perspective was fresh and eye-opening. It's been a long time since I've been excited by a world I didn't know. Tadokoro's explanations were easy to understand, and I was completely captivated by what he said. I also felt that Bawa's architecture is something to be "experienced." While the Maimai tour of Bawa's architecture is fascinating, the architectural walk through the city, tracing the layers of Buddhism, Hinduism, and former colonies, is also fascinating.
-I have never wanted to go to Sri Lanka before, and the architectural period is not my main interest, but today's talk has made me want to go.
・I was impressed that Sri Lanka has such wonderful architects and architecture.
・The slides were easy to read and the explanations were very clear. It made me want to visit Sri Lanka.
・I felt that it is important, but also very difficult, to put into words how to communicate the architecture in front of you. Knowledge alone is not enough, but I feel that without a certain level of understanding, you will end up just saying "amazing" or "beautiful." I realized that knowledge, communication skills, and experience are necessary. I learned something very important.
In particular, the last comment, "How do you put into words and communicate the architecture in front of you?" is very important when explaining architecture.
This is because it requires not only architectural knowledge, but also exposure to many different buildings and spaces, the ability to compare them with past and present buildings, and sometimes the ability to use metaphors to stimulate the viewer's imagination, like a wine sommelier.
In that sense, I have come to believe that there is no end to talking about architecture, and that as all of my experiences continue to accumulate, the content that I am able to put into words will change from time to time.
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Thank you for your help this time.
For more information on the activities of the [Architecture Festival Official Club], please refer to the link below.
There are also many tours and online events. If you register, you can watch the archive of my lecture today.
