Blue Water Hotel
| Blue Water Hotel | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Location within Sri Lanka | |
| General information | |
| Location | Wadduwa, Sri Lanka |
| Coordinates | 6°40′40″N 79°55′14″E / 6.67778°N 79.92056°E |
| Opening | 1998 |
| Owner | Union Resorts |
| Management | Union Resorts |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 3 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Geoffrey Bawa |
| Developer | Ajit Wijesekera |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 100 |
| Number of suites | 5 |
| Number of restaurants | 3 |
| Website | |
| Official site | |
Blue Water Hotel is a 5-star boutique hotel in Wadduwa, Sri Lanka. It is notable for being Geoffrey Bawa’s last hotel project and the last project he supervised on site before succumbing to illness.[1]
Geography
[edit]The hotel is situated in Wadduwa, a small coastal town located (27 km (17 mi) south of Colombo. The site originally was a coconut plantation, situated between the beach and the coastal railway line.[2]
History
[edit]The hotel was commissioned by Ajit Wijesekera of Union Apparel (a garment manufacturer) in 1994, the design of which was a collaboration between Geoffrey Bawa and Milroy Perera.[3] Work on the project commenced in 1996 and was completed in 1998.[4][5] The hotel suffered damage to sixteen ground floor rooms as a result of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami[6] but there were no deaths. The hotel was initially managed by Jetwing Hotels until 2008 when it was taken over by Union Resorts, who renovated it and added a reception room/banquet room.[7]
Architecture
[edit]The hotel was one of Geoffrey Bawa's last major projects,[8] which Patrick Kunkel of ArchDaily believes "represents a slightly more minimalistic approach to his architectural design informed by his earlier work."[9] Australian architect, Ceridwen Owen, describes it as "exhibiting a carefully orchestrated sequence of spaces between land and ocean."[10]
For the building design Bawa returned to a simple rest house layout, which he first used in 1967 for the Serendib Hotel, but reinterpreted on a grand scale with expansive courtyards and limitless vistas. The main entrance is a lofty porch, with an enclosing wall which screens the hotel from the adjacent railway line. The entrance doors open out to a long axial arcade running across a large garden court, past the hotel lobby and out through the coconut grove towards the sea and the horizon. David Robson in his book, Geoffrey Bawa: The Complete Works, states "the sequence of spaces is formal and controlled; the materials highly polished, light in tone and muted in colour and the architecture restrained but monumental."[11] The hotel is an example of Bawa’s minimalist style, use of space, lengthy corridors, open views, water, terracotta tiles and frangipani trees.
Facilities
[edit]The hotel has 100 rooms, two restaurants, three bars, an outdoor pool, and a spa.
References
[edit]- ^ "Bawa - Solo Contextual Modernism". Geoffrey Bawa Trust. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
- ^ "Architect's Archives - Blue Water Hotel - Colombo, Sri Lanka". ArchNet. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
- ^ Weliyange, Dimantha (July 2011). "The Architect - Journal of the Sri Lankan Institute of Architects". A Journey in Architecture. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
- ^ "The Work of Geoffrey Bawa". Geoffrey Bawa Trust. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
- ^ Silva, Roy (13 January 2004). "The Blue Water gets 5-star status". The Island. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
- ^ Cox, Christopher R. "tsunami Impact". Travel Leisure. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
- ^ Pradeepa, Ganga (14 November 2008). "Blue Water Hotel Wadduwa beautiful setting". Daily News. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
- ^ Jansz, Beverley (20 August 2007). "The Blue Water". Daily News. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
- ^ Kunkel, Patrick (23 July 2016). "Spotlight: Geoffrey Bawa". ArchDaily. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
- ^ Owen, Ceridwen (March 2008). "International Journal of Architectural Research". Architecture between the Culture-Nature Dualism: A Case Study of Geoffrey Bawa's Kandalama Hotel. 2 (1): 45.
- ^ Robson, David (2002). Geoffrey Bawa: The Complete Works. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 212–215. ISBN 9780500341872.
External links
[edit]- Official site
- Robson, David (2004). Geoffrey Bawa: Genius of the Place: An Architect of Sri Lanka. Deutsches Architekturmuseum. ISBN 9780500341872.
