Talks
Geoffrey Bawa: Architecture for the Senses
OPENING & TALK (EN)
Friday, 25 September 2026
Opening Talk
6 pm, Fire Station
Guests: Channa Daswatte and Shayari de Silva, Geoffrey Bawa Trust
Suhanya Raffel and Ikko Yokoyama, M+
Moderator: Johan Deurell, Vitra Design Museum
Vernissage
7 pm, Vitra Design Museum
The opening night of the exhibition »Geoffrey Bawa: Architecture for the Senses« begins with an opening talk at the Zaha Hadid Fire Station, bringing together experts to discuss Bawa’s work, its enduring relevance, and the lessons it offers for contemporary architecture and design. The panelists are Geoffrey Bawa Trust’s Channa Dawatte, Chairperson, and Shayari de Silva, co-curator of the exhibition, and M+’s Suhanya Raffel, Director, and Ikko Yokoyama, co-curator of the exhibition. The talk will be moderated by Vitra Design Museum’s Johan Deurell, co-curator of the exhibition. Drawing on the exhibition and the accompanying publication, the panelists will discuss the role of sustainability and cultural sensitivity in Bawa’s work, as well as his close collaboration with contemporary artists and craftspeople, and his central role in post-colonial Sri Lanka.
The talk will be followed by the exhibition vernissage.
Barragán Lecture #6: Solitude is Good Company – Casa Majahua by Barragán
TALK (EN)
Thursday, 29 October 2026
6:30 pm, Christoph Merian Stiftung, Basel
In cooperation with OPEN HOUSE BASEL
Guests: Ingrid Moye, Christoph Zeller, Nina Kirste,
and Josef Grillmeier
A lecture series presented in cooperation with the Barragan Foundation explores the work of Luis Barragan from various perspectives. This talk focuses on Casa Majahua, a holiday house built by Barragan in the 1950s. Situated on a remote stretch of Mexico’s Pacifi c coast, the dwelling was used only briefly before eventually falling into disrepair within its encroaching natural environment. The urgency of preserving this little-known part of the architect’s legacy led to the first comprehensive documentation of the house through the Architectural Association Summer School Programme, directed by the German-Mexican studio Zeller & Moye. Illustrated with archival and survey materials, their lecture traces the remains of Casa Majahua and refl ects on strategies of reuse, repair and sustainable reactivation in the face of physical decay.
Lina Ghotmeh: From Beirut to Bawa
TALK (EN)
Thursday, 25 February 2027
6:30 pm, Álvaro Siza Hall, Vitra Campus
In collaboration with DHBW Lörrach, Architecture programme
Lina Ghotmeh is one of the most renowned architects of her generation. Her work focuses on sustainable materials and historical awareness, combining traditional craftsmanship with innovative and sometimes experimental construction methods. Her projects include the widely acclaimed »Stone Garden Housing« residential complex in Beirut (2021), the 22nd Serpentine Pavilion (2023), and the ongoing comprehensive renovation of the British Museum.
Ghotmeh has taught at Yale University, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and the University of Toronto. She has received numerous awards, including recognition in the List »TIME100 Next«, the Schelling Architecture Prize, and the title of »Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres«.
In her lecture, she will present her philosophy of an »archaeology of the future« and its relationship to nature, memory, and materiality in architecture.
Free admission. Please register here.
