Building on happiness

The weekend before last I stayed at the beautiful Villa Bentota, just outside the seaside town of Bentota about 2 hours drive (65km) south of Colombo. Designed by Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka's most renowned and revered architect, it really was a space that made you feel beautiful and elegant. And yet it wasn't overly imposing or grand, just very refined and thoughtful.

This article I found in the paper sums it up well:

"It’s not huge, big architecture with a capital ‘A’ but it’s about how people experience it. The architecture doesn’t dominate. The use of the space dominates and how people feel in that. It’s around people, and how they live…there’s a subtlety that’s just beautiful."

Spaces that make you happy. We don't often consciously think about it, but you know when you are in a place that just makes you feel more alive and that you belong in that space. Trouble is, like business class, once you've tried it you don't want to go back to everyday economy non-design!