Minnette De Silva, does this name ring any bell?

Minnette was one of the most prominent architects of the post-independence era. She pioneered Sri Lankan modernism and is referred to as the Tropical Modernism Architect of the 1940s. She was the first Asian woman to be an associate of RIBA. It’s time to explore and uncover more about the most uncelebrated and unsung first woman architect of Sri Lanka, Minnette De Silva.

Who was Minnette De Silva?

Minnette De Silva, the most prominent yet unsung architect of the 1940s, was born in 1918, in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Daughter of a well-known politician George De Silva, Minnette was an astute, unapologetic, and canny woman of her time. 

She pursued her partial schooling in the UK in Brighton from 1929-31. Later, she continued her studies in Bombay, India in 1940 during the Second World War. Interests of her mother and her sister, heritage of Sri Lanka, and many other people and elements influenced Minnette more towards architecture. Her love and passion for the art of designing were so intense that she fought against her parents to study architecture. After her graduation, Minnette went to Mysore to work with Otto Koenigsberger, a German Jewish refugee, who was working as a town planning advisor for Mysore.

Her passion for architecture took her to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture(AA), London in 1945, and in 1948, she became an associate of the RIBA. Minnette was a dynamic and determined woman, who graced in her Silk Saree amongst the besuited men and women of the post-independence era and turned heads of many.  Along with her sister Marcia, who was an art historian, Minnette founded a journal named MARG described as Modern Architectural Research Group, and published her ideas and writings in it. Appointed as a delegate of Ceylon, she managed to make a place at the CIAM Bridgewater conference in 1947. 

Minnette was the first woman architect post-independence to start her independent architectural practice in Kandy in 1948. During her practice, Minnette designed one of the few efficient and aesthetic structures and also taught students in Hong Kong from 1975 for around 2 years. Her attempts to revive her practice in the 1980s during the beginning of the civil war failed, which ended her career in despair. The legacy of Minnette De Silva, the most prominent architect of Sri Lanka wraps up after she died in Kandy in 1998.

Integration and innovative use of Classic and modern design

The era of modernism commenced in Sri Lanka with the practice of a prolific architect Minnette De Silva. She grew up witnessing and learning about Sri Lankan heritage and spent a part of her life in Western countries like the UK. Her life journey reflected not just in her grace and ideologies but also in her designs. Minnette was a beautiful combination of Sri Lankan and Western culture and ethnicity. Minnette De Silva’s architecture portrayed a functional and aesthetic blend of Sri Lankan and Western styles, bringing out the best of both worlds through her design. She used traditional materials like bamboo and earth along with modern materials like concrete in construction. To add more character to the designs, she utilized and encouraged the use of traditional art of handwoven textiles, wooden carvings, brass, and so on. Such work of Minnette not only added a dint to her designs but also helped the local artisans with their metier and earnings.

The Unfathomed Architecture of Minnette De Silva

Contributions of the dynamic and smart Sri Lankan architect to modernist architecture were notable. Over the years, many remarkable architectural contributions of Minnette De Silva have gone unrecognized. Her unique methodology and design grabbed the attention of many for the modernist yet traditional character of her works. Minnette believed in inclusion, hence she encouraged the participation of the users in the design process to curate a personalized and functional design. During the times when the nation faced an economic crisis, Minnette used local materials and building techniques to reduce costs and uplift the local artisans. 

Karunaratne House in Kandy, 1950

Today, many of her projects have been demolished and stand in ruins. One such work of Minnette that has now been demolished is the Karunaratne House in Kandy. The Karunaratne House belonged to a conservative Buddhist couple. The house was a simple-looking bungalow that was strategically designed due to its site conditions. Stood above Kandy Lake on the hillside, it was built on a downward-sloping terrain. At that time, it was crucial to design a structure on a complex terrain. The House was a two-story structure with the living and dining spaces on the ground floor and the bedrooms were placed on the first floor. A staircase was designed to connect the different levels of the house. A large portico and garden were also provided as leisure family spaces. Minnette?s objective was to design a contemporary home for the couple. To match the style and terrain, she curated the bungalow with interlocking spaces accommodating the family and spaces for ceremonies. A blend of modern construction materials and features like columns of concrete, trusses, and traditional local materials like rubble, timber, and terracotta tiles were used. 

For the interiors, she utilized local handicrafts, weavings, murals, and lacquerwork from the local artisans. To uplift the space, a large mural was added to the staircase and glass blocks as a partition. The design of a sloping roof added a twist to the look of a contemporary bungalow. This design is not just contemporary but also has traces of tradition. Some of her other remarkable projects are the Pereira House, in 1957, Alfred House, the Watapuluwa Housing Complex, and so on. 

Minnette was a pronounced female in a room full of male architects during her era. It is said that the influence of Minnette De Silva and her works was significant for many architects from around the world namely Geoffrey Bawa. Not just her design ideologies and works but also her published writings on Modern Regional Architecture have a lasting impact on modern tropical architecture. Minnette faced struggles and adversities throughout her life that taught her to convert difficulty into an opportunity.

Sources

• https://youtu.be/R4JKQHLi8IU?si=3BEGck8OmTSzCwK0
• https://thinkmatter.in/2015/03/04/andrew-boyd-and-minnette-de-silva-two-pioneers-of-modernism-in-ceylon/
• https://www.architecture.com/about/equality-diversity-and-inclusion/remembering-minnette-de-silva#:~:text=Her%20work%20and%20writings%20are,years%20behind%20her%20in%20practice.