When Minnette De Silva founded the Studio of Modern Architecture in Kandy, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), in 1947, she was one of the first women in the world to establish a professional architectural practice as sole principal. Today, she is known for her designs and constructions of private residences and public institutions, settlement planning, experiments in building and handicraft, research, curation, and writing.
This book presents a critical introduction to the intersecting concerns that shaped De Silva's practice. Archival materials, drawings, photographs, and extracts from De Silva's memoir richly illustrate her diverse work in Sri Lanka, India, Europe, and beyond. Minnette De Silva : Intersections offers a primer on the thought and production of a significant architect and cultural figure who drew on modernist techniques and longstanding heritage practices to forge a distinctive, critically engaged aesthetic program and set of values.
When Minnette De Silva founded the Studio of Modern Architecture in Kandy, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), in 1947, she was one of the first women in the world to establish a professional architectural practice as sole principal. Today, she is known for her designs and constructions of private residences and public institutions, settlement planning, experiments in building and handicraft, research, curation, and writing.
This book presents a critical introduction to the intersecting concerns that shaped De Silva's practice. Archival materials, drawings, photographs, and extracts from De Silva's memoir richly illustrate her diverse work in Sri Lanka, India, Europe, and beyond. Minnette De Silva : Intersections offers a primer on the thought and production of a significant architect and cultural figure who drew on modernist techniques and longstanding heritage practices to forge a distinctive, critically engaged aesthetic program and set of values.
