Minnette de Silva is my Roman Empire and here is why.
It’s 1918, Sri Lanka is still known as Ceylon, a British Colony and the last place you’d expect to find feminist ground breaking artistic pioneers. Minnette de Silva is born and concurs.
One of the first modernist architects to come from Sri Lanka AND the first Asian woman to become an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
She was awarded the SLIA Gold Medal for her contribution to architecture “regional modernism for the tropics”
She did not complete her formal education due to family circumstances. Despite not finishing the modern equivalent of her A-Levels, she undertook an apprenticeship and attended lectures at the Ceylon Technical College (Desi kids rejoice at an intellectual icon who had an untraditional path through education). She then joined the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art which allowed her to study under many influential architects.
She was eclectic, intelligent and a force to be reckoned. She was expelled from the Government School of Architecture in India for attending a Free Gandhi March and refusing to write an apology letter to the Head of the School for it (we don’t stan Gandhi but we do stan standing up for your beliefs!)
Her father was extremely opposed to her career path but she went for it anyway. A bad bitch. An unstoppable force.
According to The Guardian “During her time at the Architectural Association (AA) in the UK she cut an elegant figure, draped in silk saris and followed by a train of young male students bearing her bags and instruments.”
This is how I imagine her walking down those halls!
Minnette de Silva returned to a newly independent Sri Lanka in 1949, and established her career in Kandy. She was influenced by Ananda Coomaraswamy, and advocated for the preservation of the traditional methods of craftsmanship, construction, and acquiring materials. She was inspired to create a style that incorporated the newly Western methods of development with the natural style, aesthetic, and landscapes of the tropical island.
The photos below are her designs and they are
e x q u i s i t e ✨
She never married. According to Architectual Record Minette explained to a friend “husbands are only good for carrying one’s bags”
My real life reaction to reading THAT quote🔥
However, Minette was always plagued by financial insecurity, she died penniless in a hospital in Kandy on the 24th of November 1998 at the age of 80. She had fallen from her bathtub at home, and was not found for days. Only a relative few of her buildings remain standing.
RIP Minette de Silva, you were a pioneer and an inspiration.
