On Friday last week, just as the architect Channa Daswatte sat down for an interview with the Sunday Times, a ceiling was sliding into place at the Bentota Beach Hotel. Ena de Silva’s stunning batik design had been a key element in the building Geoffrey Bawa worked on between 1967 and 1969, and its restoration … Continue reading
Situated on the shores of the Indian Ocean, Colombo is known for its labyrinthine old city markets, grand colonial-era hotels, stunning shipwrecks and wetlands that are home to elusive fishing cats. But not so much for its contemporary art. All that is set to change, however, thanks to the recent launch of the Sri Lankan commercial capital’s Museum … Continue reading
In her introduction to Perspectives (which I wrote for the United Nations Population Fund to mark 50 years of their work in Sri Lanka) Ritsu Nacken the County Representative for UNFPA Sri Lanka explains what the publication sets out to do: “This year, 2019, marks two important milestones in the field of reproductive health globally: 50 years … Continue reading
…Pinto uses these moments to bring into sharp focus some of the factors that influenced Minnette’s trajectory. In 1948, she made history as the first Asian woman to become an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects and, in 1949, became the first Sri Lankan woman architect to start her own practice. While Minnette’s buildings would break new ground both … Continue reading
The acceptance letter broke their hearts. Daniel Linsey had got into the university he had dreamed of studying at. Daniel had a learning disability, but it meant that he only worked harder. So at 17 he was volunteering in an Ethiopian orphanage and by 18, he was in Mongolia engaged as an English teacher … Continue reading
Zeynep Tufekci is no stranger to protests. The 90s found the Turkish social scientist in Chiapas, watching as the Zapatistas clashed with the Mexican state; in 2011, she was in Tahrir Square in time for the revolution; that same year found her in lower Manhattan for Occupy Wall Street, where the 99% gathered to demand … Continue reading
From the air, the Yoyogi National Gymnasium – built for the Tokyo Olympics of 1964 – resembles nothing so much as a leaf that has just fluttered to the ground. Designed by Kenzo Tange, its long elegant curves and ribs seem almost organic and yet its material is concrete. His first encounter with it, when … Continue reading
July 29, 1999. Vasuki Nesiah was on her way to meet Neelan Tiruchelvam when she heard he would not be able to keep their appointment. As his course assistant, Vasuki had been working with Neelan, helping him to prepare for a constitutional law class that considered how the Tamil epic Silapadikaram and the Greek tragedy Antigone could be ‘sources’ … Continue reading
Every week, Krishna Jagadeesan spends a day with memories of Geoffrey Bawa. He dusts and mops but does not rearrange anything in Bawa’s room at the garden estate of Lunuganga. It is Krishna’s duty to keep everything inside as it was. Having joined the staff at Lunuganga in 1999, one of Krishna’s earliest tasks was … Continue reading
Sunethra Bandaranaike remembers turning down the driveway to Lunuganga with the world’s first-ever female prime minister in the seat beside her. They had been invited by Geoffrey Bawa to visit his garden estate, and her mother’s first impression was guarded to say the least. “It looks like we are driving through a forest. What is this?” Sunethra remembers Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias … Continue reading
