“Without over-stating the fact, one could argue that Sri Lanka had and to some extent still has, a reasonably visible contemporary tradition in indigenous (not "traditional") architecture. This tradition did not always look into either Sri Lanka’s own past or to the past of some other civilization for inspiration.”________________
by Sasanka Perera
( April 11, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In Colombo and its suburban extensions as well as in other towns it is quite common these days to see a particular type of concrete columns and gables in many buildings, which supposedly give such buildings a ‘Greek look.’ But if we were somewhat familiar with the architecture of the classical periods of the Greek civilization, we would know that one of the most prominent features of that architecture, was the utilization of great expanses of space. That is, beyond the outer facades of columns and other typical trappings of the period, there were tall buildings with long corridors and large halls, which had also taken into account the need for air circulation. But that sense of space has been seriously dislocated in the buildings in Sri Lankan urban spaces built on small allotments of land.
The most visible feature that has been borrowed constitutes concrete columns attempting to simulate some typical models of ancient Greek columns. In the gardens of some of these houses you may see a stunted statue of Venus or a dwarfed statue of Atlas carrying a flowerpot or a lump of concrete supposedly depicting the world. Taken together, these installations, designs and constructions are indicative of the taste, perceptions and the limits of the imagination of many middle class Sri Lankan house owners, architects, interior decorators, and landscape artists.
One could ask how the taste and imagination of middle class individuals in the Sri Lankan urban centres got linked to mis/understandings of the so called ‘cradles of European civilization.’ The idea of Greece as the birthplace of European civilization has been challenged by a number of recent writers. In his interesting book ‘Black Athena’, Bernal has documented the fabrication of ancient Greece in European thinking and imagination in which the indebtedness of Greek philosophy and civilization to ancient Egypt is generally absent. It is this kind of sanitized and simplistic history of both Europe and ancient Greece that has been imparted to Sri Lankans both in the colonial and post colonial periods through public education and general socialization. For the average Sri Lankan who knows anything at all about ancient Greece, it represents a sense of ultimate greatness, high civilization, and pedigree. These preoccupations are important when comprehending how vulgarized versions of ancient Greek architecture have made inroads into contemporary Sri Lankan architecture.
In this context, one of the questions we have to pose is, how does an individual symbolically represent greatness, high status, luxury, finesse and notions of acquired taste in the way he designs and constructs a house. In many parts of the world this has been achieved by turning to models supposedly typifying the classical periods of history to which those countries lay claim. But the problem Sri Lankans have to face is the absence of a classical period in local history and memory, when it comes to architecture. Buildings that remain from pre-colonial ancient times are mostly remnants of stupas, monasteries, stone columns etc, which generally tend to be the remains of buildings of religious significance and are not models that one can utilize for secular purposes. At the same time, given our colonial experience and the very serious colonization of our minds coupled with the limitations of post colonial education, it is hardly surprising that local architects and middle class house builders opted to look for symbols of greatness and perceived sophistication in the kind of sanitized history of Europe and Greece as had been superficially imparted to them rather than inventing a new idiom on their own.
The time period after which these buildings started making their presence felt is also significant. Except for a few old colonial buildings, one could hardly see the kind of buildings I am talking about prior to the late 1970s. The 1977 electoral victory of the United National Party government and the implementation of the open economic policy played a significant role in liberalizing the economy and facilitating the free flow of commodities and ideas into the country. The post 1977 period marked clear transformations in the lifestyles of different sections of the Sri Lankan population, mostly as a direct result of the open economic policies and the resultant capital accumulation within certain groups and individuals. This was most apparent in Colombo and other urban centres. The first point of contact for the new ideas and goods flowing into this country was the city. It was also the most generous receiver of those ideas and goods. This period also marked the emergence of a class of people, mostly living in the city and suburbs who began to travel overseas on a regular basis. This was possible because of the relaxation of foreign currency and travel restrictions, as well as due to the capital accumulation that took place among some business and professional elite in the city.
In major Asian capitals such as Bangkok or even regional towns in Thailand such as Buri Ram near the Cambodian border, one cannot miss the same kind of buildings with perceivably ‘Greek’ features. They are also visible in much less affluent and even less stable cities such as Phnom Penh in Cambodia. It is conceivable, and in fact quite likely that local businessmen, architects, and other professionals, whose globe trotting abilities increased considerably after 1977, brought these kinds of models back with them, particularly from Asia rather than through any serious study of Greek history. Of course, they brought them to a small urban middle class whose limited imagination was quite receptive to such grandiose structures, precisely because they had been searching for such a commodity vested with enhanced social capital for some time. But when they were ultimately designed and built, they had to address the issue of diminishing land sizes in urban space, which gave rise to a very odd amalgamation of pseudo ‘Greek’ architecture with completely misplaced or contorted notions of space. But they achieved one important thing. In the minds of those who commissioned such structures, they represented luxury, affluence, and finesse.
The preponderance of such structures over the last fifteen years can also be attributed to two other important factors. One, given the legitimacy and power vested in this particular choice or taste, many other individuals opted to acquire or appropriate that taste. Second, due to the opening up of the economy, and the continued capital accumulation among some sectors of society, the need to construct grandiose structures both as personal dwellings and office space increased. Moreover, precisely due to the opening up of the economy and the emergence of these tastes, many entrepreneurs initiated businesses or services that provided the necessary symbolic trappings for these new building designers and builders in pre-fabricated form. So when a person had decided that he needed a house which looks like something out of ‘Greece’, he merely had to do the following: go to an architect or someone masquerading as an architect who would put together the necessary plans, pay a series of bribes to local government officials to get them approved, and find a contractor who can buy all the columns the house owners wanted from the nearest place which sold pre-fabricated concrete works, and incorporate them into the house that would ultimately be built. After it was complete, the owner simply had to go back to the same concrete works outlet and buy pre-fabricated statues of Venus, Atlas, Zeus etc. and place them in the restricted piece of land that would be called a lawn or perhaps on the roof top garden. His dream house within a limited imagination would now be quite complete.
At present, while the kind of structures I have referred to continue to grow in numbers, there is also an attempt in some quarters to move away from them. For those individuals who want to move away from this particular model of grandiosity, the reason is that, it has become too common. So they are in search of yet another model that would suite their purposes, imagination and taste, while those latter appropriators continue to erect ‘Greek’ columns and stunted statues of the ‘Greek’ pantheon in and around the houses they build.
Without over-stating the fact, one could argue that Sri Lanka had and to some extent still has, a reasonably visible contemporary tradition in indigenous (not "traditional") architecture. This tradition did not always look into either Sri Lanka’s own past or to the past of some other civilization for inspiration. Instead, while open to influences from the worlds they were exposed to, some of these architects attempted to, and still try to, create an identity of their own, both as individuals and as collectives. But it seems that this tradition is being subverted by a group of newly emergent architects, designers and house owners whose collective imagination seem to have been subverted and whose dominant skill appears to be simplistic simulation of an ancient architectural idiom they have not understood.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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