Details
Keywords Change this
Pioneer Architect, Women In Architecture, Modernism, Regional Modernism, CIAM, Tropical Modernism
Birth date / place
February 1st 1918, Kandy, Sri LankaSelected Architecture

- Pieris House
- Karunaratne House
- The Senanayake Flats
- Asoka Amarasinghe House I
- Kandy Arts Centre
- The Coomaraswamy Twin Houses
Practice / Active in Change this
Kandy, Sri Lanka
Linked to Change this
Geoffrey BawaAwards Change this
- 1996 - SLIA Gold Medal
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"I was dismissed because I am a woman. I was never taken seriously for my work."
Minnette de Silva
Article last edited by Bostjan on
September 11th, 2019
Minnette de Silva Change this
About Change this
Minnette de Silva (1 February 1918 – 24 November 1998) was an internationally recognized architect, considered the pioneer of the modern architectural style in Sri Lanka. She was a fellow of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects and a first Sri Lankan woman to be trained as an architect and the first Asian woman to be elected an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1948. De Silva was also the first Asian representative of CIAM in 1947 and was one of the founding members of the Architectural publication Marg. Later in her life, she was awarded the SLIA Gold Medal for her contribution to Architecture in particular her pioneering work developing a regional modernism for the tropics.
Education (1930–1948)
As Minnette did not complete her matriculation, she had to work as an apprentice for the Bombay-based firm, Mistri and Bhedwar, where she befriended Perin Mistry and her brother Minoo, and attended private classes at the Architectural Academy before enrolling at the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art. Minnette was part of the cultural and political circles which included Mulk Raj Anand and Ravi Shankar and became the architectural editor for Marg, the new publication on modern art and culture. During the time of political upheaval in India, she attended a Free Gandhi March and as a result was expelled for not writing an apology to the head of the School. She then started working for the emigre architect and planner Otto Koenigsberger in his office in Bangalore working on prefabricated housing for the Tata Steel City plan in Bihar.Architectural Association (1945–1948)
During a brief visit to Ceylon, she met Herwald Ramsbotham, the Governor-General of Ceylon, who took a keen interest in her situation and personally intervened in his capacity as head of the Education Committee in the UK and managed to arrange a place for her at the Architectural Association to allow her to take a special Royal Institute of British Architects examination for returning students for the War.Early Career (1948–1962)
Minnette de Silva returned to Sri Lanka in 1948 on the insistence of her father, who requested her to make her contribution to the newly independent country. She returned to her parents’ home, St. George's, where she would start her architectural career. Although her parents would have liked her to take a reliable salaried position, she stayed in Kandy and pursued her career independently. Minnette de Silva who lived and moved among Kandyan artists and craftsmen would be taken by her parents to see the ancient Sinhalese architecture of the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa periods. Like her parents, she was greatly influenced by Ananda Coomaraswamy, who advocated for the preservation of the traditional arts and crafts, local craftsmen and the building methods and materials, and would be one of the first Sri Lankan architects to become a patron of the local craftsmen. She would develop her own style of architecture which is still apparent in the Sri Lankan architecture of today, and would be one of the first architects to incorporate building knowledge acquired in the West with that of Sri Lanka and India.Her first building would be the Karunaratne House in Kandy. The 1949 commission came from friends of her parents Algy, who was a lawyer, and Letty Karunaratne, who asked her to build a house for Rs 40,000. She prepared plans for a split level house for a site on a hill, the first of a kind in Kandy. It was the first building designed by a women in Sri Lanka and attracted much attention and controversy. She had to tackle many problems early on as a result of being the first and only woman architect in Sri Lanka. The fact that she worked independently in a male dominated sector, without a male partner nor an established firm, rendered distrust of contractors, businesses, the government and architectural patrons. Completing the Karunaratne house in 1951, the rest of the 1950s would be de Silva's busiest decade throughout her career.
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