Imagining Modernity : The Architecture of Valentine Gunasekara.

By:

Pieris, Anoma

Contributor(s):

Staff, Social Scientists Association of Sri Lanka

Material type: Text

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9789556580822

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Electronic books.

Additional physical formats: Print version:: Imagining ModernityDDC classification:

720.95491

LOC classification:

NA1510.63.G86 P547 2021

Online resources:

Click to View

Contents:

Intro -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Contents -- Foreword: a personal journey… -- 1 Introduction: A Brave New World -- 2 Valentine Gunasekara: A Biography -- 3 Modernity and Technology -- 4 Redefining the Home -- 5 Interpreting Community -- 6 Global Agendas -- People and Projects -- Bibliography -- Index -- Illustration Credits.

Summary: This book is a detailed study of the architecture of Valentine Gunasekara (1931-2017). It provides an innovative lens to understand the formation of a Ceylonese middle-class, which was inspired by the post-independence desire for modernity. Their experiments, values and dynamic social history are the framework for this research.Although neglected by his peers and marginalized by the prevalent discourse on vernacular regionalism, Gunasekara's work poses important questions regarding the utopian ideals of the modernist project and its successes and its failures in Asia. More significantly, his work reveals the European and American influences that shaped the first generation of Ceylonese architects and their efforts at adapting new materials and technologies to a very different climate and culture.This book documents a wide range of Gunasekara's projects including residential, religious and commercial buildings arguing that they represented a nascent cosmopolitanism from below that proved to be quite antithetical to regionalist trends in architecture.This e-book is a re-publication of an earlier edition published by Stamford Lake in 2007.

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This book is a detailed study of the architecture of Valentine Gunasekara (1931-2017). It provides an innovative lens to understand the formation of a Ceylonese middle-class, which was inspired by the post-independence desire for modernity. Their experiments, values and dynamic social history are the framework for this research.Although neglected by his peers and marginalized by the prevalent discourse on vernacular regionalism, Gunasekara's work poses important questions regarding the utopian ideals of the modernist project and its successes and its failures in Asia. More significantly, his work reveals the European and American influences that shaped the first generation of Ceylonese architects and their efforts at adapting new materials and technologies to a very different climate and culture.This book documents a wide range of Gunasekara's projects including residential, religious and commercial buildings arguing that they represented a nascent cosmopolitanism from below that proved to be quite antithetical to regionalist trends in architecture.This e-book is a re-publication of an earlier edition published by Stamford Lake in 2007.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.

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