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Global Modernism: Mutual Persuasions & Power Dynamics
Year: 2020
Status: In my folders

Modernism has been historically viewed through a euro-centric lens, historical scholarship has focused on its developments in the west despite the wide adoption of third world modernism in the developing world. The power dynamics at play during the colonial period is exemplified by colonial exhibitions where eurocentric technological feats were presented against the “primitive” third world architecture.1 The dawn of the post-colonial era also coincided with the institutionalisation of tropical modernism, in which post-colonial architects were heavily influenced by, allowing the aesthetic and ideologies of third world modernism to be validated by the imposing authority of the west.2 This essay will argue that complex identities of modernism exist due to global modernity, while acknowledging the asymmetrical power dynamics in the development of third world modernism. All three architects discussed below contributed to nation building projects in different ways. By appropriating modernist ideals disseminated from the west as well as looking back to what is deemed as traditional culture, their projects seek to resist colonial perpetuations and historicism. Starting with Bawa, it will explain how his architecture education- informed by western epistemology, has allowed him to successfully create a new national identity through vivid imagery deriving from notions of folk culture, one that is widely appealing in the West. Unlike his counterpart, Doshi’s analysis of the vernacular focuses not on specific techniques or materiality, but on cultural and social factors in India. The combination of a non-visual vernacular and the rationality of the ‘International Style’ in his projects has created a less recognisable national identity, but are equally important to India’s nation building project. Tange’s Plan for Tokyo Bay project demonstrates an attempt to deviate from european notions of urbanism as well as the entangled nature of global modernism, where knowledge transfer flows both ways. Thus, breaking the notion that modernism is a product of the West, exported to developing countries.

In Sri Lanka, there was a clamouring for western style progress and at the same time a rekindling of pre-colonial past and indigenous culture.3 The politicised production of environment and aesthetics can be read in the Osmund & Ena De Silva House, Colombo by Geoffrey Bawa. First built in 1960 for Batik artist Ena De Silva. At first glance, traditional elements of the walawwa- a traditional manor house with aristocratic connotations4, can be seen incorporated into the verandah and roofing.5 The programs were also organised around a central courtyard that brought light in. This reorientation of architectural aesthetic and the reintroduction of courtyards was based on a nostalgia for a pre-coloniality that was seen as Sinhala.6 Tenets of eurocentric modernism is captured via the choreography of views towards the courtyards, where nature is emphasised to create a fluid transition into the internal spaces.7 Additionally, religious elements like carved symbols found in temples were also introduced into the domestic setting.8 The popularity of Bawa’s projects in the west suggests that the sacred meaning of religious artifact and regional lifestyle is made into a commodified aesthetic, one that is linked to the sense of familiarity and appeal found in “over-familiarising regionalism”.9 A further observation of the fate of the project further concretizes this notion. Some years later, it was decided that the dwelling will be dismantled piece by piece and relocated regionally rather than be demolished. While the importance of preserving a heritage building can be understood, the displacement of a courtyard dwelling from its urban context has further demonstrated the commodification of an architectural language that was meant to be a symbol of a new Sri Lankan national identity.10 The majority of Bawa’s other projects is centered around the tourism industry. Though Bawa derived his architectural language from a notion of Sinhalese ‘folk culture’, his projects have rarely catered to that folk.11 The reappropriation of elements found in modernism and particular aspects of the Sinhalese vernacular is an attempt at claiming a new universality, one that might only get the recognition it gets by catering for the elite patronage and tourists.

The dawn of the post-colonial era was similarly occuring in India. The decision to appoint Le Corbusier to design Chandigarh was meant to be a symbol of a new India following independence from British rule. Unlike Sri Lanka, modernism disseminated by Europe was explicitly embraced and seen as the way forward, international architects like Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn were invited to design major projects. In the project to design the new Punjab state of Chandigarh, the Nehruvian regime wanted to adopt modernism as a way to “wrap the indian constitution in an explicitly secular code”,12 and defy the colonial perpetuation of an “unmodern Indian citizen” due to their religious affiliations.13 One of the key architects that was also part of India’s nation building project was Balkrishna Doshi. Unlike Le Corbusier however, whose Chandigarh project provided a symbolic value of a new national identity, Doshi’s mass housing projects focus on the most important aspect of the newly independent state- the Indian citizen.14 Many of Corbusier’s architectural principles can be traced in the Aranya Low-cost housing project. Built in 1982, the project was instigated by the Indore Development Authority to address rapid urbanisation in Indore.15 Modernist rational principles are applied via the simplicity of rectilinear forms and the rationality of the grid, which separates the main thoroughfare from residential areas.16

However, a more in depth observation demonstrates an attempt to combine this rationality with morphologies and sensibilities of traditional Indian towns. Streets and spaces in between dwellings have an informal characteristic that encourages interaction between residents, fostering a lively community found in old cities17. Additionally, Residents were empowered into taking ownership of the spaces they live in, and transform the standardised units into their own over time, the role of the architect thus becomes that of a facilitator. Parallels can be found in the metabolist’s work, where architects provide a skeletal platform in which residents would be given control to build dwellings through a kit of parts.18 The adoption of similar ideals can be traced back to 1960, where Doshi was first introduced to works of the metabolism and Tange19. This demonstrates the trans-national dissemination of ideas that were occurring among different locales, and that knowledge production did not only occur from the west.20

Similarly, Metabolism emerged in Japan during the 60s, in the context of post-war independence and an economic boom. The metabolists worked in a post-war era in which the state of Tabula Rasa had been delivered in many cities by the American Air Force21. The political conflicts and rising nationalist sentiments served as a platform to create a new national identity. There was a wish to rediscover a new national identity and resist foreign influence through the re-embrace of tradition. They proposed the idea of renewal and replacement of elements- influenced by the Ise Shrine, as a reaction against the rigid rationalism of the modern movement.22The concept strongly influenced the design of the plan for Tokyo (1960), which was an attempt to create a “total system” for the city with a rapidly growing population23. Individual tent-like modules are connected through a grid system, where urban blocks could be removed or added based on population change24. These modules serve as a platform that allows residents to build their own house, echoing Doshi’s idea of individual ownership in the Aranya low cost housing project. Similar to the 2 projects above, modes of western thinking still proliferate this project. The mega scale of the city was inspired by Corbusier’s idea of monumentality and scale.25Ironically, the rationality and systemic organization of administration, business and communication clusters along its central spine resembles Le Corbusier’s Ville contemporaine26. The role of pilotis would also play a key role in the flow of traffic in Tange’s plan for Tokyo, where it is unified with the vertical circulation of this new three-dimensional urban layout.27 Tange’s ideas in regards to urbanization and Japanese identity were influential to the metabolism group and subsequent developments in Japan. Although the project was never built, the Tokyo Bay plan demonstrated new approaches to urban planning and communicated particular social ideals following Post-war Japan. The rise of commercialisation and rapid consumption has resulted in the export of metabolism ideas. The idea of an integrated city that incorporates residential, commercial and recreational functions was appropriated in the form of new mixed use typologies pervasive in Asia.

In conclusion, this essay has presented several ways architects used modernism in an effort of
decolonisation and creation of a new identity. All of which reappropriated western modes of thinking
and combined notions of tradition to create culturally specific forms of modernity. Bawa’s work is
embedded in notions of traditional materiality and building technique, while Doshi and Tange’s projects emerge from pressing realities of rapid population growth in the post-colonial era and economic boom respectively. All of these case studies demonstrate the asymmetrical power dynamics in the form of dissemination of knowledge, validation from the west or western style progress. In the end, the development of third world modernism in respective nations reached a point where the dissemination of knowledge occurs based on mutual persuasions between different modernities,demonstrated via similar modes of thought between Doshi’s and Tange’s work. Therefore, third world modernities must be recognised as legitimate spaces of knowledge production.

List of Figures

Binet, Hélène. Plan of the Osmund and Ena De Silva House. N.d. Photograph, 834 x 467 px.
Geoffrey Bawa Trust, Colombo. https://geoffreybawa.com/number-05. target="_blank">https://geoffreybawa.com/number-05.
Binet, Hélène. Door incorporating religious elements. N.d. Photograph, 600 x 4870 px.
Geoffrey Bawa Trust, Colombo. https://geoffreybawa.com/number-05.
Robson, David. View of courtyard and roof. N.d. Colour print, 640 x 422 px. Archnet.
https://archnet.org/sites/2996/media_contents/29648.
Doshi, Balkrishna. Model of Aranya Low cost housing. 1988. Photograph. Mimar: architecture in
development. 1988 June, no.28, https://archnet.org/collections/56/publications/3849.
Yatin Pandra and John Panikar. Bird’s eye perspective of typical street dwellings. 1995. Photograph. The
Architectural Review (Archive : 1896-2005), London.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/1366930022/fulltext/59526DF4EAAC49F6PQ/1?accountid=12372&imgSe
q=1.
Doshi, Balkrishna. Form variations overtime by residents. 1995. Photographs, 985 x 474 px.
Archnet, http://archnet.org/publications/1135.
Kawasumi, Akio.Plan for Tokyo, model. In Lin, Zhonjie. Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist
Movement : Urban Utopias of Modern Japan, 147. London: Taylor & Francis Group, 2010.
Studio Murai. Envisioned growth of the Plan for Tokyo 1960. In Lin, Zhonjie. Kenzo Tange
and the Metabolist Movement : Urban Utopias of Modern Japan, 160. London: Taylor & Francis
Group, 2010.
Tange Associates. Kenzo Tange, Pilotis and Core System, Plan for Tokyo 1960. In Lin,
Zhonjie. Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement : Urban Utopias of Modern Japan, 150. London:
Taylor & Francis Group, 2010.

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