Architexturez. wrote:
http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2004/2/1/features/7202834&sec=features
Understanding GB
By Johnni Wong
DAVID Robson's book, Bawa, sub-titled geoffrey bawa: the complete works,
published in 2002, is a highly readable and illuminating work on the late
Sri Lankan architect.
ref:
http://mail.architexturez.net/+/In-Enaction/archive/msg00410.shtml
ref:
http://mail.architexturez.net/+/In-Enaction/archive/msg00409.shtml
Robson: Can Robson be Bawa’s sole defender?
In his latest book on Geoffrey Bawa, David Robson takes issue with
aspects of Sri Lankan architectural historian Shanti Jayewardene's
writings on Bawa. She seeks to place his work in a more academic context.
.....
Undeniably, Robson’s architectural biography covers the wider sources
that inspired Bawa and usefully embellishes and updates the archive. His
declared aim in writing the 2002 book was to ‘shed more light on Bawa’s
complex personality…’, (2002, p. 12). It suggests a method that uses
architecture to explain personality reversing the more familiar (if
old-fashioned) architect as ‘hero’ mode of descriptive critical writing
underpinned by a belief that a study of the architect’s mind helps
understand his work. He provides little other information on his
theoretical approach or methods. Perhaps coincidentally the framework
and chronological ordering of Robson’s first book, very different from
the disjointed later one, and his historical and architectural analyses
(and illustrations) resonate with the dissertation. In the 1970s, Bawa
rarely mentioned his design sources. The research sought to unveil the
sources of the Sri Lankan traditions emerging in Bawa’s designs. I cite
below a few instances where Robson once again perhaps unwittingly shares
my research although his writing post-dates mine by 18 or more years.
cont'd....
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080302/Plus/plus000017.html
==================================================================
Robson: Jayewardene questions my status as a self-styled ‘authority on
Geoffrey Bawa’ and expert on the architecture of Monsoon Asia, and I
have to agree that I do seem to have been guilty of unpardonable hubris.
All I can say in my defence is that I am a victim of the blurb which
publishers add to the dust jackets of books. Even the titles of my books
cause me to squirm in embarrassment: the sub-titles “Complete Works” and
“Masterworks of Monsoon Asia” were added without my approval.
In her Sunday Times article she refers to the fact that in the
post-independence era the architectural profession and first school of
architecture were affiliated to British establishments and is implicitly
critical of my role as a ‘novice graduate’ teacher in the Colombo School
of Architecture in the early 1970s. She then goes on to question my
qualifications as a non-Sri Lankan to write about a Sri Lankan architect
and seeks to discourage me from writing further books. This is not the
first time that I have had to field such criticisms though I find it sad
when they emanate from a fellow academic, particularly a Sri Lankan who
has chosen to live in Britain and has studied in British institutions. I
wonder how she would react if, in similar vein, I were to question her
qualification to publish her recent study of the British-period
architecture of South India? Of course it is important that anyone
reading my books should be aware of my background and should take that
into account: what I have written reflects who I am, and any other
writer would have written it differently. In writing the Bawa book I did
something which nobody else, including her, seemed interested or willing
to do at the time, but my book in no way precludes other writers from
tackling the subject.
If nothing else, my book will hopefully serve as a source for future
writers whose ambition is to write in more scholarly and discursive
fashion. Jayewardene now hints that she is planning to write a critical
appraisal of Bawa’s work. Ten years have passed since he suffered the
final stroke which ended his career and five years since he died: this
would be a good time for such an undertaking and I wish her well with
it. Indeed C. Anjalendran and I would be very happy to put our not
inconsiderable archives at her disposal and help her in any way we can.
cont'd....
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080316/Plus/plus000017.html