Narration on demonstration of political power through use of architecture in post-conflict Colombo

Abstract

Architecture and political power have associated each other throughout the history. It is vital that architects have understanding on this nexus since they along pose the academic training and capacity in shaping the built environment. According to Lefebvre(1991) it is in this ‘space’ created by architecture, that we perceive, conceive and live. The study was intended to investigate on post-conflict Colombo in an attempt to understand the nexus between architecture and political power. The study intended to investigating ‘how’ architecture demonstrate political power and ‘what’ they intend to mean, thereby derive new learnings. The research was done in stages. First a theoretical framework was established in order to obtain a proper understanding of the subject. The next step was a literature survey to understand the context which was essential to understand the case study analysis. Furthermore, historical international scenarios where political power has been strongly evident were studied. The case study which was post-conflict Colombo (2009-2015) analysed in comparison to the theoretical framework, literature review and with broad range of evidence gathered through interviews, newspapers, magazines, videos, photographs, reports and many more. The study was broad and multi-disciplinary by its’ nature. Hence, the research had to be carefully narrowed down without compromising its’ very nature. Furthermore, since the research is investigating into social-physical phenomena which took place in a specific period of time in history, the analysis is conducted on narrative format, with the intention of describing it in holistic form. Following major facts were identified as conclusions; existence if a strong context or a situation; demonstration of power was through both the process of building and built form; symbolic representation had multiple identities.