Tribute to Professor Dr Ronald Lewcock

We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever; the goal is to create something that will.

Chuck Palahnuik

I felt very sad when I heard of the death of Ron Lewcock on August 13. He had not been his usual self ever since Barbara Sansoni Lewcock, his wife of 42 years, died just two and a half months previous. They were in Sri Lanka and at home in Anderson Road, Colombo 5, when she passed away. Ron continued living here, well looked after by Barbara’s son Dominic, daughter-in-law Nazrin, their grandchildren and members of the household – Kavidas and Mallika. I personally feel Ron just could not accept the fact that Barbara was no more. They shared life completely; and when she was declining in health he had been so concerned and considerate to her.

Ron was a truly distinguished architect, world renowned, and a university lecturer in demand. His special field of research was the architecture of the Middle East and Asia about which he wrote much. He was also deeply interested in the vernacular and colonial-era architecture of South Asia, particularly of Sri Lanka.

I first met Ron in the early 1990s. Tall and gentle, always smiling and with a twinkle in his eye, he seemed to be the quintessential absent-minded professor. He and Barbara made a great team and when you met them you felt uplifted by their sense of humour and joy for life.

Student and professional life

Ron, an only child, was born in Brisbane, Australia in 1928. As a sailor from age nine, he was keen on the design of boats, houseboats and houses up until age 15. In 1947, he started his architectural degree at the University of Queensland, and completed it in 1951 at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. While a lecturer in architecture at the University of Natal, he obtained his Doctorate from the University of Cape Town for a thesis titled Early 19^th Century Architecture in South Africa: the interaction of two cultures – Dutch & English.

He earned a visiting fellowship to Columbia University, New York. His subject of study, which he continued to explore throughout his career, was European Colonial Architecture in Africa and Asia. In 1968-69, during his sabbatical, he undertook fieldwork on this subject. This brought Ron to Sri Lanka, where he met Barbara Sansoni. He travelled extensively through the country and became enchanted by its varied architecture. He also found an affinity to the Arab and colonial architecture of the East African Coast and South Africa. This led him to the study of Asian and African indigenous architecture, especially to Islamic, but also Hindu and Buddhist architecture

In 1970, he was awarded a research fellowship to Clare Hall in Cambridge, England and became a Foundation Fellow two years later. He taught at Cambridge University and the Architectural Association in London.

Ron returned to Sri Lanka for three months of each year during the 1970s and early 80s for his colonial architectural research, broadening it to include the local vernacular. In this he was assisted by Barbara Sansoni and Laki Senanayake, who became his close friends. The previous year he was commissioned by Habitat to undertake the listing and preservation of historic buildings and zones in the Colombo urban area which was completed the next year. He began to prepare his magnum opus The Architecture of an Island for publication with Barbara Sansoni, who did almost all of the perspectives, and Laki Senanayake, vastly extending the archive of measured drawings which had been initiated by Ulrik Plesner in the early 1960s. The book was hand collated and produced with the help of Architect C Anjalendran; not yet being the age of digital technology. Unfortunately more than half the 100 examples in the tome have disappeared – mostly brought down, destroyed!

In 1972, Ron was appointed architect of the America Research Center in Egypt’s conservation of Bayt al-Razzaz, the largest Mamluk Palace of the 15^th century. Subsequently he was requested by the World Bank to prepare a proposal for the conservation of the northern half of the old walled city of Cairo. Having obtained funding from the “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” Fund, administered by Lawrence of Arabia’s family, he participated in the University of Cambridge expedition to Yemen in 1972. Here, though arrested seven times, Ron single handedly measured 40 major buildings and exposed over 40 rolls of film. When the exhibition of this work titled Nomad and the City was held at the Museum of Mankind – a section of the British Museum – as part of The World of Islam Festival in 1976, it became the most attended British Museum exhibition up until that time.

Kuwait and the Northern Gulf

was published in 1976 and Ron was appointed UNESCO consultant and advisor to the Sultan on the conservation of the heritage of Muscat and Oman. In 1983, he led a four month conservation mission to China for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. A year later, Ron became the first Aga Khan Professor of Architecture at MIT and was also often chairman of the Aga Khan Programme at Harvard and MIT.

From 1991 Ronald taught at the Georgia Institute of Technology as Professor of the Doctoral Programme in Architecture, and was appointed Professor Emeritus in 2008. In the same year he was appointed an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland, where he conducted a senior course on Architecture in Asia. Till very recently he advised on the conservation of the Great Mosque of San’a, which is one of the oldest mosques in the Islamic world, originally built in the lifetime of the Prophet.

I quote from the presentation made by Architect C Anjalendran at the third cycle of the Geoffrey Bawa Awards 2013/14 for Excellence in Architecture, celebrated at Park Street Mews on the evening of 23 July 2014.

“Ronald has three segments in his illustrious career. Firstly, his research and writing on architecture of Sri Lanka, Africa as well as of the Islamic and Colonial world. Secondly, his contribution to the building of several educational institutions. Thirdly, and perhaps, most importantly, the empowerment of younger generations of architects in their understanding and appreciation of architecture and art, appropriate to their countries of origin.”

Ronald Lewcock has many more publications and honours to his name; more than a hundred articles; and contributions to major architecture, art and culture encyclopedias – 1970 onwards.

Ron the humane person

He married Barbara Sansoni in 1980 and was devoted to her, insisting she travel with him to Australia, Cambridge and the US, right up to 2020. Christmas was always spent in Colombo with family and local friends.

I must add here that Ron was a perfect person, truly so; kind, considerate, humorous and fun loving. He would have moved with kings and nations’ presidents but he never lost his generous ability to speak showing genuine interest and friendliness to the very ordinary person. I have chatted to him and Barbara at the Galle Literary Festivals; visited them in their home, had them in my home and met more often and for longer evenings when I holidayed with my son in Atlanta, where Ron and Barbara moved to from Boston. They looked to my son’s well being when he was new in Boston.

Then he moved to Atlanta for his higher degrees and when Ron and Barbara moved to Atlanta, he was helpful to them in various ways. My son would invite them both along with other friends for drinks enjoyed on the rooftop of the building. Ron would make it a point to sit with me, often on the half wall of the entertaining area, and listen with interest to what I chatted about. He was such a kind and affectionate person.

Within Ron’s many accomplishments is the significant legacy of hundreds, nay thousands of students who studied under him, many of them pursued their PhDs under his guidance. Most are now academics and leaders in their fields, heading departments and making their own contributions to the realm of architecture. So Ron’s influence, his humanism, his love for buildings and the people who inhabit them, will continue to live on.Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived that distinguish one man from another. Ernest Hemingway.