SKYSCRAPER BEING A PHALLUS: An interpretation on phallic skyscraper as an architectural intervention of dictatorial political ideology in post-independent Sri Lanka

Architecture can be charged with sexuality. It becomes masculine or phallic in several ways and the skyscraper is phallic, predominantly because of its verticality that reminds the erected penis, in other words; phallus. On the other hand, “Phallus” is one of the key concepts in psychoanalysis. Jacques Lacan defined the concept of “phallus” as not merely the male organ of the erected penis but as the symbolic object of the mother's desire and patriarchy. The political decisions based on economic and political power, which are ‘phallic’, are the real reasons behind the skyscraper. The study focuses on the BOC tower, built after the economic reforms and establishment of the executive presidency in 1978, and the Lotus Tower, built after the end of the civil war in 2009. The hypothetico-deductive research framework is used to conduct this research, and a hypothesis was developed as ‘the political skyscrapers in Colombo are Phallic not only because of their form, but also because of the politico-ideological intentions behind them’. By analyzing archival data with discourse analysis method, showing the nature of the political decisions and responses of the people towards these skyscrapers, the study shows that the Lotus Tower is built in a post-war patriarchal political atmosphere and the BOC tower is built in a constitutional dictatorial political atmosphere. Both these political backgrounds are predominantly “phallic”, hence these skyscrapers not only become phallic in their form but also by becoming the phallic object of desire/lack and the object of patriarchy in Lacanian sense. The framework of the study can be further applied to understand the politics and the gender of architecture.