LAURIE BAKER

Background
• Lawrence Wilfred "Laurie" Baker (2 March 1917 – 1 April 2007)
was a British-born Indian architect.

• Born into a religious family in Birmingham, England.

• In his teens Baker began to question what religion meant to him and
decided to become a Quaker.

• Baker studied architecture at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design,

Birmingham, and graduated in 1937, aged 20, in a period of political
unrest in Europe.

• He served the casualties in England and later in China during the II World
War. He dealt with civilians suffering from Leprosy.

• He was then ordered back in 1943 to England to recuperate. But fate

took a hand in delaying his departure by about three months as he
waited for a boat in Bombay.
 Background
• During this time he stayed with a Quaker
friend, who also happened to be a good
friend of the Mahatma. Baker attended
many of Gandhi's talks and prayer-meetings
— which eventually led to a more-than-
casual friendship between them.

• His initial commitment to India in 1945 had

him working as an architect for the World
Leprosy Mission. The organisation wanted
a builder-architect-engineer. Baker's
responsibilities were focused on converting
or replacing asylums to hospitals.
Laurie Baker with his wife and grandchild
• He then met Elizabeth Jacob, who was a
doctor at the same leprosy organisation
and got married in 1948. the Bakers the
lived in Pittoragarh, Uttarakhand for 16
years and later moved to Kerala in 1963.
 Background & Influence
• While he was here, he realized that English construction education to be
inadequate for the types of issues and materials he was faced with:
termites and the yearly monsoon, as well as laterite, cow dung, and mud
walls, respectively,
• Baker had no choice but to observe and learn from the methods and
practices of vernacular architecture. He soon learned that
the indigenous architecture.
• He realized that unlike the Modernist architectural movement that was
gaining popularity at the time denouncing all that was old just because it
was old didn't make sense.
• Baker adopted local craftsmanship, traditional techniques and materials
but then combined it with modern design principles and technology
wherever it made sense to do so.
• This prudent adoption of modern technology helped local architecture
retain its cultural identity and kept costs low due to the use of local
materials.
• It also revived the local economy due to the use of local labour for both
construction of the buildings and for manufacture of construction
materials such as brick and lime surkhi.
 Background
• He continued to live and work in India for over
50 years. He became an Indian citizen in 1989
and resided
in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala fro
m 1969 and served as the Director of
COSTFORD (Centre of Science and Technology
for Rural Development), an organisation to
promote low-cost housing.

• He died on 1 April 2007 in Trivandrum, Kerala,

survived by his wife, children and grandchildren.

• Many architects studied and were inspired by

the work of Laurie Baker. Laurie Baker's writings
were published and are available through
COSTFORD (the Center Of Science and
Technology For Rural Development), the
voluntary organisation where he was Master
Architect and carried out many of his later
COSTFORD
projects.
 Design Philosophy/Style
• Recognized for his initiatives in cost-
effective, energy-efficient architecture and
designs that maximized space, ventilation
and light.

• Pioneer in sustainable and organic

architecture, incorporating in his designs
even in the late 1960s, concepts such as
rain-water harvesting, minimizing usage of
energy-inefficient building materials,
minimizing damage to the building site and
seamlessly merging with the surroundings.

• Due to his social and humanitarian efforts

to bring architecture and design to the
common man, his honest use of materials,
his belief in simplicity in design and in life,
and his belief in non-violence, he has been
called the "Gandhi of architecture."
 Design Style & Features
• Baker developed and applied an approach to architecture derived from an
intimate understanding of the local climate, available building materials
and craft skills, as well as from the detailed attention he paid to the
specific needs of his individual, often relatively poor, clients.

• He believed in the construction of buildings which were in harmony with its

surrounding environment. Blended man and nature.

• Low cost constriction with high quality and beautiful homes. Use of locally
available materials. Optimal use of energy and resources.
 Design Style & Features
• Irregular, pyramid-like structures on roofs, with one
side left open and tilting into the wind. Traditional
Indian sloping roofs and terracotta Mangalore tile
shingling with gables and vents allowing rising hot air
to escape.

• Window openings replaced by Brick jali walls, a

perforated brick screen which invites a natural air flow
to cool the buildings' interior, in addition to creating Gable roof
intricate patterns of light and shadow. Simpler
windows. Windowsills that double as bench surfaces.
Baker eliminates glass windows and frames.

Brick Jaali
. and
Window detail
 Design Style & Features
• Masonry construction.

• CSEB (Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks), Use of dug up

soil for construction.

• Curved walls- to enclose more volume at lower material

cost than straight walls, and for Laurie, "building became
more fun with the circle.“
CSEB Block

• He believes in giving ‘life’ to the buildings through

expression of the natural state of the materials. Exposed
brick, terracotta tiles, etc. add a natural touch to the
building, creating a beauty of its own.
Curved
wall-
Indian
Coffee
House,
Exposed Trivandrum
brickwork
 Design Style & Features
• Baker created a cooling system by
placing a high, latticed, brick wall
near a pond that uses air pressure
differences to draw cool air through
the building. The difference in
temperature in these buildings from
outside is upto 3 degree Celsius.

• Baker’s construction also cost a lot

less due to simpler, traditional
techniques, like the use of Rat trap
bond for brick walls and using bends
in the wall to increase the strength.
 Design Style & Features
• Cement plasters were eliminated,
while flat concrete slab roofs,
window glass and bars were
replaced by inventive uses of local
bricks, clay tiles, timber and
lime. Use of lime combined with
sand and surkhi as plaster instead
of cement.

• Bare brick surfaces and didn’t

considered plastering and other
embellishments.

• Energy efficient architecture. Brick and Terracota

• Recycled materials usage

Design Style & Features
Filler slab :
Advantages:
□ 20-35% Less materials
□ Decorative, Economical & Reduced
self-load
□ Almost maintenance free
□ 25-30% Cost Reduction

MasonryArch:
Advantages :
□ Energy saving & Eco-Friendly
compressive roofing.
□ Decorative & Highly Economical
□ Maintenance free
 Design Style & Features
• Using corbeling instead of a lintel above the frame, this reduces the cost of the
R.C.C lintel.

• Using less number of bricks to make a wall of same thickness and providing
cavities in between for insulation.
Laurie Baker’s
Design
Principles
Design Style
Gandhi of Architecture

Master of Minimalism

Brick Master of Kerala

“It was also from the influence of Mahatma Gandhi I learnt that the real
people you should be building for, and who are in need, are the ‘ordinary’
people — those living in villages and in the congested areas of our cities.”
–Laurie Baker

‘simple way of living’

‘True to its context’

“I would rather see a million mud houses that are 200 sq.ft. than one
more high-rise building”
 Awards and Honours
• 1938: Associate of the Royal Institute of Architects (ARIBA)
• 1970: Fellow of the Indian Institute of Architects
• 1981: D.Litt conferred by the Royal University of Netherlands for
outstanding work in the Third World Country
• 1983: Order of the British Empire, MBE
• 1987: Received the first Indian National Habitat Award
• 1988: Received Indian Citizenship
• 1989: Indian Institute of Architects Outstanding Architect of the Year
• 1990: Received the Padma Sri
• 1990: Great Master Architect of the Year
• 1992: UNO Habitat Award & UN Roll of Honour
• 1993: International Union of Architects (IUA) Award
• 1993: Sir Robert Matthew Prize for Improvement of Human Settlements
• 1994: People of the Year Award
• 1995: Awarded Doctorate from the University of Central England
• 1998: Awarded Doctorate from Sri Venkateshwara University
• 2001: Coinpar MR Kurup Endowment Award
• 2003: Basheer Puraskaram
• 2003: D.Litt from the Kerala University
• 2005: Kerala Government Certificate of Appreciation
• 2006: L-Ramp Award of Excellence
• 2006: Nominated for the Pritzker Award (considered the Nobel Prize for
Architecture)
THE HAMLET, Trivandrum
The Hamlet
• This is Baker’s home in
Trivandrum.

• This is remarkable and unique

house built on a plot of land along
the slope of a rocky hill, with limited
access to water.

• However Baker’s genius has

created a wonderful home for his
family

• Material used from unconventional

sources

• Family eats in kitchen

• Electricity wiring is not concealed

 The Hamlet
• Architect’s personality is reflected in the
way he design his own house.

• Built on a steeply sloping and rocky hillside

that hardly had any vegetation when Baker
started constructing. baker did not disturb
even a single rock or a tree, so it is
popularly named as “RIGHT IN THE ROCKS”

• Baker has truly adopted his motto to “make

low-cost a habit and a way of life” by reusing
everything, from brick to glass bottles, as
building materials.

• The journey to Bakers home is like from a

concrete jungle of Trivandrum to the
freshness & shade of the suburbs.
STEPS DIRECTLY CUT IN ROCK
 The Hamlet

• First he built a single room

hut of timber, which consists
of the library of medical
books & also as bed room,
living room , drawing room &
study.

• Later some alterations took

place.
The Hamlet - Details

Entrance Mastery of Light

Inner Courtyard Use of Natural Light

The Hamlet - Details
The Hamlet - Details

Doorbell & Seating area at

entrance
The Hamlet - Details
The Hamlet - Details

Stained Glass Effect

The Loyola Complex, Kerala
The Loyola Complex
The Loyola complex contains a high
school and a post-graduate complex,
both sharing a common chapel and
an auditorium. It was here that Bakers
skills of cost-reduction met their
greatest challenge, as it required a
seating capacity of one thousand.
Baker devised a wide cavity double-wall
with cross-bracing brick.

The total covered area of the chapel

and auditorium and the gallery is
approximately 930 square meters. The
cost in 1970-71, including the furniture,
lighting and sanitation was kept within
the original gift sum of 1.75 lakh
rupees.
The Loyola Complex
Both the walls were pierced with a
continuous floor-to-roof pattern of
jails, so that the chapel was
adequately, though somewhat
mysteriously, lit-and ventilated.
Despite its tall proportions, the
acoustics of the hall were
remarkable-the exposed surfaces
and the open patterns of brickwork
controlling the reverberations.
The Loyola Complex
LIGHTING :The chapel space
is lit with indirect light from
above giving it an almost a
spiritual existence; whereas
the auditorium space is lit
from both the sides with
unique brick-jalis.
MATERIAL: The material palette
comprises of exposed brick
masonry with jalis, steel trusses
and roofing sheets. The peripheral
walls are made of double layer
brick masonry with sufficient buffer
space in-between. Both these
layers are made porous with jalis
which allows air movement and the
buffer space in-between helps
creating a cool indoor space.
CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, KERALA
An area of 9 acres accommodates administrative offices, computer centre, amphitheatre, library,
classrooms, housings and other components of an institutional design.
The design of CDS
demonstrates how Baker
is able to transfer
vernacular architecture to
suit the requirements of a
modern academic
institution.

The building of this center

also incorporates all the
elemental characteristics
of Baker’s style-
• Jalis
• Traditional roofs
• Stepped arches
• Over-hanging eaves
• Skylights.

The Centre for

Development Studies
consists of a group of
buildings located on a
hillock on the outskirts of
Trivandrum.
MAIN FEATURES:
• The design is in response to its sloping
contoured site and seems to grow out of it.
• Baker simply moulds his walls around the
trees so as not to disturb it.
• He designed the buildings at the Centre to
practically cool them.
• He renders jalis, a perforated wooden
screen found in traditional Indian
architecture, in brick; The open grillwork
allows cool breezes to waft into the interior
while filtering harsh, direct sunlight.
• Some buildings include a series of small
courtyards containing shallow pools in the
center, whose evaporation helps cool the
air..
• In evaluating the campus for the Centre,
Baker planned roads along the lower,
while footpaths were routed along
naturally occurring elevated areas;
following the natural topography helps to
limit erosion and despoilment of the
environment.
• Brick walls were left un-plastered and brick
corbelling was used rather than more
expensive concrete lintels.
• With his mastery over his medium, Baker creates a variety of textures and
patterns by simple manipulation of the way in which bricks are placed in the wall.
Each structure curling in waves, semicircles and arcs
• The architecture of this academic complex was conceived as a demonstration of
economically responsible building practices.
• The teaching block, the largest of the buildings, occupies the highest point.
• Its circular, brick-textured library tower is the core structure providing a visual
focus.
• A special staircase provides access to the different library floors.
• Areas for administration and teaching radiate out from the library.
• The Library dominates the center with seven storey tower, the administrative
offices and classrooms are scattered in a randomness determined by each ones
position on the slope. However, the building remain tightly connected through
corridors that snakes upwards to the library along breezy walkways and
landscape courts.
• Wall thicknesses change on different floors based on loading and requirement.
 COMPUTER CENTRE

The 2-storied high computer block with a double-walled building with an outer surface of intersecting circles of brick jails which
followed the design of the main academic block, while the internal shell fulfilled the constraints and controls necessary for a
computer laboratory, the space between the 2 walls accommodates the secondary requirements for offices and storage areas.
 WOMEN’S HOSTEL

• The rooms, like those of the men’s hostel, have the rigid layout of differentiated rectangular, opening into the privacy of a
forest behind the building.
• The wall forming the circulation to the room is curved not merely for structural stiffness but the curves are made as to
incorporate the interactive hostel life.
MEN’S HOSTEL

• Student hostel is set apart from this central complex across an

informal amphitheatre fashioned from excess building material,
and made by merely consolidating the contours.
• 8 rooms in a single file opening onto a verandah and 4-stacked
floors give a formidable linear space to the plan.
• Each room is entered simply down a rear corridor built into the
shade walls.
• This inordinately regimented organization is offset by
playfulness of the circulation and the entrance block – both of
which move away from an excessive rectilinearity into the
magical realm of curve walls, circular staircase and deep set
wall niches.
Staff housing of varying densities are
located near the entrance gate.
 JALI WORK FILLER SLAB

Laurie baker had a deep, genuine concern for nature and tree.
Laurie Baker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
r6ni3aFraXE