LAURIE BAKER 

WORKS AND IDEAS

 "Laurie" Baker (2 March 1917 – 1 April 2007) was an award-
winning British-born Indian architect, renowned for his initiatives
in cost-effective energy-efficient architecture and for his unique
space utilization and simple but beautiful aesthetic sensibility.

 Using simple local materials, Baker has been inspired to blend

the best elements of Indian vernacular architecture with Western
technology to create buildings that live lightly on the land while
respecting and reflecting their immediate environment.

 In time he made a name for himself both in Sustainable

architecture as well as in Organic architecture.
IDEAS OF BAKER
 Baker sought to enrich the culture in which he participated by
promoting simplicity and home-grown quality in his buildings.

 Seeing so many people living in poverty in the region and

throughout India served also to amplify his emphasis on cost-
conscious construction, one that encouraged local participation
in development and craftsmanship,

 He later set up an organization called COSTFORD (Centre of

Science and Technology for Rural Development), for
spreading awareness for low cost housing.
 Eventually, he was drawn back to work in India
as more and more people began commissioning
work from him in the area.

 Throughout his practice, Baker became well

known for designing and building low cost, high
quality, beautiful homes, with a great portion of
his work suited to or built for lower-middle to
lower class clients.
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE
 His buildings tend to emphasize prolific - at times
virtuosic - masonry construction, instilling privacy
and evoking history with brick jali walls, a
perforated brick screen which invites a natural air
flow to cool the buildings' interior, in addition to
creating intricate patterns of light and shadow.

 Another significant Baker feature is irregular,

pyramid-like structures on roofs, with one side left
open and tilting into the wind.
 Baker's designs invariably have traditional Indian
sloping roofs and terracotta  Mangalore tile
shingling with gables and vents allowing rising
hot air to escape.

 Curved walls enter Baker's architectural

vocabulary as a means to enclose more volume at
lower material cost than straight walls, and for
Laurie, "building [became] more fun with the
circle.
 Baker also 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.

 Various features of his work such as using recycled

material, natural environment control and frugality of
design may be seen as sustainable architecture
or green building with its emphasis on sustainability.
His responsiveness to never-identical site conditions
quite obviously allowed for the variegation that
permeates his work.
 BAKER’S WORK
 A testament to his frugality, Baker
was often seen rummaging through
salvage heaps looking for suitable
building materials, door and
window frames, sometimes hitting
a stroke of luck as evidenced by the
intricately carved entry to
the Chitralekha Film
Studio (Aakulam, Trivandrum,
1974–76): a capricious
architectural element found in a
junk heap.
 The Indian Coffee House in
Thiruvananthapuram, which
was designed by Laurie Baker
was another one example to
emphasize his own style.

 Baker's architectural method is

one of improvisation, in which
initial drawings have only an
idealistic link to the final
construction, with most of the
accommodations and design
choices being made on-site by
the architect himself
 The Hamlet at
Nalanchira in
Trivandrum, which was
home to Baker and his
wife since 1970.


 The house, which resides

on a hill top, was
constructed by Baker.
 The campus for the research
institute, Centre for
Development Studies, is one
of Laurie Baker’s best campus
designs, located in a residential
area on the northern outskirts
of Thiruvananthapuram.

 The 10 acre campus stretching

across a heavily wooded site
houses the Library, Computer
centre, Auditorium, hostels,
guesthouses and residential
units for the staff. 
 The design is a response to the sloping
contoured site and seems to grow out of
it.
 There is hardly a straight line with each
structure curling in waves, semicircles
and arcs.
 Baker pays careful attention to the
contours on the site and also the
location of trees.
 The forms of the buildings also follow
the site with curved walls and building
forms along the contour.
 Often, when trees are obstructing the
building, Baker simply moulds his walls
around the trees so as not to disturb it.
OTHER WORKS
 Literacy Village  Dakshina Chitra
,Lucknow (Chennai),
  Salim Ali Centre for  Chengalchoola Slum
Ornithology and dwelling units
Natural (Trivandrum),
History(SACON)  Nirmithi Kendra
(Coimbatore), (Aakulam), Tourist
 Attapadi Hill Area Centre
Development Society
(Attapadi),
 ARCHITECTURAL WRITING

 Lime

 Mud

 On Being an Architect

 A Rural House

 Appropriate Technology
Thank u