Laurence Wilfred

LAURIE BAKER

PRESENTED BY:
MANISH SINGH
SWATI SAXENA

LIFE HISTORY
(March 2, 1917 April 1, 2007) British-born Indian architect
He went to India in 1945 in part as a missionary and since
then lived and worked in India for over 50 years

. He obtained Indian citizenship in 1989 and resided in

Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala.
In 1990, the Government of India awarded him with the
Padma Shri in recognition of his meritorious service in the
field of architecture.

 Baker studied architecture in Birmingham and

graduated in 1937, aged 20, in a period of
political unrest for Europe.
During the Second World War, he served in
the Friends Ambulance Unit in China and
Burma.[1]

CONTRIBUTION TO INDIA
worked as an architect for an international and
interdenominational Mission dedicated to the care of those
suffering from leprosy.
focused on converting or replacing asylums once used to
house the ostracized sufferers of the disease - "lepers".
Used indigenous architecture and methods of these places as
means to deal with his once daunting problems.

Initial work
Baker lived in Kerala with Doctor P.J. Chandy,
He received great encouragement and later married
his sister
while Laurie continued his architectural work and
research accommodating the medical needs of the
community through his constructions of various
hospitals and clinics.

 Baker sought to enrich the culture in which he

participated by promoting simplicity and
home-grown quality in his buildings.
His emphasis on cost-conscious construction,
An ideal that the Mahatma expressed as the
only means to revitalize and liberate an
impoverished India

PRINCIPLES FOLLOWED BY
BAKER THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE

Architectural style
Designing and building low cost, high quality,
beautiful homes
Suited to or built for lower-middle to lower class
clients.
Irregular, pyramid-like structures on roofs, with one
side left open and tilting into the wind.

Brick jali walls, a perforated

brick screen which utilises
natural air movement to
cool the home's interior and
create intricate patterns of
light and shadow

 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 to enclose more volume at lower material

cost than straight walls,

 Baker was often seen rummaging through salvage heaps

looking for suitable building materials, door and window
frames.

Baker's architectural method is of improvisation.

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

 His respect for nature led him to let the

idiosyncrasies of a site inform his architectural
improvisations, rarely is a topography line
marred or a tree uprooted.
This saves construction cost as well, since
working around difficult site conditions is
much more cost-effective than clear-cutting

 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
. His responsiveness to never-identical site
conditions quite obviously allowed for the
variegation that permeates his work.

LOW COST CONSTRUCTION

Filler slab

Jack Arch

Advantages
20-35% Less materials
Decorative, Economical &
Reduced self-load
Almost maintenance free
25-30% Cost Reduction

Advantages
Energy saving & Eco-Friendly
compressive roofing.
Decorative & Highly
Economical
Maintenance free

LOW COST CONSTRUCTION

Masonry Dome

Advantages
Energy saving eco-friendly compressive roof.
Decorative & Highly Economical for larges spans.
Maintenance free

Funnicular shell

Advantages
Energy saving eco-friendly compressive roof.
Decorative & Economical
Maintenance free

Low cost constructions

Masonry Arches
Advantages
Traditional spanning sytem.
Highly decorative & economical
Less energy requirement.

Awards
1981: D.Litt conferred by the Royal University of
Netherlands for outstanding work in the Third World
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 from the Pritzker Prize

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

Drawings

GROUND FLOOR

FIRST FLOOR

STEPS LEADING UP TO
FRONT DOOR

A VIEW FROM THE OPPOSITE

SIDE

STEPS DIRECTLY CUT IN ROCK

ENTRANCE HAS SMALL SITTING

AREA FOR GUESTS

THE WALL IS DECORATED

FROM BROKEN POTTERY,
PENS, GLASS

A CALLING BELL FOR VISITORS TO ANNOUNCE

THEIR PRESENCE

A MORNING AT HEMLET

USE OF NATURAL LIGHT

USE OF NATURAL LIGHT

INNER COURTYARD CLOSE TO NATURE

NEVER CUT TREES INSTEAD ADAPTED HIS DESIGN ACCORDINGLY

ARCHES LED INTO A BEAUTIFUL

OPEN ROOM

COURTYARD HAS MANY

GARDENS AND PONDS

Pitched roof made of

manglore tiles

BAKERS FONDNESS OF
ARCHES

SIMPLE YET BEAUTIFUL

WINDOWS

GABLES FOR PROPER

AIR CIRCULATION AND
VENTILATION

GRILL MADE OF BITS AND PIECES

CONICAL STRUCTURE USED

COST EFFECTIVE BAKERS

WINDOW

Louvered window typical of

bakers type

STAINED GLASS EFFECT

WATER TANK
FOR STORING
RAIN
HARVESTED
WATER

Mrs Nalini Nayak`s residence

(A Social Worker)
Ulloor, Trivandrum (1971)
Requirements:
Meeting place.

working place (training).

Open spaces.

Classroom & dormitories.

External Views
Generous sprawling ground floor with three
floor staking of pentagon

 The main house is formed by a simple threefloor stacking of the pentagon on nine-inchthick brick walls
internally each floor divides into the bedroom,
bath and landing
The additional segment on the ground, forming
the living/dining and kitchen, is structured with
bays of half-brick thickness, alternating wall
and wall and door

Ground floor plan

1st Floor Plan

2nd Floor Plan

The Entrance

View of entrance from living room

Built
furniture of
bricks

st
1

floor bedroom entrance.

Common door for entry and

bathroom

Jali walls

Sun light merging

inwards.

Jali window.

2nd floor bedroom.

FISHERMENS VILLAGE
Poonthura ,Trivandrum(1974-75)
CHALLENGES:

Severity of environment in which the tribal's live.

Limitation of resources
Conventional architects stayed away from these projects
Dealing with large insular groups, with set ideas and
traditions.
Dealing with cyclones
Area of each unit : 25 sqm

Design strategies
Construction

Exposed brickwork and structure

Sloped concrete roof
Openness in design and individual units offset each
other
Continuous latticework
in the exposed walls

Dealing With Cyclones:

Low sloped roofs and courts serve as wind

catchers
Open walls function to dispel it

Long row of housing replaced by even

staggering
Fronting courts catch the breeze and also get
view of sea

Open Spaces

Little private rectangle of land in between

houses for drying nets , kids play,
Provides sleeping lofts within and adequate
space outside for mending nets and cleaning
and drying fish

PLAN

COMPUTER CENTRE
Ulloor, Trivandrum (1971)
Challenges :
Solution of Computer Centre Design
Problems
Fitting in naturally and
harmoniously with the elevations
of the twenty five year old
institution

elevation

 Using principle of lattice wall planning, breezeways and built

of natural brick and stone keeping in consideration the
electronic sophistication
He proposed a double walled building with an outer surface
of intersecting circles of brick jalis
Internal shell fulfilled the constraints and controls necessary
for a computer laboratory.
Space between the two walls accommodated the secondary
requirements for offices and storage areas.

plan

External lattice

Two storeyed outer wall is stiffened by a series of intersecting circles,

Space used for storage