Laurence Wilfred

LAURIE BAKER

PRESENTED BY:
PRIYA JAIN
4th SEM
HITKARINI COLLEGE OF
ARCHITECTURE AND TOWN
PLANNING.
 LAURIE BAKER
Laurie Baker, an architect from
Birmingham, now settled in
Thiruvananthapuram, has effectively
combined traditional techniques with
indigenous innovations and has managed
to bring down the cost of construction
by half.

His techniques not only use cheaper

materials but also eliminate redundant
details from the design.

Concrete is rarely used. Mangalore tiles

are used for the roof which makes it
light and inexpensive.
► His approach and simple principles to low cost housing are
Gandhian, which can be adopted by every builder. The
following are the mainstay of design and construction of
his houses.
► Planning of space– lesser walls, multiple uses of space,
short spans of roof, agglomeration of building services,
flexibility in growth.

► Local building material– bricks, tiles, lime, surkhi,

timber, thatch, stone, palm, mud.

► Bricks and jalis – play of light and shade, unidirectional

vision.
► Unplastered walls.
► Lintels and arches.
► Attention to details.
► Baker’s works include, private
residences, some institutional
buildings, like ‘center for development
studies’, Kerala. He is very active in
the works of all the building centers
working in Kerala as well as in the
other parts of country. Rather it was
his initial effort to promote the low
cost housing in India, where housing is
a big problem.

► His techniques not only use cheaper

materials but also eliminate
unnecessary details from the design.
Concrete is sparingly used. Mangalore
tiles are used for the roof which
makes it light and inexpensive.
 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.

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

Advantages
Energy saving & Eco-Friendly
Jack Arch 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.
 BAKER’S HOUSE, “THE HAMLET”
► Baker’s own residence is
called ‘The Hamlet’. It has
been built in
Thiruvananthapuram, built on
a steeply sloping and rocky
hillside that hardly had any
vegetation when Baker
started constructing.
► Baker has truly adopted his
motto to “make low-costery a
habit and a way of life” by
reusing everything, from
brick to glass bottles, as
building materials.
• Key features of his house are:
All the walls are made of mud bricks.
Timber salvaged from an old boat jetty.
► One of the other signature
elements of his design
includes the use of circular
walls, which use far less brick
than rectangular walls.
► In addition, when he does use
concrete for a roof, he
embeds chipped or broken
terra cotta roofing tiles into
the mixture.
► These tiles, which normally
would be thrown away,
contribute to the strength of
the roof, allow less of the
expensive concrete to be
used, and reduce the
structural load of the
building.
► He used broken tiles for the
outer paved area of his
garden.
► He made an extensive use of
timber in his house, like in the
living room of house, the
detailing in wood and mud
bricks are wonderful.
► The living room, An integration
of new building and salvaged
timber from traditional
buildings that were being
demolished.
► Baker's innovative use of
discarded bottles, inset in the
walls giving a very good effect
of light and creating an illusion
of stained glass.
PLAN AND ELEVATION

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
INTERIOR
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
 BAKER’S
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
BAKER’S WINDOW

Louvered window
typical of baker’s 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 three-
floor stacking of the pentagon on nine-inch-
thick brick walls

► internallyeach 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
 1st floor bedroom entrance.

Common door for entry and

bathroom
 Jali walls

Sun light merging

inwards.
 Jali window.

2nd floor bedroom.

►END