Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Laurie Baker Introduction
Laurie Baker Introduction
architect
Advantages
Energy saving & Eco-Friendly
Jack Arch compressive roofing.
Decorative & Highly
Economical
Maintenance free
•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
•Masonry Arches
Advantages
•Traditional spanning sytem.
•Highly decorative & economical
•Less energy requirement.
In his words, “I just think it is plain stupidity to build a brick wall, plaster it all
over and then paint lines on it to make it look like a brick wall. I think it is
equally untruthful to cover it all over with tiles shaped to look like bricks. Or
another variation of untruthfulness is to plaster it and then paint it to look like
marble!”
b. Brick Jali
He used this old Kerala technique to create beautiful patterns on the walls, to
play with light and shadow and its effect on ceilings and floors, to minimize
the use of windows thus reduced building cost and so on.
A Baker jali is a brick version of traditional
south Indian patterned wooden grillwork:
Gaps between bricks lead air and daylight
through a wall while diffusing the glare of
direct sunlight.
Some of the center's coolness also comes
from tiny courtyards built around pools
whose evaporation helps fight the heat.
Baker used brick or other solid materials like tiles to create different patterns on
the ceiling to break the monotony of the white plastered ceiling and other
purposes.
d. Patterned parapet
Making different designs in the parapet is another feature of Baker’s
architecture.
Mortar for bricks normally would require cement--another Baker enemy,
because until recently most cement in Kerala had to be imported. Baker instead
likes to use substitutes such as lime. When he was building the Centre for
Development Studies, for instance, he made lime on the spot.
Concrete floors and steps are ordinarily reinforced with steel rods, but Baker
has found that a grid of split local bamboo, carefully lashed together in the right
pattern, does the job just as well--and at less than 5 percent of the cost.
a. Rat trap brick bonding
Laurie Baker incorporated a new type of bonding in his buildings which is called the
“Rat trap” bonding. It is as strong as the other bonds but uses 25% LESS bricks and
mortar. Thermal insulation is very much better.”
According to Baker’s word, “our floors between stories are
usually reinforced concrete slabs which also eat up large stocks of
cement and steel. It is undoubtedly true that such floors are much
more satisfactory than the old wooden floors, but we seem to
ignore all the many types of slab which have been devised to use
less cement and less steel.
These include various types of filler slabs and incidentally I
usually make good use of burnt clay products such as tiles, bricks
etc., for the filler elements, which take the place of heavy dead
weight concrete. Compared with the normal orthodox reinforced
concrete slabs, some of these tried and tested systems reduce the
cost of the slab by 10,40 and even 50 per cent and of course save
large quantities of the precious cement and steel for more essential
purposes.”
d. Other cost reduction techniques
His other cost reduction techniques included frameless doors and windows
(here the brick wall works as the frame for doors or windows), brick lintels,
brick arches etc. The notable thing is that Baker added his natural sense of
aesthetics while he incorporated these cost reduction techniques rather than
the existing so called “modern” construction methods.
• 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
This is Baker's home in Trivandrum.
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
ARCHES LED INTO A BEAUTIFUL
OPEN ROOM
Pitched roof made of
manglore tiles
Louvered window typical of
baker’s type
WATER TANK
FOR STORING
RAIN
HARVESTED
WATER
Requirements:-
• Meeting place.
• working place (training).
• Open spaces.
• Classroom & dormitories.
The main house is formed by a simple three-
floor stacking of the pentagon on nine-inch-
thick brick walls
elevation
• Using principle of lattice wall planning, breezeways and
built of natural brick and stone keeping in consideration
the electronic sophistication
External lattice
While the jalis, the traditional roofs, the stepped arches, the overhanging eaves and
the skylights etc., are some of the well-known elements that characterize Baker's style, it
is his high regard for nature that makes him unique.
In any project, Baker is particularly sensitive to the existing contours and the other
elements present on the site. Before planning anything; the location of each tree is taken
into consideration. Even the levels in his design are not artificially created but are made
to follow existing contours or steep slopes on the site.
Baker strongly believes in the optimum use of the locally available materials, which
are appropriate to the existing climatic conditions. The local materials like brick, tile,
lime, palm thatch, stone, granite and laterite thus replace the conventional steel and
glass of modern architecture. These materials suit the hot, wet and humid climate of
Kerala and also encourage minimal use of non-renewable resources. Also the small-
scale industries required for the manufacturing, cutting, polishing, and other various
treatment of these materials help in increasing the employment amongst the poor
localities.
Concrete is rarely used; most often in a folded slab design. The waste and discarded
tiles are used as fillers, thereby making the roof light and inexpensive. Baker also
innovated different bonding techniques for brick, which allowed him to build of half-
brick thickness. To add rigidity, many a times these walls were designed in a stepped or
curved form.
Glass windows, frames and sills are replaced by traditional jalis. One can easily
recognize Baker's structures by the presence of jalis on them. The jali used in Baker's
structure, is a perforated screen made of bricks. The bricks are placed in a peculiar
fashion so as to produce tiny regular openings in the walls. These jalis can be designed in
various patterns as desired. This jali catches light and air and diffuses glare; while
allowing for privacy and security; thus acting as a window and a ventilator both at the
same time. It encourages airflow, yet the construction of this form of ventilation requires
neither special materials nor special skills.
The spanned openings in a brick wall are made economical by using 'stepped' or
'corbelled' arch. In this technique the bricks on each course are cantilevered out a few
inches beyond the course below, until the required span is reached. In case of a
rectangular opening reinforced brickwork is used which capitalizes on the composite
action of the lintel with the masonry above.
Where contemporary architects seek to impose control on nature by shutting it out with
the advantage of artificial ventilation and temperature control system; Baker does
exactly the opposite. Being sensitive to nature; he skillfully manipulates the natural
elements to gain thermal comfort. In the canteen of Center of Development Studies; the
high latticed brick walls and a pond are used to draw air across it's surface and cool the
building - a cooling system achieved in a vernacular way.