LAURENCE WILFRED BAKER

LAURIE BAKER

LIFE,
PHILOSOPHY
DESIGN &
PROJECTS
EARLY YEARS

 Laurie Baker was born on March 2, 1917 into a very staunch Christian Methodist family.
 In his childhood he would accompany his father every weekend to visit cathedrals and other old
buildings and then he would build models and draw pictures of what he had seen.
 After his matriculation, he joined the Birmingham s School of Architecture and became an Associate
Member of the Royal Institute of Architects (ARIBA) in 1938.
 In 1941, Laurie volunteered to go on a mission to help at a medical camp at Kutsing in inland China.
 In the 1930-40s leprosy was a much-feared disease. So much so that lepers were frequently burnt or
buried alive for fear of contamination and spreading of the disease.
 When Laurie heard of the plight of the lepers he agreed to help and he took over at the leper colony. He
dressed their ulcers, gave them medicines when available. He was doctor, nurse, pharmacist and
pathologist.
 CONTRIBUTION TO INDIA
 He went to India in 1945 in part as a missionary and since then lived and
worked in India for over 50 years

 He met Mahatma Gandhi, who sent him to the cities concrete slums and asked
him to think about better ways of housing India’s poor.

 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.

 Worked as an architect for an international and interdenominational Mission

dedicated to the care of those suffering from leprosy.
 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, 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
 I have my own principles, which i am unwilling to abandon. I
dislike falsehood and deceit.
A BUILDING SHOULD BE TRUTHFUL.
- Laurie Baker.
 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.
 He innovated different
bonding techniques for
bricks, which allowed him to
build of half-brick thickness.
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
 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
•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 system.
•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
 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
MRS NALINI NAYAK`S RESIDENCE
(A SOCIAL WORKER)
ULLOOR, TRIVANDRUM (1971)
EXTERNAL VIEWS
GENEROUS SPRAWLING GROUND FLOOR WITH THREE
FLOOR STAKING OF PENTAGON
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

 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
VIEW OF ENTRANCE FROM LIVING
ROOM

Built furniture of bricks

 Sun light merging inwards
1st floor bedroom entrance. through jali walls
FISHERMEN’S 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
 Exposed brickwork and structure
 Sloped concrete roof
 Openness in design and individual units
offset each other
 Continuous latticework
 in the exposed walls.
 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
 COMPUTER CENTRE
ULLOOR, TRIVANDRUM (1971)

Challenges:

Solution of Computer Centre

Design Problems.

Fitting in naturally and elevation

harmoniously with the
elevations of the twenty five
year old institution.
• 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.

External lattice
Two storeyed outer wall is stiffened by a series of intersecting circles,
Space used for storage
TIMELINE
 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 Award (considered the Nobel
Prize in Architecture)