Farewell, Laurie Baker
“I have my own principles, which I am unwilling to abandon. I dislike falsehood and deceit. A building should be truthful.” - Laurie Baker.
Via sms, the sad news that Laurie Baker, pioneer of low-cost housing, inspiration to generations of young architects, true Gandhian and great Indian, has passed away. He had turned 90 just weeks ago.
From this Kerala Online report:
Baker was a symbol of Kerala’s penchant for multiculturalism and experimentation as well as a living reminder of what real `globalisation’ could achieve in terms of social advancement and innovative problem-solving.He proved that it was not impossible to build houses with low budgets on land written off by everyone. Effectively combining traditional techniques with indigenous innovations , he managed to bring down the cost of construction by half. Baker was the pioneer of cost effective architecture movement in India, becaming a legend for the future generations.
More about his work here and here, here and here:
You can’t get more sustainable or renewable a resource than mud, and Baker is its champion. Approximately 58 percent of all buildings in India today are made of mud brick, some as many as 50 to 100 years old. Mud is gathered either at the construction site or very nearby, formed into bricks and dried in the sun. It is readily available and can be made by people with limited initial training—all resulting in projects that can be built at a fraction of the cost of those using concrete and steel. Baker is especially fond of mud’s total recycle-ability: simply add water and reuse it.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. “One of the things I’m noted to be crazy for is that I use old colored bottles set in cement—they give a nice light,” comments Baker. His own home, made entirely of mud brick, is a model of his recycling ethos; including timber salvaged from an old boat jetty. Other signature elements of his design include 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.
Here, the other side of Laurie Baker:
Laurie detested anything mechanical and a bicycle was about the only vehicle that he could handle. However, as a member of the Friends Ambulance Unit, during World War II, he had to drive huge lorries through mountains and wild rivers in China. There is a hilarious account in the book, in his own words about his first lesson in driving a lorry.“I got in and hung on to the big steering wheel…manhandled and foot-handled some of the devices in front and below… and shot off like a bullet to crash straight into an architectural gem of a gatepost…”
His marriage to Elizabeth Chandy, a doctor, led the couple on a years-long honeymoon to Pithoragarh, where they took medicine to remote rural hamlets:
They went to the village of Chandag, 13,000 ft up in Himachal Pradesh, near the Tibetan border, for their honeymoon…, which lasted for 15 years. There were no roads and in the hilly terrain, one had to walk miles to get anywhere. “There was no doctor in the area and we stayed back to help people. Laurie was my nurse-assistant and for years we trudged together all over the place to give medical care,” Dr. Elizabeth remembers.And here, some of the words he lived by:
Only accept a reasonable brief
Discourage extravagance and snobbery…
Get your conscience out of deep-freeze, and use it
Look closely at your prejudices and question them
Have faith in your convictions and have the courage to stick to them.
Here are some of Baker’s designs. And here is an article in Utne by Adam Hochschild, first published in Mother Jones:
I got a taste of life in Baker buildings at Trivandrum’s Centre for Development Studies, a research institute and graduate school where my wife and I were Fulbright lecturers. The 10-acre campus, stretching across a heavily wooded hillside, is Baker’s masterpiece. The offices, classroom clusters, and dormitories are all brick, with few straight lines: Each structure curls in loops and waves and intersecting semicircles. The main building has a majestic entrance 30 or 40 feet wide, whose ceiling rolls out and up toward the sky and whose sides roll outward onto an even wider set of steps. Symbolic of an institution whose aim is to apply economics to helping the poor, the building has, amazingly, no front door. Anyone can walk up the steps and through the wide entrance and down the corridors at any hour of the day or night. If you want to lock your office door, that’s up to you, but you can’t lock the front door because there isn’t one.Not only is this campus beautiful, but Baker built it for roughly half the normal cost per square foot of Indian university buildings. And like all his buildings, these were comfortable on even the most oven-like of days. Some of the coolness was due to the breezes blowing through the jalis that fill many outside walls. 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. And coolness also comes from the shade of the many coconut palms overhead: Baker located the buildings so he would have to cut down as few trees as possible.
Here are some of his sketches on the CDS pages.
Baker’s remarks on the Indian church buildings that he had designed:
There is a need for an atmosphere to be given where you can be quiet and absorbed and let your religious thoughts free and so on, which to me imply being at the centre of things. Then there is light, which is always a good symbol… you know you suddenly think of something, some way out of a problem or some way of overcoming a difficulty and the natural expression is `suddenly there was light’. I think light is one of the commonest, probably not deliberately so, symbols of all religions. Also, I’ve always been fascinated by the stained glass windows in the old churches particularly in England and Europe. I’ve always felt that in the traditional long narrow cruciform shape or cross-shaped plan of the church, people at the back have difficulty in seeing what is going on at the front in the altar or the functions that take place during the church performance or service and the round ones or fan shaped ones are much more effective - many more people can, as it were, take part in and feel that they are part of what is going on. The circle or the round space is so much better from my point of view. I find the circle much more interesting a shape for anything, whether it is religious or play or sport or teaching or wherever people in a crowd need to be organised so that they can focus on one particular spot.
Here is an article about Baker’s approach to waste. I especially like the suggestion about bicycles.
Here’s his mud-based building approach. Also see this manual by Baker on low-cost housing.
A Riot of Green Reasons has a post here, and one on Baker’s passing here. Like Green Reasons, I too wished I could have a Baker house of my own someday.
Some of Baker’s books are available here.
We salute this great architect who changed the landscape of Trivandrum with his unique style of low cost and earthy style… May your tribe increase. CDS building and Loyola school auditorium will feel orphaned today
Comment by Biju J John — April 1, 2007 @ 6:04 pm
We salute the great architect who changed the landscape where ever he built up structures in his earthy brick style. CDS and Loyola School buildings will feel orphaned. May his tribe increase…Biju
Comment by Biju J John — April 1, 2007 @ 6:06 pm
Interesting. Please see my post ‘Laurie Baker - A Tribute’ at Parayil A. Tharakan Blog.
parayilat.blogspot.com/index.html
Comment by Abraham Tharakan — April 1, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
Great, comprehensive post on Laurie Baker. Hope Costford continues his legacy.
Comment by Shama — April 2, 2007 @ 12:04 am
thanks for introducing me to this amazing person.
sad at his passing and just the other day i was lamenting at the sight of tons of construction sites in bandra, mumbai. quite an irony (a happy one) to come across such a contrast.
Comment by sriram — April 3, 2007 @ 1:07 pm
“I dislike falsehood and deceit. A building should be truthful.” - his buildings which adorn the Trivandrum landscape (rather merge into it) are living examples to this. Nicely done, great links !
Comment by bvn — April 6, 2007 @ 6:20 pm
wonderful blog. a nice tribute. I have it bookmarked for a reread this weekend.
Comment by bharath — April 12, 2007 @ 11:27 pm
A brick jaali is fine. Looks beautiful, saves cost vis-a-vis a metal grill, lets in diffused light, cuts glare etc. alright. But what about the mosquitoes that find way through jaalis.? So you have to go for windows.
Also remember that we opt for these ugly monstrous concrete structures not ‘out of fashion’ but because we have no other option. To implement Bakers ideals you need highly skilled masons. I would love to go for exposed brickwork but my mason does such a shoddy job of it that I have no other but to cover it with plaster. Its nice to be all idealist but does it work?
Comment by Pavan — April 13, 2007 @ 1:06 pm
a very good collection….
thank you
Comment by ranjith — April 15, 2007 @ 10:51 am
Many thanks for putting all the nuggets in one place!
Comment by Dinakar — April 18, 2007 @ 7:40 am
I wrote one article in Tamil www.thinnai.com tribute to Laurie Baker.
My respected two foriegner contributed to India 1.Mother Teresa 2.Laurie Baker.
Comment by S.Velumani — April 19, 2007 @ 11:41 am
My wife and I are greatly saddened to learn of Laurie’s death. My wife and I (and our 1.5-yr. old daughter) had travelled, in 1957, to Laurie & Kuni’s home in Pithoragarh from Barpali, Orissa, where we were working with a Quaker community development project, this work being alternative civilian service for DRB in place of U.S. military srvice. We learned then of Laurie’s architectural work using low-cost indigenous materials (as were also being used in the Barpali project.) We saw the remarkable clinic building he had built on a high hill overlooking the Himalayas, where Kuni saw patients and performed necessary surgeries, and Laurie served as anesthetist, surgical assistant, pharmacist, etc., as needed. Our visit with Laurie and Kuni was one of the high points of our life. Their work, and their life together will always be an inspiration.
David R. Bassett, M.D., & Miyoko I. Bassett, M.D.
Comment by David R. Bassett, M.D. — May 2, 2007 @ 4:16 am
Lauire Baker - Has inspired immensely in my mind and my heart…eventually one day if I become an architect…it will be partly down to his architectural outlook,way of living,thinking and humanity.
Comment by Andy Kwame Adu-Boateng Jnr — May 19, 2007 @ 10:52 am
Guys some more info on Bakerji here:
Bakerji’s website:
http://www.lauriebaker.net
I found this a good article:
http://lauriebaker.net/www.epw.org.in/epw/uploads/articles/10568.pdf
Also this one:
http://www.livemint.com/2007/04/05001145/A-home-of-his-own.html
I have been inspired by Bakerji’s work till now. After reading about the person he was and his thoughts and his beliefs from his writings and the concern he had for the people of our country I have found new respect and relevance for the work of this legendary architect.
I really feel people have ignored people like Baker who are the real heroes of our country not our spoilt crickerstars and filmstars!
Venu
venugopal-nair@hotmail.com
Comment by Venu — June 10, 2007 @ 5:01 pm
It is people like Bakerji who are the real heroes of our country not our spoilt cricketstars and filmstars. It is shameful that even the media does not acknowledges the work of people like Bakerji and instead
focuses on meaningless gossips and sensationalsim.
His work has always inspired me but after reading more about his values and principles on life and his concern for the people I have a new found respect and appreciation of his work.
Here is one who did and not just talked a lot of gas like our political leaders and bureaucrats!
Some sites to add to your list:
www.lauriebaker.net
Bakerji’s website (according to Wikipedia)
Has a ton of information on Bakerji. A must visit resource for anyone interested in the legendary architect.
A nice article:
http://lauriebaker.net/www.epw.org.in/epw/uploads/articles/10568.pdf
Another good one I havent seen before:
http://www.livemint.com/2007/04/05001145/A-home-of-his-own.html
Venu
venugopal-nair@hotmail.com
Comment by Venu — June 10, 2007 @ 5:08 pm
It is people like Bakerji who are the real heroes of our country not our spoilt cricketstars and filmstars. It is shameful that even the media does not acknowledges the work of people like Bakerji and instead
focuses on meaningless gossips and sensationalsim.
His work has always inspired me but after reading more about his values and principles on life and his concern for the people I have a new found respect and appreciation of his work.
Here is one who did and not just talked a lot of gas like our political leaders and bureaucrats!
Some sites to add to your list:
www.lauriebaker.net
Bakerji’s website (according to Wikipedia)
Has a ton of information on Bakerji. A must visit resource for anyone interested in the legendary architect.
A nice article:
http://lauriebaker.net/www.epw.org.in/epw/uploads/articles/10568.pdf
Another good one I havent seen before:
http://www.livemint.com/2007/04/05001145/A-home-of-his-own.html
Venu
venugopal-nair@hotmail.com
Comment by Venu — June 10, 2007 @ 5:09 pm
Lauriebaker.net
Why isn’t this working? I’ve tried posting a comment many times
Comment by Venu — June 14, 2007 @ 9:24 am
The Other Side of Laurie Baker
Memoirs
by Elizabeth Baker
ISBN 81-264-1462-6
Rs. 90.00
Publishers
DC Books, Kottayam 686 001
Kerala State, India
website : www.dcbooks.com
e-mail : info@dcbooks.com
online bookstore : www.dcbookstore.com
Comment by xyz — June 30, 2007 @ 4:02 am
I’m interested about architecture because I love to sketch buildings and other skyscraper.And I’m very thankful to Mr.Baker for the information.
Comment by Baker roofing — August 22, 2007 @ 3:04 am
We are inspired by Lauriebaker techniques and now intend to use the same in our propesed eco-resort at KORAPUT,Orissa. K.C.Panigrahy,SRI JAGANNATH Temple.
Comment by Krushna Chandra Panigrahy — January 12, 2008 @ 8:32 am