A LASTING LEGACY: THE ARCHITECTURE OF LAURIE BAKER

Understanding the nature of a low-cost architectural practice through the buildings of Laurie Baker

Laurie Baker (1917–2007) was an English architect who settled in India in 1945. He mar-ried an Indian doctor, Elisabeth Chandy, and started assisting her with leprosy patients in the remote district of Pithoragarh, in the Hi-malayas. The buildings in which the patients were being treated were becoming increas-ingly inadequate for new developments in their treatments. Baker’s task often involved renovating old buildings and transforming old asylums into modern hospitals with miniscule budgets. He worked with the local populace, observing them and gaining valuable knowl-edge of a variety of building techniques and materials. Becoming increasingly fascinated by the age-old vernacular architecture and tra-ditional settlements of the Himalayan region, he started to question the text-book education that had been imparted to him at the Architec-ture School in Birmingham. Observing the pov-erty around him, he became engaged with the issue of shelter and of finding the least costly solutions to housing the millions of Indians liv-ing under the poverty-line.

In the Himalayas, Baker saw how the honest use of local materials and age-old building techniques and typology of spaces that had evolved over several hundred years. He devel-oped a healthy respect for optimum and cau-tious use of scarce materials; for the timeless skills of local masons and craftsmen and for an architecture that was responsive in its style and identity to the local region and climate. He became anxious with the dogma of mod-ern architecture, with its quest for a universal technology, that was decimating ancient ideas of place-making and regional identity.

The treatment ‘throne’ in the hospital (LB).

Pg 1

Laurie Baker, an architect for the Indian poor

Memories of Mountain Living The House and Home

Words of Mahatma Gandhi were to influence Baker for the rest of his life:

“The ideal houses in the ideal village will be built from materials which are all found within a five-mile radius of the house.”

Pg 2

Laurie Baker wrote:

“To me, this vernacular architecture was a perfect example of vernacular architecture. Simple, ef-ficient, inexpensive....As usual this delightful, dignified housing demonstrated hundreds of years of building research on how to cope with local materials, how to cope with local climate hazards, and how to accommodate the local social pattern of living. It dealt with incidental difficult problems on how to build on a steeply sloping site, or how to cope with earthquakes, and how to avoid landslid-ing areas and paths. The few examples of attempts to modernise housing merely demonstrated, only too clearly, our modern conceit and showed how very foolish we are when we attempt to ignore or abandon these hundreds of years of ‘research’ in local building materials....”

“Our ‘backward’ ancestors had learned how to live with and cope with the problems of climate. They had learned that a pitched or sloping roof lessened the effects of all these hazards. They knew the movements of air currents and placed their wall openings almost at ground level. They knew that hot air rises and allowed it to travel upwards from the low eaves to the openings at the end of the high ridge. They understood and applied principles of insulation; their roofing materials formed hollow cellular protective layers and their storage spaces provided insulation from the mid-day sun. They had understood that all wall surfaces can absorb and retain just as much heat as a roof surface, so they kept these walls as small in area as possible and never left them unprotected.They knew that eye-strain from working out in the sun could be alleviated by rest in an area where glare was eliminated and they used smooth, hard, light-coloured surfaces sparingly and left the natural materials-wood, laterite, brick, stone-exposed. Their practical knowledge of the properties of these differing building materials was amazing. They knew, for instance, how to design their timber and wood work to avoid warping, twisting and cracking.”

“The necessity for speed was one of the big factors that contributes to that break with tradition. It probably took a thousand years for us to find out by trial-and-error how to make a mud wall imper-vious to rain and wind, another thousand years to learn how to keep termites out of it, and another two or three thousand years to learn how to build multi-storeyed mud buildings.”I

The Rs.2,000 Demonstration House in Pattom, Trivandrum, 1970

Baker uses an ornamental brick-jali for light and ventilation in the humid climate ofTrivandrum

Pg 3

In 1969, Laurie Baker, wih his wife Elisabeth and the three children, he moved to Trivandrum (now Thiruvanathapuram), where he started his own architectural practice (on a very modest basis) from his home in Nilanchira. One of the first commissions he was offered was to reveal his lifelong passion for designing and building homes for the urban poor. The Archbishop of Trivandrum asked Baker to build simple, prototype houses for very poor families in the parish. With a paltry budget of Rs 3,000, Baker took up the challenge of showing to government bodies such as the PWD that he had the necessary skill and acumen to build with such little money. Baker had always been suspi-cious of government-led housing schemes for the EWS (economically weaker sections of society) and had previously made detailed calculations on how much money was wasted in overheads and government expenditure (such as salaries, travel etc) rather than on the actual house, ie, labour and materials.

One such study, which he calls ‘The System of Establishment Charges in 1986’, reveals his anxiety at wasted public funds when it came to housing poor families.

According to Baker, if Rs.8000 is spent on land and house for an Economically Weaker Section (EWS) family: of this sum approximately, Rs.2500 should be spent on land, and Rs.5500 should be spent on the house.

The Housing Board charges:for its overheads, 12.5% = Rs.690for electricity, water and sanitation 15%= Rs.725for contractors profit 10% = Rs.550for storage fees (cement and steel) etc, 8% = Rs.160

The total for these fees and charges etc. is Rs.2125 which leaves for materials and labour etc. Rs.3375. So only 42% of the overall sum is used on actual building (out of Rs.8000).

Baker then extrapolated these figures to show how chronic, this wastage of money was when the government was thinking of putting up a million homes all over the country. In the year 1986, for example, a million houses would cost Rs.800 crores (at the Rs.8000 per house figure). Of this land would cost-Rs.200 crores and buildings would cost Rs.600 crores.

The establishment charges for the average State Housing Boards would be 12.5% (the highest al-lowed by the Act) , equivalent to Rs. 75 crores (12.5% of Rs.600 crores). This fee is for designing one small house plan with, say, ten different variations to suit differing conditions throughout the land.

With contractors’ profit at 10%=Rs.60 crores and storage charges’ at Rs.16 crores, charges alone would account for Rs.151 crores.

This led Baker to formulate a policy of decentralisation of skills and resources when it came to the issue of designing and constructing sustainable communities for the poor and the lower-middle-classes. His portfolio of clients was now full of NGOs, government officers on fixed government salaries, state-run schools, and ecclesiastical bodies looking to build on very tight budgets.

Pg 4

With Baker they knew they had found a truly honest and ethical man, who would also champion their cause for a more socialist India.

Houses Commissioned by The Archbishop of TrivandrumPattom, Trivandrum, 1970

With a paltry sum of Rs.3000 at his disposal, Baker offered, not one, but a set of two houses, sited adjacent to one another in the compound of the Archbishop’s house in Pattom, Trivandrum. This was Baker’s first project in the city. When I recently visited the site, only one house remained, though saldy unused and ignored. The brick walls are still resilient but the Mangalore tile roof needs repair, especially in certain places where the tiles have cracked. Otherwise, the house bears testimony to the longevity of Baker’s simple resolutions to the idea of housing poor familiies.

Demonstration house-Laurie Baker’s first project in Trivandrum, 1970.

1. VERANDAH2. LIVING3. TOILET4. BEDROOM

1.LIVING2. OPEN COURT3. KITCHEN4. BEDROOM5. STORE6. TOILET

Laurie Baker prepared the architectural drawings for this project in such a manner that even the most illiterate mason or unitiated person could build these houses without guidance from an architect, or a contractor. There were instructions alongside the drawings on how-to-make the house much like a DIY manual instead of the harsh specifications often prepared by architects which are difficult to compre-hend for the uninitiated. Architecture for Baker, was an unglamorous profession, a means to serving poor clients around the world in his desire to offer them af-fordable shelter along with proper sanitation.

To reduce costs, Baker writes:“Excavation should be as shallow as is reason-able: stop digging when solid consistent earth is reached....,” he instructs.

The houses were both constructed in exposed brick, with a Mangalore tile roof on a structure of cheap jackwood. Baker designed built-in furniture to further reduce the cost of the house.

Pg 5

In the words of Laurie Baker: “These were small family houses which had cost anything from Rs.1,200 to Rs.3,000; the price including sanitation, minimal electrical facilities, and a kitchen. Obviously such buildings are of necessity, small and basic- a compact group of rooms under a minimum roof area. There are very few internal doors, but the arrangement of space allows for privacy between different areas so that differing occupations in the house do not intrude on each other.”

Baker was keen to provide extra private space to some the houses with the insertion of an open-to-sky courtyard or ‘anganam’, in the centre of the house, as a space for such activities as dry-ing-fish or basket-weaving; these activities are sources of income for the very poor in Kerala. In both houses, Baker also provides a granite plinth that can be used for both sitting or sleeping, as a means to reducing cost by providing built-in furniture, a principle of Baker’s architectural strategies in several projects.

However, these houses were sneered at by technocrats as “too good a quality for the very poor!”When the Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) visited the houses and was in-formed of their cost, he exclaimed that, “Our establishment fees for such a project would be more than the cost of these houses.”

The Rs.10,000 house for Mr. E. NamboodripadUlloor, Trivandrum, 1973

To further reduce costs, Baker uses half-brick walls and jali windows instead of timber-framed window openings. Timber is an increasingly scarce resource and therefore Baker was sparing in its application.

Pg 6

Following the success of Baker’s cheap houses for the Archbishop of Kerala, several discening clients called Baker to ask him if he could design for them a low-cost, ‘Baker’ house.

Laurie Baker:“I still get calls,” he once said “from people who say I have a small plot of land, four thousand rupees, a wife and seven children, a brother and sister-in-law, and old parents who cannot walk upstairs. I need a house. Will you build if for me?”

The underlying philosophy behind a ‘Baker’ house is always the application of local materialsappropriate to climate. Brick, tiles, lime, palm thatch, stone, granite and laterite (which are found in abundance in Kerala) and country timber (cheaper wood such as jackwood) are the alternatives to steel and glass. These materials are not only appropriate for the hot,wet, humid climate of Kerala where most of his buildings are located, but they also minimise the use of non-renewable resourc-es and maximise local employment by encouraging small-scale industry.

One of the principles behind Baker’s socially responsive architecture is maximum use of manpow-er, the creation of rural employment and minimum use of mechanisation.

He continues:“We have already forgotten that many of our big old irrigation and power dams, which still serve us efficiently, were built with lime mortar and knew nothing about cement. By developing economic, simple, widespread lime production units, we could solve many unemployment problems and pro-duce fine, efficient, versatile building material with tremendous savings in building costs and energy throughout the land. It is only necessary for us to go one step further with the research work which our forefathers have done-that is for us to add on our twentieth century contribution.

1. LIVING2. DINING3. KITCHEN4. STORE5. TOILET6. BEDROOM

With Baker’s uncanny ability to build low-cost houses and consistently so, a large number of low-income families began to appreciate his methods of building. Like the Namboodripads, several other clients knocked at his doors, seeing him as the only viable alternative to the unaffordable maze of conventional practice.

Baker’s architectural practice now consisted of a small team of masons and car-penters trained in his own workshop. Almost all his buildings have been built under his intense personal supervision and scrutiny; every minute detail is cared for and dealt with and Baker would spend a large part of his day on site, working and col-laborating with the masons. In a recent interview with Gautam Bhatia, he described Baker’s architectural practice to me as “The architecture of the cooperative”; so-cially responsive enterprise, where there was no hierarchy between the client, the architect and the building workforce. Laurie Baker, the architectural firm, worked as a social charity in several ways, unlike a conventional practice. In fact, Baker’s architecural and environmental philosophies, became the cornerstones for devel-opment practitioners all over the world.

Pg 7

Laurie Baker:“To me probably, the most interesting part of designing a building is dealing with the clients – getting to know them, how they live and work and finding out what sort of a building they dream of.It is exciting to put onto paper what you think is in their heads, and then to go on altering or add-ing or deleting until you think you have put down what they want. We were taught very firmly and consistently that the client should always be our prime consideration and indeed our inspiration.

“You will be putting up their building, not yours,” we were often told. An equally interesting and absorbing part of practising architecture is translating your two-dimension drawings into three-di-mension buildings. I have to be on the site to enjoy this transition from drawings to buildings. From a practical point of view also, while I clamber about on the scaffolding, I suddenly realise that I will get a much better view, or more breeze, if I move the window or make it bigger. And so on. I like to make the most of the colour and texture of materials, rather than to plaster everything over and then paint on colours. To do this, I have to work with the masons and other workers to show them how I want them to use materials-not necessarily the same way in each building. So, to me, in-volvement in the construction work is a must and far more important than desk work.”

This fundamental difference between conventional, desk-based architectural practice and Baker’s way of operating is a moot point for discussion for present-day development practitioners. Students of architecture who have worked with Baker were struck by his remarkable capacity to improvise. Baker, like the contemporary Colombian architect, Simon Velez, who works in structural bamboo, shunned cumbersome working drawings and production information packages hat detailed the building for the contractor. Instead, because he spent so much time on site, he used any available material that could be used in the project – whether they were electrical fixtures or bricks. Waste harvesting on site and surroundings was an essential principle of Baker’s buildings.

Due to the enormous immigration of Keralites to the booming Gulf countries in the 1980s and 1990s, there was a terrific insurge of funds coming into the State economy. Thousands of historic houses were destroyed to make way for flashy’Gulf-style’ palatial houses, entirely inapproriate to climate, vernacular and the environment. Materials and items from these old houses was then sent to architectural salvage enterprises. Baker was often found rummaging through the remains in search of any architectural salvage.

Baker again:“Architectural salvage re-use does not violate the historic integrity of the old materials because the

Architectural salvage at the Hamlet, Laurie Baker’s family residence in Nalanchira, Trivandrum. The pillar and the brackets are made of wood and belonged to a temple in Kerala that was demolished.

Pg 8

For the circular E. Namboodripad house, where the site slopes down steeply towards a small stream, Baker designed a brick tower. He wrote, “the length of a wall enclosing a given area is shorter when the shape is circular.” The plan develops out of intersecting circles-the larger circle being the living and dining rooms on the ground floor and the bedrooms above; the smaller being the stair tower. The slope of the staircase slab is truthfully expressed in the curve of the circular wall. Pivoted windows and doors, made of simple wooden shutters, are built without frames di-rectly into the jambs. Extensive use of the brick jali in exposed brickwork, in areas that require no permanent weather barrier, helped reduce the cost further. The bedrooms upstairs also incorporate some of Baker’s ideas about built-in furniture, where space for four beds is provided by creating a system of bunks within the wall dividing the circle.

He wrote of the house later:“Everyone found it difficult to believe you could have such a large house with all the plumbing, lighting and built-in furniture for Rs.10,000; but it really was done with that figure. Engineers are convinced that I must have skimped on steel or cement, and frequently still inspect it for cracks. But it remains as neat and solid and safe as ever, and they are not very pleased with Mr. Nam-boodiripad or myself, because the house refuses to deteriorate or collapse!”

In the words of Laurie Baker:“Windows are costly. One square foot of window can cost upto ten times the cost of the simple brick or stone wall it replaces. A window has varied func-tions: to look out of, to let light inside a room, to let in fresh air, to let out stale air, and so on. In many of these situations, a jali or ‘honey-combed’ wall is just as effective. Far from being a lot more costly than the basic wall, if made of brick it can be less costly than the house wall. Wide vertical joints are left open and not filled with mortar. This is an excellent inexpensive alternative to the costly window.”

“The simplest window consists of a vertical plank set into two holes (or pivot hinges), one at the top and one at the bottom. The traditional design consists of two short wood pieces with a circular hole in each, and the vertical shutter has two small round protru-sions (as shown on the left) to fit into the holes. Only a nine-inch wide hole is necessary for the ‘window.’ This is strong, simple, inexpensive, requires very little labour, no ironmongery, lets in light and air and pro-vides security.”

Pg 9

House for Nalini Nayak in Anayara, Trivandrum, 1989

Initial sketches

1. LIVING2. KITCHEN3. WORK AREA4. STORE5. TOILET6. BEDROOM7. UTILITY

This house was designed for Nalini Nayak, a social worker, who is also a leading figure in a NGO called SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association). The main house is formed by a simple three-floor stack-ing 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 window, wall and door. The thicker wall was felt unnecessary in a part of the house rising only a single floor. The stair occupies the pivotal position at the centre and fuses with the penta-gon above.Nalini Nayak, uses the house for meetings of basket-weavers and fisherwomen, and for training of home nurses. This requires the rooms to function as class-rooms in the day and as dormitories at night. Built-in furniture of brick, surfaced with terracotta tile serve as sofa and bed; frameless pivot windows have been used, with the protecting grille itself serving as the pivot.

Pg 10

House for Nalini Nayak in Anayara, Trivandrum, 1989

Multiple application of cost-saving pivot windows and brick jalis in the Nalini Nayak house.

External and internal elevations of circular tower in brick, housing the staircase in the Nalini Nayak house.

Red oxide is added to cement/lime plaster tocreate a warm, soft finish for the treads.

Pg 11

House for Nalini Nayak in Anayara, Trivandrum, 1989

Built-in furniture designed and built to further reduce costs. As Baker says, “After building a house, there is often little cash left over for furniture.” Often, the seating is articulated around windows and brick jalis, so that the user can benefit from light and ventilation.

Pg 12

Details of the House for Nalini Nayak in Anayara, Trivandrum, 1989

Baker articulates the minutest of details in the house; from brick pedestals for washbasins, to con-crete plinths for the Indian WC. The electrical sockets are fixed to an ornamental wooden bracketand the door has drawings by him etched into the wood. The last picture shows the corbelled opening between kitchen and living/dining for the purpose of serving food.

One of the principles of Baker’s (DOs and DONTs) cost-saving devices is illustrated here. Built-in seats, beds, work tables, etc can easily and inexpensively be had, merely by building the basement wall to a suitable height as shown in the lower sketch.

Pg 13

Chenkal Choola Urban Colony Development, Trivandrum (ongoing)

Baker’s growing reputation as a master-builder brought him to the attention of the then Chief Min-ister of Kerala, Mr. C. Achutha Menon. In 1985, The Centre of Science and Technology for Rural Development (COSTFORD) was founded with Laurie Baker as the chief architectural consultant along with radical economists such as Dr.K.N.Raj, the then chairman of the Centre for Develop-ment Studies and Mr. T.R. Chandraduth. COSTFORD includes social workers, educators, archi-tects, engineers, scientists, technologists, and others representing grassroots architectural prac-tice operating as a living laboratory with eco-friendly design and social consciousness as a path to positive societal change. The Chenkal Choola project for housing the urban poor and finding ways of seeking employment for them has been a very successful project. Baker was actively involved in the design and con-struction of this housing scheme whereby several families are housed in three-storeyed, exposed brick and concrete units. The area is still very poor and waste-harvesting such as collecting news-paper and plastic bags is done manually.

Exterior views of Chenkal Choola Housing for the Urban Poor in Chenkal Choola, Trivandrum.

Pg 14

Chenkal Choola Urban Colony Development, Trivandrum

Views of the PWD housing in the same area of Chenkal Choola, Trivandrum.

Views of commercial hous-ing for the wealthy citizens of Trivandrum, just across from the slum in the same area of Chenkal Choola, Trivandrum.

Views of adjacent slums as one approaches Baker’s housing project.

Pg 15

Views of the Chenkal Choola housing by Laurie Baker.

Chenkal Choola Urban Colony Development, Trivandrum

Pg 16

Centre for Development Studies, Ulloor, Trivandrum, 1971

This was Laurie Baker’s magnum opus – a project where he exhibits the entire range of skills ac-quired over 60 years of living in India. The client for this project was a path breaking institution for economics especially concerned with social reforms in the changing scenario of post-independent India. Baker was given a free hand to create an institution that is spread over 9 acres of a very hilly and rocky site. The brief was to accommodate administrative offices, a computer centre, a large library, classrooms, hostels for both men and women graduates, an auditorium, an amphitheatre and other essential components of an institution of this scale.

From what he observed in his so-journ in the Himalayas, Baker ob-served that the native people never destoyed or disturbed any contours. Baker was also a pacifist and for him cutting up the site or levelling the land was an act of violence. The site of the proposed institute was very rocky but Baker cleverly incorporates the level changes in the circulation of the buildings, both horizontally and vertically.In the Baker’s practical book of low-cost building, he advises on build-ing the house in the centre of the terrace. If the house is to be built near the edge of the terrace, a more costly foundation and basement wall has to be built.

Pg 17

Centre for Development Studies, Ulloor, Trivandrum, 1971

The entire institution reflects Baker’s mastery over brick wall compositions and brick jalis along with the extensive use of the reinforced concrete filler slab for roof structures. The bricks were made close to the site with locally-available coconut palm wood. Various bonding techniques are used as well as Baker’s favourite rat-trap bond to create exquisite brick jalis. Openings are arched, corbelled or spanned with brick lintels. Baker also experimented with four-and-a-half-inch brick walls and uses several folding techniques to show that load bearing brick walls need not necessar-ily be the conventional nine inch thickness.

Pg 18

Centre for Development Studies, Ulloor, Trivandrum, 1971

Baker invented the RCC filler slab which is based again on the principles of saving cement and therefore the cost of constructing a slab. Reinforced cement concrete slabs are very costly and use a lot of iron and cement. As there is quite a lot of unnecessary concrete in an orthodox RCC slab, some of this redundant concrete can be replaced by any light-weight, cheap material in order to reduce the overall cost of the slab. This alternative RCC roof is called a filler slab. For fillers, light-weight bricks, or Mangalore or country tiles can be used. This filler slab costs thirty five per-cent less than the conventional RCC slab. As roofs and intermediate floors account for twenty to twenty-five percent of the total cost of a house, the saving by using a filler slab is considerable.

This drawing shows how two waste Man-galore tiles come together to form an ex-cellent light-weight filler, and how they are placed between the steel reinforcement rods creating a grid of RCC or beams.

On the left:The conical roof over the library tower at the Centre for Development Studies. Baker would cast the filler slab in different forms and sizes in all his projects.

On the right:The staggered filler slab was rarely used by Baker but the example on the right is from his house, the Hamlet, in Nalanchira, Trivandrum.

Pg 19

The Computer Centre-Centre for Development Studies, Ulloor, Trivandrum, 1971

This was an extremely difficult commission for Baker as it was in direct conflict with his way of designing; such as using brick jalis. The building required strict environment controls for the com-puters to function properly in the hot,wer, humid climate of Kerala. Baker responded with a double-walled building with an outer surface of interesecting circles of brick jalis which followed the design of the main academic block, while the internal shell fulfilled the constraints and controls necessary for a computer laboratory.

1. FOYER2. CLASSROOM3. WORK AREA4. OFFICE5. TOILET6. STORE

GROUND FLOOR PLANThe two-storey high outer wall of single-brick thickness is stiffened by a series of intersecting circle segments; the mid-level slab is also fused into it for additional support. Larger corbelled window-openings of the inner wall control the diffused light of the outer wall and create a continu-ous glare-free atmosphere. The roof is a folded concrete slab.

Pg 20

The Computer Centre-Centre for Development Studies, Ulloor, Trivandrum, 1971

The photograph above depicts Baker’s extreme concern for saving every exist-ing tree on the site and moulding the building footprint around. Baker was always on site working with the masons and improvising as he developed the plan.

Pg 21

Men’s Hostel-Centre for Development Studies, Ulloor, Trivandrum, 1971

1. LOUNGE2. STORE3. UTILITY4. BEDROOM5. TOILET6. SITOUT

GROUND FLOOR PLAN (TYPICAL)

The linear plan is developed with 8 rooms on four floors, organised around a verandah enclosed by a brick-jali wall. The rationalised arrangement of rooms in the plan is offset by the playful qualities of the brick-jali wall which is only a four-and-a-half-inch brick structure. Baker skilfully weaves the wall taking care of local contours and employs folding techniques to strengthen the wall at regular intervals. Baker was trying to save on bricks and materials and this folding allows him to build walls with a single brick thickness. He wrote:“I was very keen to demonstrate the use of four-and-a-half-inch thick load bearing wall. When such a wall is taken to four storeys the curves and circles give it that added stiffness.”

The balcony balustrade is designed by having a built-in timber bench, another one of Baker’s cost-saving devices.

Pg 22

Men’s Hostel-Centre for Development Studies, Ulloor, Trivandrum, 1971

Folded filler slab ceiling in the hostel rooms

The verandah leading to the rooms is organised around the existing contours of the site

The circular staircase tower

Pg 23

The Libary building-Centre for Development Studies, Ulloor, Trivandrum, 1971

The library building is approached through the administrative/reception block and sits on a higher contour than the entrance level. Baker was faced with the issues of a difficult site in terms of steep gradients and rocky outcrops; at the summit of the hill, the library with its seven-storey tower domi-nates while the administrative offices and classrooms are placed in a random pattern determined largely by the contours. Baker was trying to demonstrate that tall buildings could be constructed in load-bearing brick walls with upstand RCC beams.

The seven-storeyed library tower One of the approaches to the seven-storeyed library tower is through a courtyard enclosed by brick-jalis.

Pg 24

The Libary building-Centre for Development Studies, Ulloor, Trivandrum, 1971

This photograph above is the new addition to the library built by COSTFORD

Pg 25

Lessons for Architects and Development practitioners from the practice of Laurie Baker

Laurie Baker on site working alongside masons

Laurie Baker was a firm believer that “low-cost techniques should not be considered only for the poor – our aim should be design only the simplest buildings for all.”

Baker built cheaply by ruthlessly eschewing non-local materials. Thus cement plasters were largely eliminated by lime/surkhi mortars, filler slabs were put into use instead of conventional RCC slabs, and windows and glazing were replaced by exquisite brick-jalis and cheaper to construct pivot-win-dows. Because timber is a scarce resource, Baker used folded RCC filler slab roofs to inventively recreate the traditional timber and tile roof patterns of Kerala. Baker’s building reflect a constant passion for innovation in construction and techniques to further reduce costs for millions of people who cannot afford even the basic shelter. Baker was a vision-ary development practitioner and showed that a development practitioner could never subsist on a conventional practice based on working in an office and constructing through the traditional tender process. His entire working life was about research and innovation and then demonstrating the lessons he had learnt by building on site. When conventional builders refused to work with him, he created his own team of trained masons and carpenters who then collaborated with him on every project. This was possibly the beginning of “Design and Build” in India.Baker’s work was pilloried by government officials of the PWD(Public Works Department) as “loin-cloth architecture” but he carried on relentlessly with his crusade against current trends of making Western-style buildings in India that did not respond appropriately to the country’s climate or re-gional identity. Baker’s confidence in locking horns with the establishment was based on the hard experience of several decades of work as a designer and builder of rural hospitals in the remote Himalayas. He writes of his earlier work that,“Wherever he went I saw the local indigenous style of architecture, the result of thousands of years of research on how to use only locally available materials.....this was an incredible achievement.”

Pg 26

Pg 27

Lessons for Architects and Development practitioners from the practice of Laurie Baker

Laurie Baker’s architecture, especially the later work, is char-acterised by an uncanny use of the site, cleverly exploiting its slopes and gradients, an uncompromising simplicity, a genu-ine delight in using natural and locally available materials and encouraging local craftsmanship; and ultimately boldly experi-mental in a lifelong pursuit of cost-reduction and of providing shelter to the poorest families. During the 1970s, and as his reputation grew around India, he was invited as an architec-tural consultant on several prestigious governement bodies as well as to give lectures. A series of natural disasters in India brought him in touch with issues of disaster mitigation and relief, and he wrote valuable guidance on how local construc-tion techniques could be adapted to create disaster-resistant buildings. In 1990, Baker was awarded the Gold Medal of the Indian Institute of Architects and became an Indian citizen. Over the past twenty years, dissemination of Baker’s archi-tectural philosophy has been undertaken by the non-profit Centre of Science and Technology for Rural Development (COSTFORD). COSTFORD is a self-funded NGO and gets no government or state funding. All his life, Baker was possessed with finding cheap ways of providing shelter for the teeming millions.He was truly a pioneering development practitioner and his legacy lives on.

This essay arose from a field visit to Trivandrum in Kerala in January 2009 and from interviews with the following: Dr Elisabeth Baker, Mr Tilak Baker, Mr Gautam Bhatia (previously interviewed in New Delhi), and Professor Robin Spence.

Bibliography

1. Gautam Bhatia, Laurie Baker: Life, Works & Writings, Penguin Books India, 1991.

2. Robin Spence, Laurie Baker: Architect for the Indian Poor, date and source unknown (text provided by the author)