‘A Baker style ‘

“I have my own principles, which I am unwilling to abandon. I dislike falsehood and deceit. A building should be truthful.” - Laurie Baker.

 (1917-2007)

Born Laurence Wilfred Baker in Birmingham in 1917

Trained at the Birmingham School of Architecture 1937.

Through Quaker friends, he met Mahatma Gandhi, who sent him to see the city's concrete slums and asked the young architect to think about better ways of housing India's poor.

Inspired by Gandhi's challenge, Baker went home to England and promptly returned to India .

‘Bricks to me are like faces.’ All of them are made of burnt mud, but they vary slightly in shape and colour.

I think these small variations give tremendous character to a wall made of thousands of bricks, so I never dream of covering such a unique and characterful creation with plaster, which is mainly dull and characterless.”

I like the contrast of textures of brick, of stone, of concrete, of wood.Quotes

People in most countries of the world are accusing their architects of failing to produce a modern form of their own previously distinctive architectural styles!

Quotes

“I don't think I've ever been inspired by what other architects have done but more by what ordinary craftsmen have created. “

Quotes

Architectural Principles

•Cost-effectiveness•Use of locally available materials•Respect for nature•Avoidance of energy-intensive materials • Wastage minimization to create low-cost, beautiful, high quality buildings

which long pre-empted modern concepts such as eco-friendliness and sustainable architecture.

"Cost-effective houses are not just for the poor, they are for everyone.”

The equation that a cost-effective house is a house for the poor, implying a bad looking house, can definitely be proved wrong. 

This entire classification is wrong."

“The practice of an architect cannot be divorced from that of a builder. “

Architecture as a craft means its theory and its practice are indivisible.

•Use of Rat TrapBond•Filler Slab•Arches•Corbelling•Terracotta Roofing

Construction techniques

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.

Perforated brick wallscreate dappled patternsof light.

Stairwell in NaliniNayak's residence inThiruvananthapuram,

Baker's innovative use of discarded bottles, inset in the wall

At Col. Jacob's residence in Thiruvananthapuram,

creates a stainedglass effect.

Laurie Baker has not turned his back on the modern world; the homes and offices he has built have running water, electricity, and sometimes garages.

But in his embrace of brick, mud, bamboo, and much more, Baker has done what tragically few people in any field in the Third World have done, which is to be intelligently selective about what they take from the West.

In an era of superstar architects designingmuseums more famous than the artwork theydisplay and skyscrapers as testaments to corporate power,

Baker’s philosophy is a welcome change.

“My feeling is that you’re not trying to put up a monument which will be remembered as ‘Laurie Baker’s Building,’ but Mohan Singh’shouse where he can live happily with his family.”- Baker.

Baker's great sorrow about Indian government policymakerswas that 

"They haven't the faith in their ownmaterials.“

And I would add “within themselves also.”

M  Y O P I  A