laurie baker

PRESENTED BY:

RAHUL KANODIA

2010UAR160

(March 2, 1917 – April 1, 2007) British-born Indian architect

He went to India in 1945 in part as a missionary and since then lived and worked in India for over 50 years

. 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.

Baker studied architecture in Birmingham and graduated in 1937, aged 20, in a period of political unrest for Europe.

During the Second World War, he served in the Friends Ambulance Unit in China and Burma.

worked as an architect for an international and interdenominational Mission dedicated to the care of those suffering from leprosy.

focused on converting or replacing asylums once used to house the ostracized sufferers of the disease - "lepers".

Used indigenous architecture and methods of these places as means to deal with his once daunting problems.

Baker lived in Kerala with Doctor P.J. Chandy,

He received great encouragement and later married his sister

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

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.

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.

Filler slab

Jack Arch

Advantages 20-35% Less materials

Decorative, Economical & Reduced self-load

Almost maintenance free 25-30% Cost Reduction

Advantages Energy saving & Eco-Friendly 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.

• 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

• Key features of his house are: All the walls are made of mud bricks. Timber salvaged from an old boat jetty One of the other signature elements of his

design includes 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.

He used broken tiles for the outer paved area of his garden.

The living room, An integration of new building and salvaged timber from traditional buildings that were being demolished.

Baker's innovative use of discarded bottles, inset in the walls giving a very good effect of light and creating an illusion of stained glass.

GROUND FLOOR

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

NEVER CUT TREES INSTEAD ADAPTED HIS DESIGN ACCORDINGLY

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

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

Built furniture of bricks

Sun light merging inwards.

Jali window.

2nd floor bedroom

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

Exposed brickwork and structure Sloped concrete roof Openness in design and individual units offset

each other Continuous latticework in the exposed walls

Construction

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

Dealing With Cyclones:

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

Open Spaces

PLAN

elevation

Solution of Computer Centre Design Problems

Fitting in naturally and harmoniously with the elevations of the twenty five year old institution

Challenges :

• 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 jails

• 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.

plan

External lattice

Two storeyed outer wall is stiffened by a series of intersecting circles,

THANKU