Transcript LAURIE BAKER - The Archi Blog | Not Just another

Laurence Wilfred
LAURIE BAKER
PRESENTED BY:
MANISH SINGH
SWATI SAXENA
LIFE HISTORY
• (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.[1]
CONTRIBUTION TO INDIA
• 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.
Initial work
• 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
Architectural style
• 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.
LOW COST CONSTRUCTION
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
LOW COST CONSTRUCTION
•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
Low cost constructions
•Masonry Arches
Advantages
•Traditional spanning sytem.
•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
The Hamlet
• 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
Drawings
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
USE OF NATURAL LIGHT
INNER COURTYARD …CLOSE TO NATURE
NEVER CUT TREES INSTEAD ADAPTED HIS DESIGN ACCORDINGLY
ARCHES LED INTO A BEAUTIFUL
OPEN ROOM
COURTYARD HAS MANY
GARDENS AND PONDS
Pitched roof made of
manglore tiles
BAKER’S FONDNESS OF
ARCHES
SIMPLE YET BEAUTIFUL
WINDOWS
GABLES FOR PROPER
AIR CIRCULATION AND
VENTILATION
GRILL MADE OF BITS AND PIECES
CONICAL STRUCTURE USED…
COST EFFECTIVE BAKER’S
WINDOW
Louvered window typical of
baker’s type
STAINED GLASS EFFECT
WATER TANK
FOR STORING
RAIN
HARVESTED
WATER
Mrs Nalini Nayak`s residence
(A Social Worker)
Ulloor, Trivandrum (1971)
Requirements:•
Meeting place.
•
working place (training).
•
Open spaces.
•
Classroom & dormitories.
External Views
Generous sprawling ground floor with three
floor staking of pentagon
• The main house is formed by a simple threefloor stacking of the pentagon on nine-inchthick 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
The Entrance
View of entrance from living room
 Built
furniture of
bricks
st
1
floor bedroom entrance.
Common door for entry and
bathroom
Jali walls
Sun light merging
inwards.
Jali window.
2nd floor bedroom.
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
Construction
• Exposed brickwork and structure
• Sloped concrete roof
• Openness in design and individual units offset each
other
• Continuous latticework
• in the exposed walls
Dealing With Cyclones:
• 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
PLAN
COMPUTER CENTRE
Ulloor, Trivandrum (1971)
Challenges :
Solution of Computer Centre Design
Problems
Fitting in naturally and
harmoniously with the elevations
of the twenty five year old
institution
elevation
• 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.
plan
External lattice
Two storeyed outer wall is stiffened by a series of intersecting circles,
Space used for storage