constructions cheap & worthy by Laurie Baker

[padmanabha]

Constructing a house can be quite a torrid affair especially when one’s financial resources are limited. It is an acid test for a man’s ambition planning and perseverance. The question that lingers in the individual’s mind would be will I be able to construct a house with the money I have?

Laurie Baker an architect from Birmingham settled in Thiruvananthapuram has effectively combined traditional techniques with indigenous innovations and has managed to bring down the cost of construction by half.
Having refused active military service during the Second World War Laurie Baker was sent to China as an anesthetist with a surgical team. When the Japanese took over Burma the surgical team at Hashio was trapped and had to beat a retreat through the jungle during which Baker was infected with Malaria. He some hoe returned to China and was sent to recuperate at a mission station run by German nuns.

Later during his return to England via India, Baker was introduced to Gandhiji. Influenced by him Baker took up the work for the betterment for the poor, the needy and the down trodden.

Once, a voluntary organization engaged in rehabilitation of leprosy patients, requested him to convert some buildings into hospitals. It was only then that he realized the potential for work. Baker a former associate of the Royal Institute of British Architecture very soon established that he could houses on land written off by others and with budgets that would be laughed at by others.

In the 80s with the Gulf boom Keralites acquired sudden wealth. Many pulled down their ancestral houses. What resulted was the construction of heavy concrete structures.

Bakers own residence is called Hamlet. Visiting the place one will never realize the extent of construction of the building. The house has been fragmented to follow the undulated terrain. Dense foliage provides fresh air and coolness.

According to Baker a traditional building or a vernacular architecture have thousands of years of history from which one can understand the living conditions, cultural patterns, climate geology, flora and fauna and several others details.

Baker recollected how British soldiers stationed in India during the last century had learnt the art of mud construction and introduced it into Australia, where today it is not just popular but prestigious. One of the buildings that inspired Baker is the Padmanabhapuram Palace. The black flooring white walls wooden jalli that let in sunlight all can be see in Bakers constructions.

Unpalstered brick finish, brick jallis, and filler slab roofs, are the trade marks of his construction.
While he makes un burnt bricks put together using mud stain gals windows, collages on the wall with broken bits of mirrors and china provide an aesthetic touch.
His technique not only uses cheaper materials but also eliminates redundant details from the design. Concrete is sparsely used. Mangalore tiles are used for the roof which makes it light and inexpensive.

The walls are only half brick thick. Rooms are devoid of glass window, frames and sills. Instead small openings in brick akin to traditional jalli are incorporated. Baker says “Trellis honey-comb walling wood screens and lattice are used in abundance making the room breezy and cool. Many architects however, do not agree with him. They say that these are not durable. But according to Baker these buildings can be easily maintained and preserved for long, if the residents want to. Alternately they can be easily and cheaply modified.

According to him if any conventional building practice is not essential to the house one should do without it. In his suggestions of cutting costs without compromising on quality he propagates the use of lime stone for masonry and plastering. And with lesser windows, the need for lintels is reduced which will bring down the cost.

For flooring he advises the use of grindable, natural colored stones with ordinary grey cement instead of white cement oxides stains and marble powder.

He uses materials that are locally available and which do not require cost intensive manufacturing facilities. It also encourages small scale entrepreneurs. Many of the big dams which still serve effectively were built with lime and sukhri.

Meanwhile, local contractors refused to accept Bakers technique. Baker had to train his own crew to carry forward his techniques. To date Baker has designed more that 2000 residences, five dozens of churches, mission buildings, schools, institutions and holiday resorts.

VERY few architects have had the opportunity to work on such a wide range of construction. Baker has worked most extensively in Kerala. The building for the centre for development studies (CDS) WHICH HE BUILT AT A COST OF 15 LAKHS demonstrated the effectiveness of his plan.

[Braandan]

Also he is a cartoonist. This great man is not very well known. Just like Romulus Whitekar of Tamilnadu (the snake and crocodile man of India).