HOMAGE TO LAURIE BAKER

We still remember the day. It was his 89th birthday. We were at Laurie Baker’s house to wish him good health, happiness and a happy birthday. But more than that, there was this secret desire just to have a glimpse of the legend who had given architecture a whole new meaning. But fate was against us. His failing health did not allow him to come out and meet people. We had come back disappointed without meeting him. No, that’s not true. We can not say we could not meet him. Though we could not see him flesh and blood his presence was everywhere. His house, his office, his people, even the irregular stones that adorned the sit-out everything reflected his presence. He was there everywhere in COSTFORD.

He was much better on his 90th birthday and many of us had the opportunity to meet him. Those who could will never be able to make up for the loss. On 1st April 2007 the master craftsman left for his heavenly aboard.  But like COSTFORD his presence will remain in Kerala for years to come.

Laurie Wilfred Baker was born in England in 1917 and after studying at the Birmingham School of Architecture became an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
His practice was interrupted by the World War II and he became an anesthetist to a mobile surgical team! Later he became entirely involved in the treatment and control of leprosy in West China. Trying to return to the U.K. in 1944 he had to wait for a boat for three months in Bombay at a time when Gandhiji was there. He was greatly influenced by him to return to live and work in India after a very brief spell at his home in England, In 1948 he married Elizabeth Jacob, a like minded Doctor from Kerala and until the mid-nineteen sixties they lived and worked in a remote Himalayan region where they built their own home, hospital and schools and brought up their children. It was during this period that Laurie Baker acquired his insight into the problems and actual conditions of rural India, together with his deep appreciation of indigenous architecture. In 1970 he came to stay in Trivandrum and since then he has been designing and constructing houses all over Kerala.

Laurie Baker has been closely associated with allied Government and quasi-government work including work with the Planning Commission and as a member of the Governing Bodies of HUDCO and the National Institute of Design, the Scientific Advisory Council of C.B.R.I. etc. He also extended his work into the industrial field and was for many years architectural consultant to a large Industrial firm. At the same time, and with these industrialists his work on alternative energy systems relating to building grew. In 1984 COSTFORD was founded with initiation from MR. Achuta Menon, Dr. D. R. Chandradutt, Dr. K.N. Raj and the legendary architect Laurie Baker to provide technical assistance for rural development.

Mr. Baker has inspired innumerable architects, engineers, students and masons by his work and ideologies. He has been involved in various training programs for masons, engineers and architects, and has produced several do-it-yourself books regarding cost-effective construction.  Dr. Baker can be given the total credit for the high quality of construction and the general awareness created in the people in Kerala with respect to cost effective building techniques and materials so much so that cost effective building technology has become synonymous with his name.

The Indian Coffee house at Thampnoor, Centre for Development Studies, the Loyola Chapel and the Hamlet-Laurie Baker’s own house are some of his architectural landmarks in the city.

We express our heartfelt gratitude and homage to the master architect who has been a constant source of inspiration for our team at Habitat Technology Group and will continue to guide us with the architectural legacy he has left behind.

- Tejaswini Dash