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Noted British-born architect Laurie Baker, known as the ‘brick master’ of Kerala and one who built and popularised construction of low-cost houses, passed away some time back at 90. Laurence W. Baker, was born in Birmingham on March 2, 1917 and started off as a social worker, especially helping those suffering from leprosy. In 1945, it was a chance encounter while waiting for a ship at Mumbai that he met Mahatma Gandhi, whose philosophy had a major influence on him, and he decided to go India. Baker met his future wife, Elizabeth Jacob, who was from Kerala, at a leprosy hospital in Uttar Pradesh. She was working there as a doctor. They married in 1948. The Bakers remained in Pithoragarh, Uttar Pradesh, till 1963 and then moved to Vagamon, a village in central Kerala, inhabited by tribal people and Tamil migrants. It was here that Baker began his experiments in building low-cost buildings. In 1965, the Bakers moved to Thiruvananthapuram and got involved in working among leprosy patients and also built many homes and institutions. The homes designed by Baker soon began dotting the topography of different parts of the capital city. He also constructed the prestigious Centre for Development Studies (CDS) buildings here in the early 1970s. Its eight-storied library building and the guest house are an example of his creativity. Architecture students from different parts of the country and abroad often come to see the CDS buildings. While conventional architects build homes that cost around Rs 700 per square feet to construct, Baker’s homes cost less than half, and more importantly, did not waste an inch of land or space.During the tenure of E.K. Nayanar, his designs were preferred when it came to building offices for local bodies. He felt, as far as buildings are concerned, we are a poor country. "There are probably between 40 and 50 million families here without homes. So it is not only foolish but also wicked to waste material." Equally categorical about his guiding priinciples, he would say, "I dislike falsehood and deceit. A building should be truthful." He wanted to get to know his client before taking on an assigment and felt, "If he merely wants to show off or flaumt his wealth, I don’t take him on." — IANS
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