Execute crucial construction projects with top grade natural stone slabs
LAURIE BAKER - · PDF file• Low cost construction pg 24 • His popular construction...
Transcript of LAURIE BAKER - · PDF file• Low cost construction pg 24 • His popular construction...
LAURIE BAKER
BORN : MARCH 2, 1917, BIRMINGHAM , UNITED KINGDOMDIED : APRIL 1, 2007, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM , KERALA
NAME: MEGHNA AUGUSTINELEVEL : L4MODULE: DESIGN ROOTSLECTURER: JUHI NAGPAL
SHUBHADA SHAH
“I HAVE MY OWN PRINCIPLES
WHICH I AM UNWILLING TO ABANDON.
I DISLIKE FALSEHOOD AND DECEIT.
THE BUILDING SHOULD BE TRUTHFUL”
TABLE OF CONTENTS• Introduction pg 8
• Early years of Laurie Baker pg 9
- Childhood pg 10
- Education pg 11
- Missionary works pg 12
- Journey to India pg 13
- Gandhian Influence pg 14
- Personal life pg 15
- The Himalayan Era pg 16
• Baker’s Principles pg 18
• Architectural Style pg 19
• Characteristics pg 20
• Low cost construction pg 24
• His popular construction techniques pg 25
TABLE OF CONTENTS- Rat trap bonds pg 26
- Filler Slabs pg 29
why filler slabs? pg 30
- Arches pg 34
types of arches pg 35
- Domes pg 36
- Mangalore tiles pg 37
- Terracotta Flooring pg 39
- Frameless Doors and Windows pg 40
• Characteristic Elements pg 42
• Innovative Methods pg 43
• Working methodology pg 44
• Bakers Contribution to architecture pg 45
- Hamlet pg 47
• Conclusion pg 63
INTRODUCTION• There are not many architects who have created an idiom of their
own or left behind a unique architectural legacy that has had a deep impact on the way people conceive homes and public buildings.
• Standing tall among the select few is Laurie Baker, who was born and trained in architecture in England, but made India, more specifically Kerala, his home, leaving a deep imprint in Kerala’s architectural history.
• Laurie Baker represented a unique tradition of architecture that blended man and nature. He emphasised local materials and traditional concepts in constructing dwellings, demonstrating a strong commitment to mass, affordable housing.
CHILDHOOD
Laurie Baker or Laurence Wilfred Baker was born on March 2, 1917 in a Christian family.
Laurie was interested in design.
In his childhood he would accompany his father every weekend to visit cathedrals and other old buildings and then he would build models and draw pictures of what he had seen.
Figure1 : Father & son going to church.
EDUCATION
After his matriculation, he joined the Birmingham School of Architecture and graduated in the year 1937 at the age of 20.
He became an Associate Member of the Royal Institute of Architects (ARIBA) in 1938.
Hardly had he got the opportunity to start working in England when World War II broke out just a year later in 1939.
Figure2 : Ar. Baker in his university gownRef:http://www.britsattheirbest.com/creative_brits/cr_architect_baker.htm
MISSIONARY WORKS During the Second World War ,
he served in the Friends Ambulance Unit in China and Burma.
Served the leper colony in inland China for almost 4 years and thus he also became a doctor, nurse, pharmacist and pathologist.
After the war ended he returned to England to take up life as an architect but soon he went to India to work for ‘mission for lepers’.
Figure3 : Friends Ambulance UnitRef: www.ourstory.info
JOURNEY TO INDIA Baker’s initial commitment to India
had him working as architect for an interdenominational Mission dedicated to the care of those suffering from leprosy.
He focused on converting or replacing asylums once used to house the Ostracized sufferers of the disease - "lepers".
Finding his English construction education to be inadequate for the types of issues he faced here , Baker had no choice but to observe and learn from the methods and practices of the vernacular architecture.
Figure4: Baker working in siteRef:http://kamalkamaraju.blogspot.in/2011/10/architecture-remembering-laurie-baker.html
GANDHIAN INFLUENCE Through Baker’s Quaker friends , he met
Mahatma Gandhi , who sent him to see the city’s concrete slums and asked the young architect to think about better ways of housing india’s poor.
Inspired by Gandhi’s encouragement , Baker went home to England and true to his word he promptly returned to India.
Mahatma Gandhi’s principles influenced Bakers work throughout his 50 years of stay in India.
Figure5: Ar. Laurie BakerRef : http://architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-166224
PERSONAL LIFE
After India gained her independence and Mahatma Gandhi (a personal acquaintance and powerful influence on Baker's building philosophy) assassinated, Baker lived in Kerala with Doctor P.J. Chandy from whom he received great encouragement.
Later he married Dr.Chandy’s sister Elizabeth who herself was a doctor and moved to Pithoragarh, a small village on the borders of Tibet and Nepal in the Himalayas, where they lived and worked for 16 years.
Figure6: Laurie Baker and his wife Dr Elizabeth at their residence in Thiruvananthapuram. Photo: S. Mahinsha.Ref: The hindu , http://www.thehindu.com/features/homes-and-gardens/laurie-baker-centre-perpetuating-a-legacy/article40527.ece
THE HIMALAYAN ERA
Elizabeth's medical training was put to use in Pithoragarh while Laurie continued his architectural work and research accommodating the medical needs of the community through his constructions of various hospitals and clinics.
It is here that Baker would acquire those skills from the local building community which had so fascinated him during his missionary work.
• Baker sought to enrich the culture in which he participated by promoting simplicity and home-grown quality in his buildings.
• Seeing so many people living in poverty in the region and throughout India served also to amplify his emphasis on cost-conscious construction, one that encouraged local participation in development and craftsmanship - an ideal that the Mahatma expressed as the only means to revitalize and liberate an impoverished India.
• This drive for simplicity also stemmed from his Quaker upbringing and faith.
• Baker sought to provide the 'right' space for his clients and to avoid anything pretentious.
Baker’s Principles
Figure7: Principle in Bakers own writingRef: http://www.lauriebaker.net/index.php/work/bakers-architectural-principles
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE• Baker has devised his own style that had his signature of structural
honesty , design integrity and sustaining quality.
• Baker creates a variety of textures and patterns by simple manipulation of the way in which bricks are placed in the wall.
Figure8: Ar.BakerRef: indiatoday.intoday.in Figure9: brick patterns
Ref: groups.yahoo.com
• Designing and building low cost, high quality and beautiful homes.
• Suited to or built for lower-middle to lower class clients.
• Irregular, pyramid type structures on roofs, with one side left open and tilting into the wind.
• Brick jali walls, a perforated brick screen which utilizes natural air movement to cool the homes interiors and create intricate patterns of light and shadows.
CHARACTERISTICS
Figure10: St. John's Cathedral, ThiruvallaRef: The Hindu
Figure11: Brick jail pattern in CDSRef: The Hindu
• Baker’s designs invariably have traditional indian sloping roofs and terracotta Mangalore tiles shinging with gables and vents allowing rising hot air to escape.
• Curved walls to enclose more volume at lower material cost than straight walls.
• Use of low energy consuming mud walls and compartments for milk bottles on the doorstep and window sills that double as bench surfaces.
• Instead of cutting down trees , adapting it in the design saves construction cost as well, since working around difficult site conditions is much more cost-effective.
Figure12: curved walls with brick jali patterns , Indian coffee house.Ref: https://thetrinitycollege.wordpress.com
Figure13: The HamletRef: lauriebaker.net
• Innovative bonding techniques for brick allow Baker to build walls of only half brick thickness.
• Interiors are uncompromisingly direct and simple.
• Modified glass windows, frames and sills etc are often eliminated preferring small openings in bricks like the traditional jali.
• Various features of his work are using recycled material , natural environment control and frugality of the design maybe seen as sustainable architecture or green building with its emphasis on sustainability.
Figure 14: used in HamletRef: thearchiblog.wordpress.com
Figure15: at Col. Jacob residence ThiruvananthapuramRef:misfitsarchitecture.com
• 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.
Figure16: Abu Abraham’s house ThiruvananthapuramRef: lauriebaker.net
Figure17: Abu Abraham’s houseRef: Lauriebaker.net
LOW COST CONSTRUCTION
• ‘Low cost’ or ‘cost reduction’ is not only concerning economy.
• Most modern building materials are manufactured articles like cement or steel etc.
• Their respective cost are more important consideration but just as is the important question of how much energy (or fuel) was used in their manufacture.
• The use of local materials are an example of economy as there are no transportation costs.
HIS POPULAR CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
•USE OF RAT TRAP BOND
•FILLER SLABS
•ARCHES
•TERRACOTTA ROOFING
•FRAMELESS DOORS AND WINDOWS
RAT TRAP BONDS
• This double-wall technique uses bricks on edge with a cross brick between each and produces a 9-inch thick wall with an insulating air cavity in between.
Figure18: Isometric views of bonds Figure19: Isometric views of rat trap bond
• Surprisingly, this technique reduces the number of bricks required by 25%, thereby reducing material used, including mortar (1:8 mix), and overall cost.
• Rat-trap technique is equal to the strength of a solid9-inch wall in either Flemish or English bond.
FILLER SLABS• Filler slabs employ by replacing
unproductive concrete by a filler material which reduces the weight of the slab and also the cost by reducing the amount of concrete used.
• Also since the weight of the slab is reduced , lesser steel is required for reinforcement further reducing the cost.
Figure22: Filler slabRef: http://www.lauriebakerbuildingcentre.com/
Figure 23: Filler slab
WHY FILLER SLABS?
The reason why, concrete and steel are used together to construct RCC slab, is in their individual properties as separate building materials andtheir individual limitation. Concrete is good in taking compression and steel is good in tension. Thus RCC slab is a product which resists bothcompression as well as tensile.
SIMPLY SUPPORTED SLAB CROSS-SECTION.
Figure 24: Slab cross section
The fig. indicates the neutral axis and also tension concrete in the bottom fibres of the slab which is in tension but the top fibres willbe in compression.
Tension in a slab is on the bottom fibre and compression on the topfiber that means if we want to optimise the structure we can removeconcrete from the tension zone where it is not much needed. that’sthe key behind filler slab construction.
Figure 25: sectional elevation
FILLER MATERIALS ADVANTAGES OF FILLER SLAB
BricksTilesCellularConcreteBlocksPotsWaste bottles
Figure 27
Figure 28
ARCHES
• The arch is significant because it provides a structure which eliminates tensile stresses in spanning an open space.
• All the forces are resolved into compressive stresses.
• This is useful because several of the available building materials such as stone, cast iron and concrete can strongly resist compression but are very weak when tension, shear or torsional stress is applied to them.
Figure29: Masonary archRef: http://www.lauriebakerbuildingcentre.com/
CORBEL ARCH FLAT ARCH
SEMI-CIRCULAR ARCH SEGMENTAL ARCH
TYPES OF ARCHES
Figure30: Corbel arch Figure31: Flat arch
Figure31: Segmental archFigure32: semi circular arch
DOMES
• A dome can be thought of as an arch which has been rotated around its central vertical axis.
• Thus domes, like arches, have a great deal of structural strength when properly built and can span large open spaces without interior supports.
Figure32: Residential masonary domeRef: njarchitect.wordpress.com
MANGALORE TILES
• Mangalore tiles (also Mangalorean tiles) are a type of tiles native to the city of Mangalore, India.
• These red tiles, prepared from hard laterite clay, are in great demand throughout Indi
• These were the only tiles to be recommended for government buildings in India during the British regime.
• They are a popular form of roofing and are preferred over concrete due to their good quality.
• They provide excellent ventilation especially during summer and aesthetically as well.
Figure33:Nirmiti Kendra, Trivamdru,
Ref: njarchitect.wordpress.com
• Some of them are especially made to be placed over kitchen and bathroom for the smoke to escape.
• Over a period of time, these tiles become dark to black from constant exposure to soot and smoke.
• They are unique and are made or available in different size and shapes depending on the users need.
• These tiles are not only eco-friendly but also cheap, durable and costs only one third that of cement.
• Some of the buildings which are 100 yrs. old still have tile roofing.
• These tiles are suited for regions experiencing heavy rainfall as water drains easily and fast.
Figure34: Manglore tile as an infillfor roofing.
TERRACOTTA FLOORING
• Flooring is often of terracotta tiles or colour oxides.
• The bed is made out of broken brickbats (this saves wastage of brick), over which a 3” mortar layer is laid and tiles are placed over it.
• Various patterns and designs are worked out, dependent upon shape, size of tiles, span of flooring, and clients’ personal taste.
• These tiles require little maintenance and are cheap.
• Also the patterns of tiles are visually attractive. Most commonly, tile shapes include square, rectangular, hexagonal, triangular or can be customized. Also, electrical cables can be run through these floors.
Figure35: House of Mr.Vijayan VadavalliCoimbatore(Former Director of Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural history
FRAMELESS DOORS AND WINDOWS
• Door and window frames are not actually required.
• They are responsible for almost half the cost of timber used.
• Avoiding frames considerably reduces the cost of timber.
• Door planks are screwed together with strap iron hinges to form doors, and this can be carried by holdfast fittings carried into the wall.
• The simplest and most cost-effective door can be made of vertical planks held together with horizontal or diagonal battens.
Figure36: Frameless Door
• The simplest frameless window consists of a vertical plank (9” wide) set into two holes, one at the top and one at the bottom. This forms a simple pivotal window.
• Wide span windows can be partially framed and fixed to walls or can have rows of pivotal planks.
Figure37: Frameless window
THESE METHODS AND TECHNIQUES LED TO CHARACTERISTIC ELEMENTS OF BAKER’S STYLE
• JALIS• TRADITIONAL ROOFS• STEPPED ARCHES,• OVERHANGING EAVES • SKYLIGHTS• BUILT-IN FURNITURES
MORE INNOVATIVE METHODSHE ADOPTED….
• DIFFERENT BONDING TECHNIQUES FOR BRICKS.
• PERFORATED BRICK WALLS• USE OF DISCARDED BOTTLES , INSET
IN WALL.• USE OF BRICKS INSPITE OF LINTELS• CURVED WALLS• RUBBLE MASONRY
WORKING METHODOLOGY
• Laurie Baker’s method is of improvisation and he never had any drafted plans rather he liked to improvise on every stage of construction.
• Curved jail walls are drawn by hand on the site without any equipments.
• Openings are designed as the wall is being build , niches are carved in and corners are detailed during the process of actual building.
• He follows a method of construction that creates similar elements varying according to the function and scale of each project.
BAKER’S CONTRIBUTION
TO ARCHITECTURE
BAKER’S ARCHITECTURAL CREATIONS EXPANDS FROM A REMARKABLY VARIED SPECTRUM OF PROJECTS RANGING FROM VILLAGES TO LOW COST HOUSES.
Figure39: Sewa center
• Laurie Baker was a prolific builder.
• So passionate was he about his mission to create shelter for as many as possible that he rarely documented any of his work per any typical architect's norms.
• Therefore please note there is only grossly incomplete listavailable that has been pieced together in retrospect.
• Most of his works have not been recorded specially in north India
• There are none of his works recorded decade wise, so here is one of his Notable projects, his own house ‘THE HAMLET’.
THE HAMLET• This is Baker's home in Trivandrum.
• A remarkable and unique house built on five levels on a plot of land along the slope of a rocky hill, with limited access to water: conditions most people would never dream of building anything much less their homes under!
• However Baker has created a wonderful home for his family.
Figure40: hamlet inner view
• The house is situated on a site with area of about half an acre, in Thiruvananthapuram, sloping steeply toward the Nilanchira road.
• The site was unwieldly in plan steep in section, and had a rocky surface.
Figure41: the Hamlet entranceRef: el.doccentre.info
• First built is a single room hut of timber.
• It housed the library of medical books and also as bedroom, laundry room, dining room and study.
• The site was highly contoured an rocky, but even Baker did not disturb even a single rock or a tree , so it is popularly named “right in the rocks.”
• A house was build on the lower contour for the 4 nieces who moved to Trivandrum.
• One more house was built for his son Tilak facing the trees.
Figure42: Hamlet inner courtyardRef: artnlight.blogspot.com
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
GROUND FLOOR PLANS
ECTI
ON
AL
ELE
VA
TIO
N
Figure43: Plan of both the Levels of HamletRef: nayeemasif.wordpress.com
Figure44: Additional room plan and sectional elevationRef: nayeemasif.wordpress.com
TILAK’S ROOM ADDITION PLAN AND SECTIONAL ELEVATION
• The Bakers house- Hamlet is not visible from the road and walks up towards it is one of the accidental encounters- an entrance , a steeper gradient along a workshop along a free standing door, a curved path along the niecery and the final steps leading to the plinth of the main house.
• The house is made up of red bricks and roof with terracotta tiles.
• The house has a rustic elevation, actively blending with nature.
• A formal dining space does not exist.
• If a visitor is present, he/she eats under the ceiling of the kitchen
Figure45: EntranceRef: https://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorcasino/6029918853/in/photostream/
There is a careful orchestration of contrast like concealing and revealing ,dark and light and ofopening to the landscape at theend of a narrow passage whichhelps to enrich the feeling of movement through the building and provide an architectural complexity to an otherwise simplesite.
The heavily shaded areas have surfaced in stone and lead across changing levels to doorways mysteriously hidden behind curved walls.
Figure 46: interiors Figure 47: interiors
Grant entrance having a Dog house just above it.
Stone , wood and fish tiles are reused from an earlier building.
It was at a distance fromthe main house, such that it provided the bakers privacy and the nieces their independence. This isa niecery.
The large Kerala style window at the end of the bedroom provides both light and a good view.
Figure47 Figure48 Figure49
Steps leading up to frontDoor
View from the Opposite side Steps directly cut in a rock
Images taken from www.lauriebaker.net
Entrance has small sitting area for guests.
The wall is decorated frombroken pottery, pensand glass.
A calling bell for visitorsTo announce their presence.
Images taken from www.lauriebaker.net
Inner courtyard…close to natureNever cut trees instead adapt his designaccording
Images taken from www.lauriebaker.net
Simple yet beautiful windowsGables for proper air circulationand ventilation
Images taken from www.lauriebaker.net
Water tank for storing RainHarvested Water
Baker’s fondness of arches
Images taken from www.lauriebaker.net
Cost Effective Baker’s window
Louvered window typical of
baker’s typeStained Glass effect
Images taken from www.lauriebaker.net
CONCLUSION
• Laurie baker was a person who was concerned about sustainable
means of architecture.
• His devotion and his inspiration towards his works is awe inspiring.
• The most important aspect for Baker was the building cost;
it had to be minimal.
• Baker had a thorough knowledge and was very committed.
• Neither did he seek publicity nor did he care about critics.
• Some critics said his buildings would not last for more than
10 years but they are still standing.
• THE BUILDING TECHNIQUES BAKER EVOLVED TO SUIT SPECIFIC
PROBLEMS OF HIS CLIENTS IN KERALA IS NOT A FORMULA
APPLICABLE TO ALL SIMILAR SITUATIONS & YET FROM ITS STEMS
AN ENTIRE IDEOLOGY OF ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE
- A PATTERN THAT IS REVOLUTIONARY IN ITS SIMPLICITY & ITS
CONTRADICTION OF THE ACCEPTED NORMS OF ARCHITETCURE
IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA.
• In conclusion ,if we look into laurie bakers life we could easily find
that he was a person who likes to lead a simple and serene life, and
from his works we can see that he is trying to make architecture
resonate to the tune o nature, which makes us all inspired and
speechless...