Laurie Baker, a British-born architect who spent more than 60 years in India building homes that were ecologically sound and affordable for the poor, has died. He was 90.
Baker used local, mostly inexpensive materials to construct quality buildings all over India in what became known as the Laurie Baker style. His technique allowed natural movement of air to cool interiors in the sweltering southern state of Kerala, Baker's home for decades.
Baker and several other architects founded the Center Of Science and Technology For Rural Development, which continues to provide quality housing for poor families.
"For him low-cost did not mean low quality. It was all about using sustainable materials properly," said Sajan P.B., an architect who worked with Baker for more than 17 years.
Baker arrived in India in 1945 on his way home to Birmingham after working with a medical team in remote parts of China. A year later, he answered an advertisement placed by a Christian charity group called Mission to Lepers looking for architects to build hospitals in India. He ended up staying the country, moving to Trivandrum in 1970 and receiving Indian citizenship in 1988.
[The Washington Post]
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