The Hindu : Kerala News : Bidding adieu to master architect

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Monday, Apr 02, 2007
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Kerala

Bidding adieu to master architect

G. Mahadevan

Hundreds throng `Hamlet' to pay their last respects to Laurie Baker

GRIEF-STRICKEN: Elizabeth Baker, wife of architect Laurie Baker, beside his body at their home `Hamlet' near Nalanchira in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday morning. - Photo: S. Gopakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: How does one bid goodbye to a master architect who empowered the poor to dream of a home of their own, a person for whom there was no dichotomy between words and deeds - with the grandeur of simplicity of course.

For the scores of people who flocked to `Hamlet,' near Nalanchira, to pay their last respects to Laurie Baker, the journey was perhaps the physical culmination of long years of friendship and adoration. With folded hands and heavy hearts they bid farewell to the `Daddy' of an alternative vision of building homes - a farewell that was sincere and simple.

The refreshing simplicity and naturalness of Baker's home `Hamlet' brought out from many minds anecdotes about the life and work of Laurie Baker.

A sage

Architect Shankar recounted how early one morning, many years ago, he went to Mr. Baker's home to congratulate him on winning the World Habitat Day award. "But Mr. Baker was not there. His wife told me he had gone to a construction site. Eventually, I found him at the site, perched on top of a slanting roof under construction tying metal bars together. The man had just won Rs.25 lakhs. But he was a like a sage on that roof, unaffected by everything else... " Mr. Shankar said.

P.B. Sajan, Joint Director of COSTFORD, said that Mr. Baker was strong-willed and independent-minded till the last. "He was really down for the past two weeks. But he was a man who never knew the meaning of the word fear; either in what he believed in or in what he did," he said. Mr. Sajan pointed out that Mr. Baker had strong reservations about the sort of `low-cost' constructions that many architects did these days.

"Daddy was very passionate about energy efficiency and environment-friendliness. So when he found that many architects were using the label `low cost' to buildings that were highly energy-inefficient he strongly criticised them. Anyhow now COSTFORD will lead an initiative to set up a college to formally teach Daddy's methods and philosophy to future architects," he explained. Mr. Baker's first project was the construction of a hospital at Wagamon and his last project was a design for the Karimadom colony in the city - a project to be taken up by the City Corporation under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, he added.

People who did not know Mr. Baker personally too had their views on his life and work.

"Because of him, very poor people too could dream of building homes. He showed how a good house could be built without tons of cement and steel. In short, he exploded many a myth about setting up a house. The common man loved him for that," a police constable who came to `Hamlet' told The Hindu .

An inspiration

Minister for Education M. A. Baby told The Hindu over phone from New Delhi on Sunday morning that but for Mr. Baker's alternative methodology of construction many thousands of poor people would never have realised their dream of setting up a house.

"His ardent commitment to the downtrodden was reflected in his views on many a social and political issue. His association with the peace movement is an example. The fact that he got his inspiration for all this from Gandhiji is something that all of us should remember in this day of imperialist globalisation," he said and added that Mr. Baker lived in Kerala as a better Malayali than most Malayalis.

Among those who came to `Hamlet' to pay their last respects were Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac; Law Minister M. Vijayakumar; Mayor C. Jayan Babu; V. Sivankutty, MLA; CPI State Secretary Veliyam Bhargavan; BJP State president P. K. Krishnadas and DCC president V. S. Sivakumar.

The body of Laurie Baker will be kept at the VJT Hall from 9.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. on Monday for the public to pay homage. The funeral will be held, with official honours, at the Christ Church Palayam.

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