Laurie Baker RIP

Laurie Baker's death was reported early this week in all the papers. This was sad news. I remember coming across an article in 'Inside Outside' which had pictures of his work. This was in the early eighties and my first exposure to a different kind of architecture rooted in local material and construction practices. Affordable architecture tuned to the local climate and living habits. It was eye-opening for me. He must have died a disappointed man because while he won awards and acclaim and was so obviously doing the right thing his style never caught on. Not in the metros, not in the smaller towns and not even in the villages (-where people tend to copy the city-dwellers to the extent that they can afford it). The rising prosperity has probably pushed back the raison d'etre of Baker's work. Maybe the scare of global warming and the increasing need to conserve energy and stay green will bring him back in fashion. I would like to remember him from this piece in The Hindu http://www.hinduonnet.com/folio/fo9908/99080300.htm