On Laurie Baker and the Quality without a name | viii. regionalism
Uncommon Sense (movie trailer) by Baker's grandson Vineet Radhakrishnan
This lack of contradiction, sense of internal harmony, and sincere love for truth is what I prize the most in people and their stories — it seems to be the quality that makes things come truly alive, indeed the medium from which life itself arises, and through which it propagates — and it has perhaps guided my ideal vision of what an architecture of regionalism ought to be.
From reading about Baker, I learnt that humility does not have to inhibit your creative freedom, suppress your inner devotion to truth, or confine you to external expectations of a commoditized idea of style. I wonder then if external humility in your work ethic can be guided by an internal sense of pride in your principles? Can you be proud of the fact that you haven't given in to a formulaic approach of appealing to the masses, and for that very reason, appeal to them by being the change you wish to see in your immediate locale? Do you have the most long-lasting impact on society by first acknowledging your own limitations in creating that very change? Do you minimize external conflict by passively agreeing to multiple truths while sacrificing your integrity, or do you minimize internal conflict by staying true to yourself? Do you focus on the quantity of work done during your lifetime or do you focus instead on the quality of the legacy you leave behind? Is success material or emotional? Do you design for yourself or for humanity?
Some of the best leaders are often not those who set out to be great leaders, but those who've stayed true to their principles. Actively trying to be a leader perhaps reveals an internal sense of vulnerability and insecurity arising from unresolved contradictions, and this ironically makes you a less-than-ideal leader. Perhaps there is a lesson here for our understanding of greatness in architecture and in architects, in that trying to create greatness often leads one astray from the path of true greatness: the true path being one where you're dedicated to process over product[1], trust over worry, truth over conflict, firmness over speed. Slow changes last longer than sudden ones; there can be no goodness without the pain of steady effort; and great architecture is probably a long love-letter to life itself, letters that don't need to be advertised.
A Gandhian, Baker combined the use of local craftsmanship and traditional techniques with modern design principles and technology wherever it made sense to do so. His use of local labor for construction of the buildings and for manufacture of construction materials also helped revive the local economy. His humble sensibility of incorporating regional building practices, local materials and responsible use of resources has inspired a generation of architects in India (like G. Shankar) and his influence continues to this day[2]. I sometimes see reflections of that same spirit in the works of Peter Zumthor in Switzerland, Olson Kundig in the US and Tadao Ando in Japan, amongst others, and I am glad that a study of regionalism is promoted in our school.
"We've got to stop thinking big, and go back to the idea that small is beautiful."
— Laurie Baker
"...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably. They don’t deceive you with thrills and trick endings. They don’t surprise you with the unforeseen. They are as familiar as the house you live in. Or the smell of your lover’s skin."
— Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
"They are beautiful, ordered, harmonious — yes, all these things. But especially, and what strikes to the heart, they live."— Christopher W. Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building
I like how you say "A Gandhian, Baker combined the use of local craftsmanship and traditional techniques with modern design principles and technology wherever it made sense to do so." I have also experienced few of his building and i completely agree with this article. I think it was inspiring how he dedicated his life in understanding local conditions and building something to cater that need. I wonder if he knew the term Regional Criticism though.
ReplyDeleteHaha, yes, I think his work definitely is very vernacular. I do wonder if theoretical typologies originating in the West can be applied to India in a true sense, a nation that has always been a diverse and chaotic crucible, a melting pot that has welcomed many different ideas and cultures over the millennia . For example, I usually dislike post-modern architecture (partially thanks to being traumatized by some buildings in Dubai), and some may say that Baker's formal playfulness is post-modern-like, but should we use that descriptor when there never was a modern phase that originated in India? Instead we've had modern and post-modern imports in the last half-century thanks to globalization. Newer developments and houses are increasingly starting to look like each other, and we're losing local authenticity to this homogenization in the big cities. I think a truly Indian architecture, if it even can be defined, has always been about regionalism, and therefore about its rich diversity. Baker's work has only added to this, without any need for for it to be labelled by relatively recent Western definitions of concepts like critical regionalism. One can hope there will be a resurgence in vernacular architecture and a nostalgic desire to rediscover a truly indigenous concept of the built world, but such a movement can only happen with the desire of more clients and support of market forces.
DeleteI am so glad you have brought forward this great example of work by Laurie Baker, it is such an inspiration of all architects, not to always think big. It makes me think, what American architect can relate to Laurie Baker? I can't think of one American architect that focuses on low-cost building primarily. I believe at least every region should have at least one architect that gives their time to such worthy pursuits. It should make us all think differently about our goals upon graduation.
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