laurie Baker, described as Gandhi… God of the Poor, rewrote the very concept of housing through his eco-friendly buildings. His grandson Vineet Radhakrishnan’s documentary film on the legendary architect captures the essence of a great personality and his philosophies. By Team Viva
Uncommon Sense: The life and Architecture of laurie Baker” is a documentary that focuses on the life and times of famed architect laurie Baker, who died almost a decade ago. Directed by his grandson Vineet Radhakrishnan, the two-hour long production takes us through the life of one who was aptly described as “Gandhi” and “God of the Poor”. Baker always spoke for the masses, constantly serving as a living reminder to his peers that there exist millions, who cannot afford a home in India. This man from Birmingham was a familiar face to all Malayalis, cutting across classes. After leaving England, he chose Kerala as his home, where he got down to popularising the concept of eco-friendly, low-cost and energy-efficient homes.Vineet Radhakrishnan left a plum management job in london five years ago, finally to give shape to his dream, of making a documentary on his grandfather. He had spent ten years by then, hatching on it. When he heard that two of Baker’s friends died and that a few houses were being demolished to make way for large apartment complexes he quit his job and returned to Kerala to start working for his dream mission.
“Often, people tend to focus on the superficial elements of my grandfather’s architecture - the use of exposed brick, jalis, arches, filler slabs and so on. However what is important is to understand the underlying building philosophy - the care for nature, using only the necessary resources that too which are available locally and focusing on functionality that is still aesthetically pleasing. There might not be an obvious visual connect, but there are hundreds of architects in India who have been inspired by the philosophy,” says Vineet.
The efforts to make the film was a journey for Vineet through the life of his grandfather; to re-discover him. “To me, he was always Grandad. He was so laidback with the family that it was easy to forget he who he was to the world outside. Seeing the strong and often emotional responses from people I interviewed even after all these decades of his death has helped me to understand laurie Baker the public figure. The traveling of four years across India was like a treasure hunt since my grandfather didn’t document most of his work.”
“Every client was special for him, be it the poor or those who were affluent. Among the thousand five hundred buildings he constructed there are individual houses, buildings and those under mass social housing schemes for the fishermen and tribals. He also silently made scores of houses for people whom he used to refer to as no income group ,” says Vineet who has also penned the script for the film.
He adds: “Among the buildings I love the humble ones the more than the most photographed ones. Of course I am attached to The Hamlet, our home in Thiruvananthapuram where I spent a lot of my time growing up. For Hamlet also he didn’t compromise his policies,” says Vineet who is the son of Baker’s daughter Vidya and Kerala bureaucrat l Radhakrishnan.
A professional photographer with over 10 years of experience in India, France and the US Vineet also has worked as a management consultant in MNCs and holds a masters degree from IIT Delhi and an MBA from INSEAD, France. The cinematography of the film is also done by Vineet about which he says: “I had worked as a professional fashion and fine art photographer for around a decade. I decided to shoot the buildings myself as the buildings were also important characters for the film; what they said collectively and it was crucial for me that to take time to understand each one of them - the constraints, the story of the client, peculiarities of the design and so on. I had, sometimes, to wait for the best light or for rain to shoot, for instance, water harvesting channels in some houses.”
The film is the first Indian feature ever to be selected to ArchDaily’s exclusive ‘Architecture Documentaries to Watch list’. Vineet has also created a website lauriebaker.net to promote his grandfather’s ideas. “I started the website in 2007 shortly after he passed away as a way to share some of his works. Today we get hundreds of emails every month from young architects, students of design, institutions and a surprisingly large number of people who have nothing to do with architecture, but seem to be drawn to his story and his values,” he says. On naming the film the Uncommon Sense Vineet says:
“If you look at my grandfather’s architectural principles, a lot of what he was talking about was common sense, but people rarely practice them. Hence the name Uncommon Sense: The life and Architecture of laurie Baker.”
The film was premiered recently at the India Habitat Centre.