Laurie Baker in Vadodara

The project involved the conservation and restoration of Laurie Baker designed Activity Center building in Vadodara. Laurie Baker was invited to design a few buildings in Vadodara by leading industrialists of the time Mr. Nanubhai Amin, then Chairman and Managing Director of Jyoti Industries Ltd., in around mid-1970’s to design buildings for Jyoti Ltd. and Navrachana Education Society. These buildings often forgotten, represented an interesting phase in experimentation in the works of Laurie Baker which makes us question the popular notion of "Laurie Baker Style" as popularized by his projects in South India.

Vadodara has been known for its experimentation in the field of architecture and design. These projects were an outcome of the progressive outlook of Nanubhai to get Laurie Baker to design environmentally responsive buildings for an industrial setup. The three buildings studied and documented for this project were unique and diverse in functions. Out of them Administrative Block, Primary Health Centre is at Jyoti Ltd., and Activity Center is at Navrachana School, Sama. These buildings designed by Baker posed a unique challenge in terms of construction techniques, access to material and to trained local artisans, till arriving at universally accessible design solution for differently abled people and finally achieving climatically responsive building. These projects have been discussed in detail below:

Administrative Building Jyoti Industries, Vadodara

The administrative building demonstrates experimentation in materiality, acoustics and design deriving overall architectural expression of this new typology. The architectural principles and language of Laurie Baker were derived through low rise domestic structures he had designed in Kerala. The Administrative Block posed an interesting challenge in creating imageability for designing the head-oﬃce for Jyoti Ltd.

Primary Health Centre

Located in Jyoti Ltd. compounds, primary health centre was an existing building to which Laurie Baker made several additions at ground level and added a floor above. It is a small building, where Baker experimented with construction techniques and materials. This building demonstrates diﬀerent brick jali patterns, slab with earthen disk infill, spaces are explored with a double height space, and curved jali walls creating small courtyards.

Activity Center building at Navrachana School, Sama

The Activity Center located at Navrachana Higher Secondary School, Sama was designed as place of living for differently abled people. The building consists of ten dormitories arranged around a circular corridor. The common areas, including a courtyard with a stage are located towards inside, with a small circular service court in the centre of the building. This building is a unique building on many fronts, from conception of space to adaptations of construction techniques.

Project Led by: Prof. Pragya Shankar