Hot and humid climates can be one of the hardest climates to adjust to, with relentless perspiration and discomfort, and we often feel relief only on entering an air-conditioned space. For people used to modern-day apartments and offices, it is almost impossible to imagine being comfortable in these spaces without ACs. Yet, when we think of traditional homes in Kerala or Tamil Nadu, do we associate them with this same sense of unease? Laurie Baker at work.
| Photo Credit:Special arrangement Laurie Baker, one of India’s prominent proponent of climate responsive architecture, writes about the time he first discovered vernacular traditions, “...
wherever I went, I saw in the local indigenous style of architecture, the result of thousands of years of research on how to use only immediately available, local materials to make structurally stable buildings that could cope with climatic condition...
an incredible achievement that no modern, 20th century architect I know of has ever made.” Baker built hundreds of houses across Kerala inspired by these techniques, rejecting what had become the accepted modern practice. A sketch by Laurie Baker.
| Photo Credit:Special arrangement The interiors of a house built by Laurie Baker in Thiruvananthapuram.| Photo Credit:Special arrangement The roofs have overhanging eaves, which shield the wall from direct sunlight and rain.| Photo Credit:Getty Images/istock Kerala has hot, humid, and wet climate.
So structures were built with steeply slopin.