Loyola Hostel – Trivandrum – Laurie Baker
Laurence Wilfred “Laurie” Baker (March 2, 1917 – April 1, 2007) was an award-winning British-born Indian architect, renowned for his initiatives in cost-effective energy-efficient architecture and for his unique space utilization and a simple but beautiful aesthetic sensibility. He came to India in 1945 as a missionary aid worker and since then lived and worked in India for over 50 long years.
The Loyola complex contains a high school and a post-graduate complex, both sharing a common chapel and an auditorium. It was here that Baker’s skills of cost-reduction met their greatest challenge, as it required a seating capacity of one thousand. In order to increase the lateral strengthof the high brick wall, without the introduction of any steel or concrete, Baker devised a wide cavity double-wall with cross-bracing brick.The total covered area of the chapel and auditoriumand the gallery is approximately 930 squaremeters.
