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The Baker Approach: A Rural House
Written by Laurie Baker   
I personally think it is stupid and two-faced to suggest that a rural family needs
less and inferior accommodation than an urban family. As far as codes and
regulations are concerned I believe these are created to help enforce structural
stability and to remove the hazards which can be caused by fire, bad
sanitation, cyclones, earthquakes, heavy rain and floods and soon. Either your
building is a fire hazard or it is not whether you are rural or urban. Health
hazards from pollution or bad sanitation, etc are hazards wherever they are.

Accomodation, that is living spaces, are also, I believe, the same. For example
the kitchen must have light and air, the fire place should be energy efficient
and not waste fuel or create smoke which can blow all through the house. A
rural family, mother, father, one or two children, may be a grandparent and so
on all need different spaces in which to sleep. These may not be three or four
rooms, but partitions or divisions can create privacy even in one single room.
Construction techniques and materials need to be good, energy saving, strong,
water proof and so on. In all these varying matters of planning and design I see
no difference between urban or rural needs. People sometimes say, "But you
can't use mud walls in a city; there is no mud available anyway." They
apparently think that bricks, stone and concrete are found or manufactured in
cities.

However, there are considerable differences between the living styles and
patterns and the occupations of families in towns and villages. Obviously, it is
easier, indeed often necessary, to keep birds and animals when living in rural
areas while it is not possible to keep them in towns.

In towns, most employed people got out to work in shops, offices, markets,
factories, etc. So they rarely need space in their homes for occupations;
whereas in villages and rural areas there are far more home industries—basket
and net making, food drying and preparation for both home consumption and
for sale. There are dozens of space taking occupations, bee keeping for honey,
mulberries and worms for silk rearing, spinning, dying and weaving for fabrics
and so on and all these occupations are very often "cottage industries". So, to
me, the very big and obvious difference between urban and rural housing is
that, the rural house calls for the far more space and amenities than the urban
house....

http://lauriebaker.net/work/work/the-baker-approach-a-rural-house.html 12/21/2009
The Baker Approach: A Rural House Page 2 of 3

When I have to plan for rural people, I find I have to balance out what I can do
while providing space for family living AND for cattle, birds and occupations but
only having the same limited amount of money as I have for an urban family.
Fortunately, a lot of this provision for work and animals usually only requires a
good roof, while walls may not be necessary, and not so much costly finish
required for floors. So I find that while planning the urban cottage of 250
square feet, I have to try and get my living quarters into 150 square feet but I
can give at least as much space, or even more, for occupations and livestock,
because flooring, windows and doors are not required.

I am showing three plans here. The first one has the usual family living
needs—a "sit out" or verandah, three sleeping spaces, a kitchen and a
latrine—but it also has a rear covered area where animals or poultry or a loom,
etc can be housed. The second plan also provides an absolute minimum of
living space, because I believe that the rural compound is used more, and is
more vital and necessary than the house itself; so I provide a compound wall
all round a small plot. It gives privacy and security. Animals need not stray
away.

Various space taking occupations can be safely spread out, and so on and as
and when money and materials are available—lean-to sheds, or roofs, or whole
rooms can be constructed against the perimeter wall leaving a courtyard space
in the middle, open to the sky. It also, incidentally, leaves room for a biogas
plant system to use all the wastes of the family and animals. Strangely enough,
although rather more bricks (or stones etc) are used, roofing and flooring is
less and so cost-wise there is little difference between these two plans. The
third plan is what we have called a "Core House" That is the essentials are
provided first—an energy efficient cooking place, a latrine and bathing place,
some built-in furniture like a diwan and a table, and two separate sleeping
spaces (which of course are used as 'living room' by day). The core house is
deliberately high so that the owners can add on whatever they like all round
the house, with the core eaves protecting the adjoining additions. There can be
more living rooms, or ... can be more working or animal verandahs, according
to the needs and occupations of the family.

Before closing this article I want to make an appeal to all concerned to try and
be realistic about rural housing. Materials are not automatically cheaper and if
there are things like cement, steel, glass, etc they are much more costly. The
rural person is not just hanging around idly and able to devote his time to
building a house for himself. The urban wage earner may have working hours
from 8 till 5 etc; but the rural work hours can be far longer and intense and,
when important seasons like sowing, planning, weeding, harvesting, etc are
over, there are all sorts of maintenance jobs to be done in the little time
between seasons. His basic needs are greater than the urban person who has
a water connection nearby, can buy gas for cooking, has electricity available,
markets and jobs close by. The rural person may have to go miles for water or
in search of fuel. There are no 'mains' or 'drains' to take away his wastes. Very
often he has no proper access, neither for bringing materials for building or for
occupations, nor for transporting goods to markets and places where he can
trade the fruits of his occupations. We are far too inclined to romanticise his
whole existence and forget his life of constant struggle.

http://lauriebaker.net/work/work/the-baker-approach-a-rural-house.html 12/21/2009
The Baker Approach: A Rural House Page 3 of 3

In the end, it means that we cannot sincerely and effectively plan rural housing
from a city office desk. We have to go to the villages and plan for their real
needs.

http://lauriebaker.net/work/work/the-baker-approach-a-rural-house.html 12/21/2009