more-in The building technology pioneered by Laurie Baker needs to be mainstreamed considering the concerns about global warming, Minister for Finance T.M. Thomas Isaac has said. He was speaking after inaugurating the Centenary celebrations of architect Laurie Baker here on Sunday. “Baker was not just an architect. His architecture was contextualised in a larger vision of society and its development. He displayed a rare sensitiveness to the environment. The question on choice of materials used for construction is relevant now in the era of global warming,” he said. Dr. Isaac said Baker’s choice of building technology was the best example of appropriate technology. “He was always concerned about what is appropriate to the character and desires of the user. This is very important when you are constructing houses for the poor. Architects usually think they know what the user wants. Baker did not pretend that he knows what is required. He found out what they want from interactions with them,” he said. Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said Baker had contributed to the reawakening of Indian tradition, which we had forgotten in the name of modernity. He said India had a choice unlike the US or China to shift to buildings based on less energy-intensive materials, as a majority of our infrastructure was yet to be built. “Climate change vulnerability is high for India. Five per cent of India’s emissions come from the building sector. This could double in the next 15 years because 70% of the housing infrastructure that we need by 2030 is yet to be built. Fifty percentage of our peak electricity load comes from the use of air conditioning. We can reduce these loads through creative designing of the building,” he said. Poet Sugathakumari criticised the Left Democratic Front government for some of its recent policy steps, including the clearance for quarrying within 50 metres of residential buildings, which she said was harmful to the environment. “When a person like Isaac is in the Cabinet, I don't know how he allowed it,” she said.

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