Thiruvananthapuram : Veteran architect and pioneer of the low-cost, eco- friendly housing technology, Laurence Wilfred Baker, passed away here on Sunday. He was 90.

`Laurie’ Baker had been ailing for some months. His condition worsened two days ago. The end came at 7.20 in the morning. Mr. Baker’s unconventional approach to architecture redefined the concept of housing for the masses and earned him the name of `architect of the poor.’ His no-frills style drew heavily on traditional Kerala architecture. “A building is 10 to 15 per cent technical knowhow and the rest commonsense,” he told The Hindu in an interview in 1997.

Born in Birmingham in England in 1917, Mr. Baker came to India as an architect to the World Leprosy Mission in 1945. He spent two decades in the Himalayas and the Western Ghats, working among rural and tribal folk, and finally settled down in Thiruvananthapuram with his wife Dr. Elizabeth Jacob in 1970. He received Indian citizenship from the President in 1989.