FORGED
FROM
the
LOVE
The public buildings of architect Colin Laird (1924–2018) have left an oversized imprint on the Caribbean landscape and the psyche of many West Indian people.
For over 50 years from the mid-1950s, Laird adapted a relatively austere European style of architecture to Caribbean conditions, paying particular attention to climate and local building traditions.
He once said that his work aspired to help people “live as fully as they possibly could.”
It is fitting. His own life was filled to the brim — with adventure, family devotion and a wholehearted commitment to principles and causes that mattered to him.
FORGED FROM the LOVE
Published by The Colin Laird Project
Researched and written by Robert Clarke
Book design and layout by Melanie Archer
ISBN 978-976-8280-10-7
All proceeds support T&T nationals enrolled in accredited architecture programs.
MAJOR MOMENTS & DESIGNS
FORGED FROM the LOVE dives into details of the following moments plus many more of Laird’s iconic sketches, designs and endeavours.
1924
BEGINNINGS
Colin was born to parents William and Maude in North Shields, England where he grew up with his older siblings Billy and Mary.
1942
Due to the demands of World War II, Colin enlisted in the British Navy on the eve of his 18th birthday and was assigned to its Fleet Air Arm. He was posted to the colony of Trinidad & Tobago where he trained as a navigator.
His father, William, previously served in the British Army as well, maintaining guns for the Glasglow Battalion in World War I.
1944
Not long after meeting, Laird married Jeanette Butler, a Trinidadian girl who caught his attention while playing the clarinet in a military band at a tea dance in Port of Spain.
For one reason or another, his military superiors decided to send him back to England and he was gone the day after their wedding.
Jeanette followed by ship six months later despite the threat of German torpedoes and after two years of marriage they welcomed their first of four children.
1946
Before the war, Laird had enrolled in an architecture program at Regent Street Polytechnic in London but his studies were put on hold.
Having survived, he completed his exams which included a comparison of materials used in the Italian, French and English Renaissances.
1949
While working for a commercial firm and constantly designing city buildings — one every two weeks — as London rebuilt itself, the young designer’s first big break came when he won the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Soane Medallion.
This award required a marathon 12-hour drawing session that produced sketches of an “Anglican parish church and its ancillary buildings on a riverside site in the heart of an old, by now expanding town.”
1952
RETURN TO T&T
Disillusioned by political changes in Britain and stalled architectural projects, Laird considered promising job offers from respected architects working overseas in countries such as Canada and Nigeria.
But one day he and Jeanette went to the cinema, saw Trinidad’s Maracas Bay on the screen and as they emerged into the cold London streets, decided to return to Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) for good.
1956
Laird responded to a regional competition brief for the “Design of a Community Centre Concert Hall in Port of Spain” that also had entries from Barbados, British Guiana, Jamaica and St. Lucia. His design with the distinct half-barrel-shaped roof was chosen.
Queen’s Hall opened in June 1959 as the nation’s premier cultural space and became the building that launched the architect’s career.
QUEEN’S HALL
Completed in 1959
1959–2009
Over the following 50 years, Laird had more than a dozen civic and cultural designs constructed across the Caribbean including the Jean Pierre Complex and National Stadium compound, the revitalized Independence Square and the National Library .
NATIONAL STADIUM
Completed in 1982
INDEPENDENCE SQUARE REVITALIZATION
Completed in 1995
NATIONAL LIBRARY
Completed in 2003
1970
MORE THAN AN ARCHITECT
Laird had many interests and activities outside of architecture, one being playing mas during T&T’s Carnival season.
He even came second in the 1970 Carnival King competition while carrying a Ken Morris costume.
1973
A man guided by a steady moral compass, Laird was never afraid to make difficult decisions in pursuit of what he believed was right.
Though he was a longstanding member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and a co-founder of the Trinidad & Tobago Institute of Architects (TTIA) , Laird resigned from both organizations in protest of their continued affiliation with the Institute of South African Architects who were pro-apartheid at the time.
1979
Believing capital punishment was cruel and ineffective as a deterrent, Laird was among the founders of the National Committee for Abolition of the Death Penalty (NCADP).
Despite a majority of public support being for hanging, the NCADP claimed it was partially instrumental in getting 23 reprieves and quashed death sentences in its first ten years.
1984
Laird loved to sail and at the age of 60 he completed the Observer Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race (OSTAR) in 25 days, a journey which started in England and ended in the United States.
His vessel for the voyage was a 44-foot yacht that he named La Baleine (The Whale), a boat he would go on to sail alone and with family for decades.
His dedication eventually earned him a lifetime achievement award from the Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association .
2001 & 2012
By 2001, the government acknowledged Laird’s contribution to T&T by presenting him with a national award, the Chaconia Gold Medal .
In 2012, they then named him one of T&T’s 50 icons to coincide with the country’s 50th anniversary of independence.
2018
A GOOD INNINGS
When Laird died in April 2018, just shy of his 94th birthday, he left not only the marks of his drawing pens writ large on the landscape, but memories of the sensibility that produced them.
TRIBUTES & REVIEWS
Laird was an architect’s architect who had a greater impact on the urban face of our capital city than any other architect in recent times.
– Stephen Mendes, Architect
He pushed forward in a way that sought to reverse the old agenda of colonial architecture, which had, for centuries, imposed cloistered and closed symbols of remote authority. Instead Laird acknowledge that people were the lifeblood of buildings.
– Judy Ramond, Newsday Editor-in-Chief
As much visual treasury as moving biography, FORGED FROM the LOVE presents handwritten letters and family photographs alongside other touching ephemera.
– CaribbeanBeat
FORGED FROM the LOVE is an anecdotal account tracing Colin’s personal life and providing useful insight into his personal history, motivations and practice, reinforcing the important link between culture, history and society. It speaks to the profound symbolic significance of architecture.
– Mark Raymond, Architect
WHY FORGED FROM the LOVE MATTERS
Learn from an icon
With its intimate reflections and detailed drawings — including the many not shown on this website — this book is a valuable educational tool, a source of inspiration and an accessible read for architecture- and culture-curious readers alike.
Fund the next generation of architects
No architecture degrees are offered in Trinidad & Tobago, meaning aspiring architects must study abroad, often at great financial cost.
All proceeds from book sales support T&T nationals enrolled in accredited architecture programs. Learn more about The Colin Laird Grant
