Celebrating Navovado, our design-build vacation house in the Goan countryside through a gallery of photographs of the courtyard house. Earlier this year, Navovado won the prestigious Platinum Certification from the Indian Green Building Council. Navovado harvests all of its roof rainwater and recharges the water well on site. The use of low-flow water fixtures further improves water efficiency. Focus on use of insulation on the roof, double-glazed glass, low­energy use appliances, LED lighting and 100% hot water from Solar power makes this home extremely energy efficient. The structure is constructed using locally manufactured materials and materials with a high recycled content such as Laterite stone, Matti wood, Fly-ash brick and Slag cement. The garden is planted using native local species to reduce water use for ir­rigation. Finally, large openings allow for maximum daylighting and cross-ventilation, reducing the energy use for lighting and cooling.

The heart of the home lies in the large central courtyard that is an extension of the kitchen, living and dining space. The courtyard houses the swimming pool and provides a green private space to be enjoyed by all the residents of the house. The courtyard morphs in its use depending on the time of day and occasion. The guest bedrooms on the ground floor are designed as pavilions on either side of the courtyard, while the first-floor bedrooms have a large terrace overlooking the courtyard that connects the two levels.

Find Navovado featured in detail on our Instagram page here.

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Our project Navovado has recently been awarded the Platinum-Level Certification by the Indian Green Building Council. Presently, the Platinum Rating is the highest level available in the ranking system awarded by IGBC, the Indian Green Building Council.

With a total of 60 points out of 75, Navovado won the platinum rating from the Indian Green Buildings Council. The credits were awarded for the various green features of building under the following categories:⠀

• Site Selection and Planning.

• Water Conservation.

• Energy Conservation.

• Materials Conservation.

• Indoor Environmental Quality and Occupational Health.

• Innovation & Design Process.

Site Planning, Green Cover and Landscape:

The Navovado site came with 6+ trees on site with some beautiful mango trees and shrubs of different kinds. All of these trees are left untouched on site with the building footprint set at the center, at a safe distance to leave the roots undisturbed.

The landscape plan at Navovado looks at cover from earth to sky, from creepers and grass to tall trees with canopies. At the beginning of construction, our priority was to ensure that we did not lose the top soil. Hence along with the building footprint, planters were incorporated as a first stage detail to conserve site soil on site itself.

Native plant species were selected for plantation based on visual diversity, water consumption, what kinds of animals it would attract and how seasonal the species is.

Water Conservation and Rain Water Harvesting:

Water conservation was a priority throughout the process. Rainwater Harvesting in Navovado has been done from all roof and landscape areas to enhance the ground water table and reduce municipal water demand. ⠀
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The water is directed two ways using natural slopes and site contours to a well on one side and to a soak pit on the other side. To further enhance our goal, we have ensured that no hard scape is used and instead used soft scape that is permeable and allows for water to seep through directly into the ground.

Openings, Light and Ventilation:

The building footprint at Navovado is oriented to capture daylight as well as breeze effectively throughout the day. The openings in each space are designed generously to go above and beyond the minimum percentages required for fenestrations. This results in naturally well lit indoor - outdoor spaces which do not require any artificial lighting in the daytime and therefore cut down on energy expenditure. The openings also allow for continuous air circulation with ample cross ventilation in every part of the structure.⠀

Some of the other innovative material uses that we have tested in Navovado to maximize our sustainability efforts:

• Reuse construction debris to fill under plinth instead of virgin stone rubble.

• Reuse the cut-waste from stone flooring for new flooring

• Use fly ash bricks (with upto 93% recycled content) and slag cement (with upto 65% recycled content) for our super structure

• Use true terracotta mangalore tiles for roofing that ranks high on the solar reflectivity index

As our company policy, we certify all our development projects with green certification from the Indian Green Building Council.

Green Certification often gets a bad reputation as it is a standardized platform of measuring sustainability across various cultures and geographies. We follow the system as we find it to be a good way to keep ourselves accountable to the various aspects of sustainability from the very start of the design process. Certification forces us to keep detailed accounts, and make accurate calculations such that our sustainable efforts are not only in name but are real with measurable impact.

That said, certification is usually the starting point for us in our journey into sustainability. I firmly believe that ‘sustainability is common sense’. In architecture, it involves following sound design principles, respecting the land while planning new buildings and responding to the local climate and conditions.

To pursue sustainability,

• we must try to conserve the natural resources within our own site (through rain water harvesting, renewable energy use and grey water recycling),

• use materials and employ design ideas that keep the building interiors cool or warm (and reduce the use of air-conditioning and heating),

• allow for ample daylight (to reduce the energy use for lighting during the day),

• use half flushes in bathrooms along with aerators to reduce the water flow in bath and kitchen fittings (to reduce water-use),

• maximize the use of materials that are produced locally, and

• use materials with a high recycled content.

These strategies for me are the low-hanging fruit that are easy to achieve with minimal cost escalation in the process. It’s also key to understand the lifespan of materials (regardless of their green features). If they have to be replaced in a short period of time, then they fail the test of sustainability. Finally, to achieve actual impact, we have to think about sustainability at every stage and factor it in every decision during the design and construction process.

LINKS TO PREVIOUS BLOG POSTS:

WHY BUILD GREEN

GREAT ONLINE RESOURCE FOR GREEN BUILDINGS IN INDIA

GREEN FEATURES AT NIVIM

Rendered View of the courtyard at Navovado with the swimming pool and the living room

We are building Navovado, a beautiful new home in Goa that is centered around a courtyard and is cocooned among 5 five full grown mango trees. These amazing Mankhurad mango trees have a private world of their own and lend a unique ‘specialness’ to our site.

Adhering to our principle to ‘reconnect with nature’, Navovado is designed to enjoy the simple joys of life and to rediscover the luxury of spending time outdoors amongst nature, enjoying the blue skies, cool breeze, local produce, and precious moments with family and friends.

Designing for a lifestyle to 'reconnect with nature'

space layout

We love the courtyard at Navovado. We have designed a seamless flow of space from the living spaces to the courtyard. We imagine entire days spent on the living room verandah overlooking the pool; we imagine friends and family using the living room, the courtyard, and the gardens over breakfast, lunch and dinner and chai; swimming in the pool at one’s time of choosing at day or under the stars at night; and enjoying glorious evenings with candlelight and great conversations.

Rendered View of the living room at Navovado connecting to the courtyard through glass sliding doors 

As we climb to first floor and above, to the viewing terrace, the tree canopies give away to view of the rice fields, backwaters and hills in the foreground. The view changes with the season; lush green fields and monsoon clouds transform to earthy ground cover and clear blue skies in winters. The hills remain lush green with leaves of coconut palms, mango and other tropical trees shinning green gold colour in afternoon sunlight.

design Inspiration

At Navovado, we find ourselves being greatly inspired by the Sri Lankan architect, Geoffery Bawa.

We are getting inspired by his rustic vocabulary of white washed walls, clay roof tiles and stone floors, we love the way Bawa masterfully weaves in open courtyards and nature into this homes. We love the transition of spaces from indoor rooms to interior courtyards and to outdoor courtyards and gardens.

We are also making note of his use of large shaded windows, and high cathedral like ceilings with a play of light and shadow while being enveloped in nature.

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Finding Inspiration in houses designed y Geoffrey Bawa, a Sri Lankan architect

Indoor-outdoor design

To reconnect with nature, we pay a lot of attention on minimizing the barriers between the built structure and nature. This continues to be a central theme at Navovado. The wall between the living room and the courtyard is a wall of glass sliding doors that make the living areas seamlessly connected with the courtyard and swimming pool.

Each bedroom at Navovado has large openings onto verandahs or terraces.  

Rustic meets Contemporary

While we love and emmulate the rustic feel of natural materials and traditional building form, we are also proponents of contemporary architecture. We love clean lines and simple forms. Our ideal product is a coming together of rustic and contemporary elements. Hence, at Navovado, we are designing to achieve the delicate balance of highlighting local natural materials and rustic elements in a contemporary building form and a modern functional space plan.

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Navovado is the forthcoming project in Goa by Grounded. Navovado is available for sale, for inquiries write at admin@buildgrounded.com.