This is a local vegetable that grows in the wild in Goa in the monsoons. It looks very intriguing and tastes like meaty beans... 

Can anyone help me find its name? and any other interesting information/ properties ?

View of the river and hills from the living room terrace

It is the month of July and we are right in the middle of monsoons in Goa. Monsoons in Goa bring with it torrential rains with gusty winds that sometimes continue for days without interruption. Most people agree that monsoon is the best time to be in Goa. Everything gets covered with a carpet of green. Plants grow several inches as if they were fed by artificial growth hormones. The sights and sounds of Goa in the monsoons are therapeutic in the most natural way.

Now let me tell you how it feels on our project site when it rains. First, you hear the rain approaching from a distance, rushing towards you. You see in a distance that the hills begin to blur from view. Then you can hear it above you but you miraculously remain dry due to thick tree cover. Finally, you start to feel a light spray of water that is escaping through the leaves. That is when you smile to yourself and decide whether to dash indoors for shelter or in the open to join in the fun...

From that romantic vision, let us turn our attention back to matters of construction, matters concerning brick, mortar and cement. As I explained in our last post, with the rains in full swing we are concentrating our energies to completing interior construction jobs. Last week on site, we completed the construction of internal partition walls in the main house. The material we have chosen for the internal walls is fly-ash bricks.

Fly-ash bricks being delivered to site

Fly-ash bricks are made with fly-ash that is a waste product from burning coal in power plants and sponge iron plants. This fly-ash when mixed with gypsum, lime (both also industrial waste products) and sand can be used to produce a viable building material in the form of fly-ash bricks. As a result, fly-ash bricks constitute 75% post industrial recycled material by weight. The performance properties of fly-ash bricks are also known to be comparable and in some cases better than regular brick, with high compressive strength, low water absorption, good thermal and sound insulation and no efflorescence.

The advantages of using fly-ash bricks are:

1. Recycling an industrial waste product for a new viable use. Fly-ash otherwise if not properly disposed is responsible for increasing air-pollution, making arable land infertile and contaminating water bodies.

2. Manufacturing of fly-ash bricks does not require firing. Fly-ash bricks are either sun-dried or steam dried. This eliminates the high energy use during the firing of regular bricks.

3. Reduces the need to quarry natural stone.

4. Fly-ash bricks are made locally in Goa about 50 kms. from our project site, reducing the embodied energy used in the transportation of the material to project site.

(Source for some of the above materials is an article written by Tallulah D'Silva on Fly-ash Bricks for Business Goa magazine, April Edition.)

Along, with fly-ash bricks, we have also chosen to use fly-ash cement in construction instead of regular Portland cement. It is not very well known but the production of Portland cement accounts for around 5% of global greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions. It is estimated that the production of one ton of Portland cement produces about one ton of GHGs. Look out for more details in future posts on our use of fly-ash cement, load bearing walls and filler slabs in our effort to reduce the use of cement and concrete in this building.

Building partition walls with fly-ash bricks

Postcard from High Line exhibition at MoMA that I have saved as a design inspiration since 2005

The High Line Phase 2 opened in June, a few weeks after I flew back to Goa. It makes me sad to not be there and experience it for myself.

I have been tracking the High Line project since 2003 when there was a design competition to transform an abandoned freight railway line in Manhattan into a public park system. The competition was won by Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

In 2005, there was an exhibition at MoMA with a large scale detailed model of the highline that was suspended within the gallery and hung in mid-air. The design and exhibition was so very inspiring for the young architect/ planner in me. I marvelled at the way the architects had proposed a design that preserved the historic legacy of the space, while introducing a new park system that balanced planted green areas along with paved usable spaces.

High Line exhibition at MoMA

I love the contemporary use of material along with new age designs for every element including the precast concrete finger like paving that weaves into the planting beds, the floating street furniture, and special areas for seating and congregation that celebrated the city by framing views and entrances. The relationship to surroundings is further heightened when buildings bridge over the High Line (few older industrial buildings and of course the new Standard Hotel). The entire project represents the brilliance of the architects and embodies their passion for the city, contemporary design and building materials.

The original tracks that were carefully replaced back in their original position after the restoration work

The finger-line pre-cast concrete paving that weaves into the green spaces. Planting beds are planted with native species of grasses and wildflowers so they require less maintenance and water

Floating landscape furniture in new age contemporary design

Amphitheater that looks onto the city streets and celebrates the chaos

Our takeaways from the High Line for our project in Goa are as follows:

- Need for a comprehensive understanding of the site and the project's relevance to its surroundings. Preservation of this understanding and relationship in the proposed design.

- Excellence in design and attention to detail with a passion for perfection

- Integration of contemporary design while preserving the historic legacy of the place

- Fearless new and innovative use of material

- Use of native species of plants to propose a landscape that requires little maintenance, water and other resources

Hotel Standard built over the High Line

My favorite view from the High Line framing a Gehry building and a Jean Nouvel building. 

Click the pictures for a larger view.

Now that our contractor Partner 1, Binod Arya has returned to Goa and we convened a big meeting on-site with the entire team. The idea was to get the construction schedule back on track and develop a new plan for the monsoon that allows us to execute the next tasks in an efficient manner. It was decided that in the main house, the contractor will work on the wood and tile roofs and the internal partition walls next. Then move on to the internal door frames and then the doors for the main openings in the living room followed by the bedrooms. 

What would be the central courtyard in front of the main living room

We also addressed the material shortfall issue. The progress of our pavilion block had suffered severely due to the lack of supply of laterite stone. We dealt with the issue by switching to the use of regular brick to complete the walls of the staff quarters so we can move forward with this block. The next step here would then be to install the roof and then put up the steel structure for the pavilion above.

The pool and deck and beyond

Next, with all the woodwork ahead of us, we addressed the wood issue head-on. We had decided very early on to use as much reclaimed wood as we can in the project. Using reclaimed wood has obvious advantages. One is that we will reuse old wood and not cut new trees for our project. Secondly old wood is actually very well seasoned that reduces the well known problems of wood expanding and contracting with moisture that lead to jamming doors, wood splitting, bending and warping. In my initial discussion on the issue with my contractor, he explained to me that buying old reclaimed wood can cost me more or less the same as new wood and hence it is better for us to use the new wood as I guess for most people new is automatically always better. He went on to give me the example of another project that he is building and explained that ‘Madam - you see this project, we have cut an entire jungle for it’. This was the perfect starting point for my rhetoric on why using reclaiming old wood was important and why we must use it in our project. Contractors actually prefer working with new wood as it is softer and easy to work with. Old wood in comparison has hardened; require meticulous planning for reuse and need to be prepared for new use by shaving off the skin and removing any spoilt sections and nails and other aberrations. But our contractors are very admirable and know their craft well. They are open to and good at implementing new ideas. After a short discussion, they are on-board with the plan.

Mainly in the project, we are using two types of wood – local timber (Matti, Jack) and Burma Teak. We have found vendors that deal with reclaimed Teak in Mumbai. For local timber on the other hand, there is no organized trade that exists in the state. So we resorted to some innovative sourcing techniques. As a result we have been combing through all types of old wood waiting to be found and reused, from packing wood, to doors and windows to wood beams and rafters from old roofs. We are mostly interested in the later. After short listing a few, my architect and I have been cris-crossing the state to look at available wood to judge its quality and reusability. The main criteria is to make sure that the reclaimed wood in not bent, does not have significant termite damage and has not become brittle over time. We think we have found 3-4 sources of good supply. In the next couple of weeks, we will carefully study our requirements vs. the wood that is available and purchase the necessary quantities. More updates on this will follow.

House in Gauses by Anna and Eugeni Bach

A small house in a village in Spain. A featured house in

Architectural Record

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The architects have employed an open plan while building the structure using traditional construction methods.

Several design themes resonate with our design concept,

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The architects have used load bearing walls to reduce use of structural concrete and steel

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Designed the house so that the corner of the living room opens up to make it a part of the porch and garden while providing views to the mountains beyond

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Used local materials and techniques, like the woven cane for the roof over porch wrapping the house along with contemporary materials like steel frame and aluminium windows.

This is a small house with a very contemporary design that fits right into the surrounding landscape without needing to copy traditional house typologies or making a strong architectural statement. I would identify this as an example of responsive contemporary architecture.

According to an architect friend of mine, 'architecture is nothing but the play of light on surfaces'. This house scores high on that aspect with the beautiful light cane roof creating dynamic patterns on light and shade on house walls that are painted with bright green and white stripes. Everyone, please note that the cane roof needs to be replaced every two years. This material is similar to the way Goans create woven screens from coconut leaves.

We started construction in late January 2011 and are projecting a construction timeline of 12-14 months which according to most is very optimistic considering that we are not building using standard structural design, materials and details.

Most people would probably agree that there is no such thing as construction schedules in India. But being foreign-returned project managers, we have at countless occasions pushed for detailed schedules. But these  quickly get thrown out of the window due to religious holidays, strikes, weather and/ or personal events in individual’s extended families.

April 2011: Soon after pouring the first floor concrete slab for the right side bedroom

Early May 2011: Beginning shuttering for the main living room roof slab

Late May: After pouring concrete for the main living room roof slab and beginning excavation for pavilion block

End of June 2011: Raw living room space without shuttering

End of June 2011: Pavilion Block masonry up to sill level in the foreground

The biggest deadline that we were chasing since the start of the year was the expected start of monsoons in June. Goa receives 3000mm of rainfall every year and most of that rain in concentrated in the months from June- August. In Goa, ‘when it rains it pours’. This makes it nearly impossible to carry out construction activity in the open. It specially makes it difficult to do concrete work as it would not set due to the rains. So our aim was to have all our concreting work done before June along with the other wood and tile roofs. Then while it was raining outside then contractors would work indoors on the internal walls, plastering, woodwork, flooring, kitchens and bathrooms.

It was an ambitious plan and we nearly made it. We were able to finish all the concrete work for roof slabs but hit unexpected delays and have not yet completed our wood and tile roofs (that go over two bedrooms). The pavilion block (a two-story structure with the staff quarters below and the pool pavilion above) has only reached sill level (maybe 4’ from the ground). The delays were caused by:

1) Restriction by the Goa Government on extraction of sand from its rivers in May. The ripple effect was a transportation strike. The people against the imposed restrictions were not allowing any trucks with construction material to pass through. They were vandalizing the trucks, busting their tyres and not allowing them to move forward. The result of this was that no material could reach our site for almost 3-4 weeks.

2) Early in May one of our contractors, Ram Kishen met with a terrible accident. He was hit by a car while he was on his way back from a suppliers office. He had to be rushed to the hospital and needed immediate surgery. He is recovering now but must stay in the hospital for a total of 2-3 months. At that time his partner, Binod Arya was in Kolkata attending the funeral for one of his relatives and could not return to Goa to personally take over the sitework where Ram Kishen had left off. As a result no new item of work (such as wood and tile roofs, steel structure for pavilion block) could be started on-site.

3) Meanwhile, there was more material shortage once the rain started. The laterite stone (main local building material in Goa) suppliers were claiming that the quarries are filled with water and they could not quarry any more stone. My question – don’t they deal with this every year? They should know that the quarries will get filled with water and that the suppliers should stock up before the rains start? Apparently they do know that and as best business practice, they sell their stored supply of stone in black for many times the regular market cost....sigh...

But all is not lost. Our entire team has agreed to pull up their socks and work efficiently through the rains (as much is possible) and avoid future delays. What lies ahead is challenging. Completion of the civil work for the pavilion block would have typically taken 20 days but is now scheduled to be completed in a month and a half (projected deadline end of July) and the wood and tile roofs would take at least 3 weeks (projected deadline mid-July).

Fingers crossed with a game plan in place, we march ahead.

While planning for the house on-site, we were trying to balance two criteria:

- To refrain from building one monolithic structure but take advantage of the entire site (1025 sq.m. in size) so the user can enjoy all open spaces within the site and to allow the site to become a part of the building.

- To minimise the hard building footprint and reduce the pressure of new construction on site and its surroundings. This strategy would allow us to retain majority of the site’s natural landscape and topography.

In addition, we wanted to maximise views and provide for open spaces in the form of verandahs, balconies and courtyards to all rooms. We hoped to create a system of open spaces that were designed around the existing trees and topography on site. Most importantly, we wanted the open spaces to be intertwined with the built spaces.

Keeping all these aspects in mind, our resulting plan is comprised of a main house and a pavilion block. Together they form a ‘L-shaped’ house plan that is knit together with a series of courtyards that flow into each other. The central main courtyard of the house is planned around the two biggest existing trees onsite. These are full grown native trees that tower to a height of at least 10-12 meters providing an inviting entrance along with cool shade for the courtyard, entrance porch and decks in the bedrooms.

The main house is sited at the back of the site at the highest elevation (also, the highest point of the hill where the site is located). This allows for all the main living areas of the house to enjoy the best views of the entire expanse of the site and beyond. The main house has a central grand living space that is flanked by a bedroom on each side. The master bedroom alone occupies the first floor of the main house.

Proposed site plan

The two existing trees that are at the heart of the proposed building creating the central entrance courtyard 

Proposed view from the living space in the main house with the two big trees in foreground

Proposed view from a ground floor bedroom

The central living space is designed to be grand, inviting, open, and calm. It has a north-south orientation with two exposed basalt stone walls. The other two walls are all wood and glass that can completely open to transform the space into basically a covered courtyard connecting two open spaces. The living room has 17’ high ceiling furthering the feeling of the enclosed space being a part of the surrounding natural landscape. The front of the space opens to views of the entire site with the pool and deck along with the hills and vegetation beyond. This is also the main entrance to the house through a covered porch and the central courtyard with the two main trees.

Each bedroom in the main house is designed to be like a pavilion in the garden. Each bedroom has two solid stone walls to enable arrangement of furniture and once again two walls that open to the outside to make the room a part of the garden. All bathrooms have their own dedicated courtyards (balcony in the case of the master bedroom) with outdoor showers and baths.

The pavilion block is designed to be a light structure that is an extension of the house but is still more a part of the landscape on-site. The pavilion is meant to adapt itself based on the requirement of the owner of the house, season and time. It can function as a separate guest cottage with a bedroom, bathroom and covered sitting area; or an office, workshop, pavilion to the pool, or entertainment space.

The series of courtyards enclosed by the built structure also houses a swimming pool, pool deck and space for outside dining. Beyond these courtyards, the remaining site will be retained as open space with some turf but mostly native plants, fruiting and flowering trees.

This is a difficult post to write because I can go on and on about all the things that we are trying to achieve with the design of this house. But I will try my best to be concise yet comprehensive.

The core principle behind the design concept and decisions is ‘to be true to the place where we are building’. We asked ourselves this question: Why would a person choose to live in Goa (part-time or full-time)? We realized the underlying theme is because Goa allows a person to reconnect with nature. This aspect has since been central to our design concept.

In our proposed building design we have tried to minimise barriers between the built structure and nature. Each room has been designed such that it has an internal space (bedroom, living room, bathroom) and an external space (verandah, courtyard, balcony) that meets with the larger green open spaces on-site. Many walls dividing these internal and external spaces are designed to fold or slide to create a barrier free integration of inside and outside.

House in the Jungle in Brazil

The architectural style would probably be called ‘Tropical Contemporary’. It suggests a contemporary open plan layout where there is seamless interaction between the inside and outside. In addition, there is a focus on the use of local natural materials while integrating contemporary technology and design.

Furthermore, we realised that we must make every effort to preserve our reason for coming to Goa. Hence, we have resolved to try to keep our immediate site surroundings and Goa green, idyllic and free from the added pressures of development. How we do that is to commit to building a green building, by using local materials, reusing and recycling building material whenever possible, reducing waste, minimising energy use, storing and reusing rainwater, 

cleaning our grey water on-site and reducing the storm water runoff from our site.

We aim for our project to be responsive and responsible. 

My inspirations have been:

Architecture practice in Auroville where architects question all standard norms of construction to build in the most innovative and sustainable manner. I spent close to 4 months in Auroville while working at the Auroville Building Center as part of my architectural professional training in the year 2000. I remember attending a party at architect Anupama Kundoo’s house. I was blown away by how her house could completely open out to be a part of its landscape but at the same time she could easily close it up if she was heading out of town. It was the first place where I saw an open air shower bath and then a plunge pool on the terrace. Breeze blew through the entire house and one did not need even a fan on the warmest day or night. I loved the freedom and luxury it represented where one could sit, sleep, and bathe everything while enjoying an uninterrupted connection to nature. This was a truly unique experience for an urbanite; there were no neighbours, traffic noise, pollution, or congestion. This was a kind of architecture where your space and its experience changed with seasons as different trees around you would flower and fruit, migratory birds would join the local birds, frogs would appear in the monsoons and butterflies in spring. 

Anupama Kundoo House in Auroville

Along with the spatial innovations, at the Auroville Building Center we were building homes with mud excavated from the sites (hence not requiring new building material), straw and other renewable recycled materials like glass bottles, broken tiles, etc. There were also stepped pools in my backyard that organically filtered the water from the kitchen and bathroom. Communities generated power through the sun and wind. These were the innovations in Auroville almost 11 years back, probably it is time for a few of these to make their way to commercial construction, specially while building on Greenfield (i.e. virgin) sites in environmentally sensitive areas.

House for Pradeep Jayewardene in Mirissa, Sri Lanka by Geoffery Bawa

Geoffery Bawa – What I love about Bawa’s work is his understanding and use of local natural materials, the play of light in his buildings and the integration of open spaces in his designs. Bawa got the opportunity to work on some of the most beautiful sites in tropical Sri Lanka, its seafronts and lush green hills. The key element in his design has been to integrate his buildings with nature. The buildings were never meant to make an architectural statement but instead get lost in the landscape. His architecture was more about the outside than the inside. In urban areas, Bawa pioneered the courtyard house where the home and its living areas were arranged around internal courtyards instead of looking out onto noisy city streets. In suburban and rural sites, Bawa deconstructed the traditional courtyard home to create 'walls' and 'no walls' breaking the separation between inside and outside spaces, creating outdoor rooms and embracing the site's landscape.

House for Osmund and Ena de Silva, an urban courtyard house in Colombo by Geoffery Bawa

Bawa has influenced several architects in Goa, most notably Architect Gerard da Cunha and Dean D'Cruz. While in architecture school, I also had the chance to visit Goa and we visited many buildings built by these two leading architects. They left a firm impression on my mind. Gerard and Dean built in Goa while respecting the land and nature of Goa. It was legend among us students that these two architects many times did not do drawings but actually designed their buildings on-site while considering all the unique site features of orientation, wind direction, topography, views, trees and other vegetation. It presented a respect for the site and surroundings that I hope to embody in our designs. 

House designed by Dean D'Cruz 

Other leading architects in India have been following these principles of responsiveness to the site and surrounding and environmental sustainability. Unfortunately, this way of building has not found its way into commercial real estate development. Most commercial construction tends to play it safe, are afraid to experiment and therefore produce conventional buildings that look and feel the same regardless of their location and specific conditions. We hope to change that by raising the bar. Stay with us while we work on it.

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Design Concept II