Any act of architecture is an inherently violent act. It ravages the land, upsets natural patterns and irreversibly changes the ancient terrain.
For us, sustainability is not a vertical discipline. We think that by designing with due respect and understanding of the site and its ecological and material context, we can make enduring buildings that help reconcile the damage the process of construction makes to the site.
Sustainability, for us, it this act of balancing opposites to build with an idea of endurance, resilience and reconciliation.
01. The Site
The site is located in the village of Salvador do Mundo in Bardez taluka in Goa. The area originally has been the coastal wetlands or ‘Khazans’ They were reclaimed from mangrove forests, in the pre-Christian era by an intricate system of dykes, sluice gates and canals and put to multiple productive uses such as agriculture, aquaculture and salt panning. The Pattos are covered by water on one side and paddy fields on the other. The area is hilly and mostly forested by Teak, Cashew and Mango trees.
The site for the Housing development is settlement land with light industrial land use on one side and open paddy fields on the other. There is a steep elevation decline towards the paddy fields and the Creek.
02. The progressing image represents the site boundary in the lush green context with a small seasonal stream adjacent to the site flowing towards the direction of the creek and how the built-form around it has evolved and densified with time.
03. The site has a steep topographic profile with an elevation change of about 40m. Being developed on a green-field site, the land parcel offers opportunities to incorporate and retain certain ecological functions and elements on the site.
04. The natural slope of the contours allows the water to pass though the site towards the creek but the steep contour profile creates a substantial flow of water, the challenge becomes to retain and slow down this natural flow to allow for water to be re-charged, utilised and experienced through the design.
05. To look at the aspect of ecology, an in-depth study about the various flora and fauna is carried out, which looks at the ecological context of the Hill and its surrounding areas.
06. The ecological report looks at the various factors affecting the topography, rain, climate, vegetation, seasonal cycles and ecological cycles of the wetlands and back waters and places the site in the context and provides certain important constraints while designing.
07. Four iterations of the master-plan explore various options for massing and look at different options of dealing with the built form and ground cover while taking into consideration the existing slope of the site and the existing green-cover to come up with a layout for the builtform which creates usable circulation and spaces.
08. As the site offers a steep inclination, from the access towards the end, the option taken forward for design is the one which allows for more linear circulation through the site.
The built-form massing is placed linearly to maximise the stacking and linking which would help create more spaces free of FAR while allowing for incredible views of the paddy fields and the creek ahead to all individual clusters of buildings.
09. The collective land parcel is divided into two parts as per the legal demarcation of the land but is imagined as a cohesive development in the design with the possibility to separate it in the future. The set-backs and other legal compliances of open and community spaces are determined to be accommodated and incorporated in the design process.
10. The series of site-operations show how different layers of Massing, Circulation, Ground Cover, Community Spaces, Bioswales and Pedestrian Circulation come-up on the site and how the master plan changes and tweaks, accommodating each element of the design.
11. A closer look at the plans demonstrate the textures, materials and experience of different spaces in the envisioned master-plan. The intersection of the pedestrian spine/stairs with the internal streets show how the central public space can function for different uses and activities. The cul-de-sacs and the edge of the building clusters highlight how thresholds will function with unfolding different layers of privacy as moving from the ‘private’ to the ‘public’.
The community spine terminates at the intersection of the third internal street, the community pool and deck placed in the dense lush green landscape become spaces of interaction and exchange within the site.
The street sections show the relationship between the street and the built-form, the street and the pedestrian spine and how the edge of the site functions and how the design terminates.
12. The diagram shows how the new housing development massing sits with the existing built-form around the site and the existing green-cover within, following roughly the grain size of the context around and integrating with its surroundings.
14. A Unit module of 5m X 6m is explored and further broken down and divided into smaller modules of 5m X 3m, 3m X 2.5m, 2.5m X 1.25m & 1.25m X 1.25m to explore different kinds of spaces for different building clusters. Further these modules are explored on the basis of their areas and categorized on the basis of functions it can retain. The biggest module accommodates functions like Living Room, Bed Room, Parking. The 5m X 3m module accommodates functions like Dining spaces, Kitchen and Lounge. The 3m X 2.5m accommodates functions and programs like Study areas, Bathrooms + Wardrobes and Staff Room. The 2.5m X 1.25m module could have spaces like pantry, laundry, powder room and storage and the smallest module can accommodate showers, elevator shafts and service ducts.
15. The same unit of 5m x 6m is repeated, stacked and linked in multiple numbers and orientations to form different housing modules – Studio Unit (105 sqmt), 2-Bedroom Unit (120 sqmt), 3-Bedroom Unit (210 sqmt), 4-Bedroom Unit (300 sqmt) & 5-Bedroom Unit (360 sqmt).
These units are then mirrored to form individual housing clusters which are repeated on site to develop the master-plan.
16. The same unit of 5m x 6m is repeated, stacked and linked in multiple numbers and orientations to form different housing modules – Studio Unit (105 sqmt), 2-Bedroom Unit (120 sqmt), 3-Bedroom Unit (210 sqmt), 4-Bedroom Unit (300 sqmt) & 5-Bedroom Unit (360 sqmt).
These units are then mirrored to form individual housing clusters which are repeated on site to develop the master-plan.
17. The section through the site demonstrates how these different clusters come together to form an cascading housing with each individual housing cluster having access to the adjacent street and with views expanding towards the paddy fields and back-waters towards the eastern side. The community building at the start becomes a common resource for people who will be residing in the housing development as well as the people from the surrounding area, providing varied functions and programmes for the same.
18. Axonometric sketch shows the cohesive development scheme for the site and how it is visualised with the surrounding context.
19. Monochrome renders show how certain spaces are formed within the site and how different the nature of spaces would be, like the community areas, pedestrian spine and the individual housing clusters.
20. The design for the Housing development uses about 99.9 % of the Permissible FAR on the site, maximising its efficiency while also accounting for spaces of recreation, circulation and common use. The whole development occupies about 24% of the total ground cover leaving enough open space for ecology and nature to function. Thus trying to minimise the impact of such dense development onto its surrounding context.
MATTER 