GOAN ARCHITECTURE IS GOAN
Goa’s magnificent and still surviving old villas, built during its nearly 500-year-old colonial era, are vastly misrepresented as ‘Portuguese’ houses. This is in fact far from the truth. This myth is usually wilfully perpetrated by two agencies:
Eager real estate brokers wanting to peddle Goa’s Portuguese legacy to sell villas in Goa.
The influence of the tourism industry where the term ‘Portuguese’ is a higher denomination than ‘Goan’.
Look at the following simple facts:
Goan villas built in the colonial era are unique. They are not to be found elsewhere in the world. Not even in Portugal or any other Portuguese colonies, including those in South America.
By the beginning of the 1800s, the Portuguese regime in India had practically run off out of both territory and money. There were no Portuguese architects remaining in Goa. All the great structures were designed by locals. The designers, masons, craftsmen, artists and other skills involved were almost a hundred per cent local.
All the material used in Goan villas was local and these villas were perfectly adapted to the humid Goan summers and the bountiful monsoons. Most of these materials are not to be found in any Portuguese house anywhere in the world.
Unlike colonial structures in the rest of India (in particular Mumbai and Kolkata), where buildings were imposed upon the locals by the British, in Goa, it was Goan’s that dominated every aspect of the building industry.
Goan architecture – a reflection of Goa in all its forms:
Goa’s tropical beauty is a visual delight. Green plantations with colourful fruits dot its numerous villages. Red laterite soil rich in ferric oxides adorns mother earth. Goa is also crisscrossed by nine rivers and their forty-two tributaries in several hues of blue and grey. Then, there are of course the silver sandy beaches that kiss the entire Goan coastline. All in all, Goa is a riot of spectacular colours that change shades as the weather changes. Traditional 4 practice learned to beautifully incorporate these vibrant colours (often with a pastel hue) to make the villas blend in with the surroundings.
The roof of Goan villas incorporated materials that ensured safety from the bountiful but at times fierce monsoon rains. At the same time, it ensured good ventilation throughout and excellent thermal insulation during the humid Goan summers.
The Goan ‘Balcao’ with its sopos’ or the ‘angaans’ are a classic illustration of how locals used design to reflect both, the Goan culture as well as weather. They reflect spaces conducive to appropriate social interaction. They are spaces that allow healing and family bonding.
In every aspect of the design from the high plinths to slanted roofs, usage of wood, distinct local flooring or ornate fenestration, Goan architecture stands out as a singular and reflects Goa in all its forms.
Goan architecture is unique. There are some Portuguese influence and some elements of Portuguese design in most Goan villas. There is also the influence of surrounding regions of Kerala, Karnataka and Maharastra especially in the usage of materials. But the end product is truly and distinctively Goan. It is as if some elements of the whole are taken and then combined into an end result that is truly stand-out and distinct. Goan villas are indigenous treasures of this great Goan architectural legacy.
In the words of renowned Goan architect Arminio Ribeiro “the idea that social interaction can be encouraged through physical design, occupies the central thought in the design objectives of Goan architectural practice”.
Goan’s should be proud of this wonderful building legacy and architects should strive to retain and enhance this priceless inheritance.
