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Goan House Design Influences Explained

The design of houses in Goa was influenced by several factors: the need to protect from monsoons, ideas brought back by Goans who traveled abroad, and the architectural style of Portuguese churches. Goan houses adopted elements from different parts of the world while maintaining Indian roots. Key properties included opening into courtyards rather than streets, covered balcões and verandas for socializing, large ornamental windows, and elaborately carved gateways and interiors organized around a central courtyard.

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Nikhil Karwa
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72 views2 pages

Goan House Design Influences Explained

The design of houses in Goa was influenced by several factors: the need to protect from monsoons, ideas brought back by Goans who traveled abroad, and the architectural style of Portuguese churches. Goan houses adopted elements from different parts of the world while maintaining Indian roots. Key properties included opening into courtyards rather than streets, covered balcões and verandas for socializing, large ornamental windows, and elaborately carved gateways and interiors organized around a central courtyard.

Uploaded by

Nikhil Karwa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Design influences

The following factors affected house design in Goa:

Protecting oneself from the fierce monsoons was the basis of architectural
form.

Portuguese rule allowed goans to travel abroad; when they returned they
brought with them ideas and influences from other countries. The Goan master
builders executed these ideas using local building materials, making the Goan
house a mixture and adaptation of design elements and influences from all over
the world.

The architectural style of Portuguese-built churches.

The Europeans lifestyle was encouraged in an attempt to separate newly


converted Goan Christians from their cultural roots. They adopted a European
outlook but did not cut themselves off from their Indian roots completely. The
resulting cultural fusion affected house design.
Properties of goan houses
The houses opened into courtyards, and rarely opened onto streets.
More outward-looking and ornamental, with balces (covered porches) and
verandas facing the street. The large balces had built-in seating, open to the
street, where men and women could sit together and see and be seen, chat
with their neighbours, or just enjoy the evening breeze. These balces are
bordered by ornamental columns that sometimes continued along the steps
and added to the stature of the house.
Together with the plinth.
Large ornamental windows with stucco mouldings open onto verandas.
Railings were the most intricate embellishment in a Goan house. Pillars, piers,
and colours do not seem to be influenced by any style in particular; rather
they conform to a rather mixed bag of architectural styles.
Gateways consisted of elaborately carved compound walls on either side of
the gate posts.
Interiors
Most houses are symmetrical with the entrance door occupying the
place of honour.
Typically this front door leads to a foyer which then either leads to
the sala (the main hall for entertaining a large number of guests) or
the sala de visita (a smaller hall for entertaining a small number of
guests) and in some cases the chapel in the house. From here one can
also directly enter the rest of the house, which usually revolved around
a courtyard.

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