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Goa I Monday, March 19, 2012 The gated commune will be complimentary to its surrounding environment -Devadas Naik

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Home with a plot, garden, garageeven foliage

A panoramic view of Highland Villas under construction at Porvorim

Highland Constructions Pvt Ltd chief Devadas Naik pioneers a new concept in marketing realty space for its clients.

ropped carefully on the desk is the beautiful glass trophy recently bagged by Naik for his successful Holiday Homes concept in Goa. Visibly thrilled to be acknowledged by one of Indias most prestigious business awards (ET Now, Leaders of Tomorrow Award), Naik states that his future venture at Porvorim too is equally innovative and promising in nature. In 2004, I bought a 78,000 sq m plot and subdivided them into 74 plots. Over the years, each of these plots was connected with electricity, water, internet and cable supplies. I even planted trees alongside, which would be turned into streetscapes, reveals Naik about his new project. Today, as time moves on, bit by bit,

Naiks vision of creating 74 ready-tomove in luxury villas with private gardens and car porches in a hamlet like gated commune is molding into a reality. What is most unique about my project is that although it is a commune, the owner of each villa is entitled to owning his respective individual plot. Therefore, we have different sale-deeds for the plot and the villa. This concept is something of a novelty in Goa, and I doubt anybody in India had come up with one before I did. Known for his ability to pop up a new idea in the world of business, Naik quotes that the unique idea hit him when apartment owners in his Candolim-based holiday resort asked how much space they owned. In common undivided

share of land that one gets in any customary complex, the owner legally does not know how much space he possesses. In this case, however, each 74 sub-divided plot and villa becomes an entity in government records. And if a villa owner

wants to demolish and build it according to his own design, maybe to enlarge the garden area or for whatever reasons, he can do it without obtaining NOCs from other villa owners. Besides, plot ownership means assurance of a lasting asset-

What is most unique about my project is that although it is a commune, the owner of each villa is entitled to owning his respective individual plot. Therefore, we have different sale-deeds for the plot and the villa. This concept is something of a novelty in Goa, and I doubt anybody in India had come up with one before I did.

value. Elaborating further, he informs that the project has another uncommon concept in store. There will be a Property Management System that would look into plumbing, electricity and other issues within this mini-township. This will liberate the owners from the hassles of visiting various government departments to sort out their problems. Naik also envisions his project to be a passive development very much in sync with nature. The gated community will be complimentary to its surrounding environment. It can be likened to an up-market village amidst natural vegetation with just the music of the wind. The partly completed project will soon be

adorned with landscaped gardens, a clubhouse, tennis court, a fully air conditioned crche among other features. When asked what if a villa owner seeks to convert his residential premise into a commercial one, Naik replies, Since the plot belongs entirely to the owner, he is free to do whatever he wants. He has the legal right and nobody can question him. However, there are unwritten rules for residents in a commune and it is his social and moral duty not to he elaborates.

Slipping from the eaves

The traditional roof tile industry is struggling for survival.
The traditional roof tiles predomihe roof tile business is on the decline. Though these red nantly originate from Mangalore, and roof tiles are found as early as that explains the name attributed to the 3rd millennium BC, today, the the tiles. Actually, Mangalore town biggest challenge facing the industry once had 36 tile factories, some 30 are the modern day concrete construc- years ago, but sti competition has retions, which have also paved the way for alternate roong techniques, including decorative shingles. Roong shingles are at or curved tiles that interlock and overlap in a way that channels water o a pitched roof. There (Left) Mangalore tiles and Roof shingles (right) are some houses in Goa which have used shingles, but its cost has de- duced the number to mere six functerred many home owners from opt- tional factories, with some not ing for shingles. functioning to full capacity. Shingles are made from materials Sti competition and alternative (generally from asphalt) that vary in construction systems predominantly cost, weight, durability, color, and ar- concrete roong has threatened its chitectural style. very survival. Another drawback of
qas

Pergolas can pep up the surroundings

....Specially with flowering climbers
limited supply is available for the factories to keep going. Internal competition among manufactures too has played havoc. In the wake of the struggling industry, the governments R&D Centre for Clay Roong Tiles, Bricks and Other Ceramic Products was established in 1993 with the idea of guiding, supporting and helping the industry. But despite scope for improvement of methods, quality control, fuel eciency, innovation and invention in the production and marketing of tiles, new designs sought to be introduced in an eort to attract customers has not galvanized the producers. Consequently, with decline in the demand for roong tiles, some manufacturers have opted to manufacturing drinking water pots, ower vases, bricks and related products to sustain the industry. A pergola is a structure that provides shade by allowing climbers over it so that there is adequate ventilation thereby providing a cool, shaded area beneath it. They make excellent recreation areas. The defining feature of a pergola is the support columns which run along either side, typically connecting with a latticed framework above. Plants are trained to grow up the pillars until they reach the framework, at which point they will spread out to cover the top of the pergola, and sometimes they may start to dangle partway down the sides. Flowering climbers over the lattice working atop eventually offers a colourful ambience. Some however prefer to cover the structure with transparent fiberglass material.

the tiles is the need to regularly check the placement of tiles on the roof, since any shift can upset the defence to rain water promting leakages. Cost for transportation, inadequate quantity of cheap rewood used as fuel too has jacked up its manufacturing cost. The steep cost of kerosene, bran oil, kidden oil, power tarrif, diesel and lubricating oil has adversely affected its production. Even the raw material for its manufacture, which once was widely available by way of clay deposits in the region is now made virtually inacessible. The available clay oered tensil strength and colour to the nal product. However, today, a major portion of the area with large deposits of these clay have been occupied by mega industries and therefore

f your backyard is plain, or the front portion of your house has some space, a good idea would be to have a pergola. Contractors and architects in Goa now-a-days suggest erection of such gazebos to their affluent clientele. However, traditional homes too can opt for such attractive structures, which can be erected cheaply with even bamboos.

To raTe archiTecTure
sdas

JIM MANJOORAN

architectonic

f we, in Goa, were to exclude all architecture belonging to the colonial period and then grade all that was built during the post-liberation period till date, how many would score pass marks on the value of their creativity, was a question asked by some friends visiting Goa a few weeks ago. Of course, any answer to this question would have to carry an asterisk mark with a fine print saying that conditions apply since everyone, architects included, have their own terms and meanings to define what good architecVillas at Verem ture is. One would

have thought, given Goas inspirational built heritage, our contemporary architecture would be abound with examples that do justice and more to this precious architectural legacy. However, it is no secret that the reality is something else. Simply said there would be hardly any, that would make the grade.The villas at Verem are among the few that stands out. Designed by Charles Correa, these villas are relevant for the fact that while they are part of a commercial residential project by a property developer, the villas express clearly everything that can be truly called Goan style (for lack of a better word). Minus all meaningless surface ornamentation that we see adorning fa-

cades today, the built form of these villas, proportionate to human scale, are decorated with elements that are not cosmetic but integral to the form of the structures such as the tiled roofs with their overhangs, the first floor hidden away under the roof giving a sensation of being only a ground floor structure, plain walls painted in simple white and the unplastered common laterite stone for the compoundwall. In todays architectural world that

is dominated by developer-driven projects, these villas show how creativity can be harnessed without resorting

Museum for the Houses of Goa at Torda

wishes, the Villas at Betim demonstrate that excellence in design can be achieved while retaining all that is necessary to be commercially successful. It is this trait that makes these villas, a showcase for contemporary Goan architecture. The Museum for the Houses of Goa at Torda, Porvorim is another Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Don Bosco, that comes to Panjim mind immediately. to gimmicky designs to Designed by Gerard de Cunha, this satisfy commercial interMuseum utilizes building materials to ests. A lot of us today, be- showcase the art of architecture. The moan the fact that local laterite stone blocks, placed one architecture can hardly above another, are stretched like be represented in projnothing seen before, with each of ects that are commerthem projecting out by just a small bit cially driven, attributing over the entire three floor height of design deficiencies on the structure, to achieve a building the developers relentform that is anything but convenless pursuit of sale and tional. The simplicity of this method of profit that bypasses construction using a local material in everything else, in its the most practical and direct manner wake. While it is true that without any of the grand embellishthe a project can get only ments that books of architecture as good as its owner showcase, makes this building, one

of the best that present Goa offers. The Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, in the Don Bosco School Campus is the third in this list. Designed by the late J. R. Ralino de Sousa, long ago in 1979, the Chapel presents a unique form of architecture --- one that relies on the structural frame of the building to create its architectural expression. None of our architectural designs of the present comes close to matching this design and today, 33 years since it was built, it still has the greatest relevance for our times in its minimalistic approach where no extra materials or features other than that used for the structure are necessary to beautify the interiors and exteriors. This is the architecture of the future and to think that this was conceptualized all the way back in 1979 speaks volumes of the genius of the architect. These case studies are not in any particular order of merit or preference and to my mind, they remain the best three, among just a handful, to present the architecture of our modern times in good light. -----------------------------------------------------------------The author is a practicing architect based in Carambolim, Goa. jim.manjooran@gmail.com