Here is a graphic that lays out the dominant textures at Nivim Goa. All mostly natural selected to make the house a variation of the nature surrounding it and not stick out like an aberration.

Read about more our interior finishes in the last project update.

Continue reading more updates for the project.

Living room and front verandah with black kuddapuh stone flooring, exposed basalt stone and wood, our predominant interior material palette with the natural green outside

Last few months, with majority of the woodwork out of the way, while polishers polish the lovely wood, we have been busy with the various flooring and stone cladding details. This also works with the on-going monsoons that limit our ability to work outdoors.

For our interiors, we wanted to continue with the contemporary tropical style of the house and provide finishes that are earthy, natural while still being streamlined and modern. In synergy with the house's concept of 'reconnecting with nature', the interior finishes are designed to have varying textures that can be seen visually and felt upon touch. We also wanted to have similar finishes indoors and outdoors such that the verandahs and courtyards feel like an extension of the interior rooms. Lastly, since we already have the exposed basalt walls, the wood screens and wood/ glass doors, we wanted to keep the finishes simple. Famous architect Meis van de Rohe said 'Less is more'. We truly believe that it is very easy to over-design, and the real excellence in design is achieved by exercising constraint, when a designer can do just enough to make things close to perfect and not over-embellish in an attempt to be safe. I have to at this point also quote Coco Chanel, who famously said that 'when accessorizing, always take off the last thing that you put on'.

Following this direction, we chose to keep our interior palette simple and limited to natural stone, wood, some metal (brass and steel), exposed cement and white paint. The grey cement and white paint finishes are meant to provide a canvas for the furniture, interior lighting, wall art and other accessories without over-crowding the room with too many elements demanding attention. We also steered clear of using imported stone or tiles as we preferred to use locally available materials that require considerably less energy use in transportation.

View of the living room with black kuddapuh flooring while carpenters polish the screen doors in the space

For flooring in the living room, we have chosen black polished kaddapuh (a widely available local stone) that extends to the living room verandahs, only here the stone is left in rough finish. So visually it looks like the same space but there is slight difference in texture if one choses to walk barefoot.

(A side note about the whole 'walking barefoot' connotation, we have designed Nivim with the thought that the residents would use the space to slow down from the daily city craziness, and allow the space to offer inspiration, calm and happiness…)

The black floor in the living room is dramatic and the smooth polish finish will provide the perfect backdrop for the oversize furniture pieces that this grand space demands.

View of the newly finished grey IPS flooring in the bedroom against the exposed basalt stone and wood

In the bedrooms, each room has one exposed basalt stone wall and two walls with wood screens and glass sliding doors. Hence, we have kept our floors simple with grey IPS in the ground floor bedrooms and yellow in the master bedrooms. The IPS cement floors are earthy that stay cool, require little maintenance and age beautifully overtime. To add a modern edge, we have chosen to inlay brass strips into the floor. These strips criss-cross the rooms in seemingly random directions providing a playful little detail along with the touch of additional luxury through the addition of metallic gold.

Detail of the brass inlay in the IPS cement flooring in bedrooms

The bathrooms are a composition in rough kadapuh, IPS cement, glass and planted exterior courtyards. These require a separate post which will follow soon. Until then enjoy some photos of other jobs being completed on-site. Cheers !

Polishing the living room fixed screens

Hanging the sliding doors in the living room

Rear verandah of the living room

Detail of the old laterite wall from the original structure that has been preserved as a backdrop for the living room and as a homage to the history of the site

Continue reading more updates for the project.

We are back !! After another sojourn to NY this time with a side trip to California as well ! A lot has been keeping us occupied at Nivim. Soon to follow this post are posts on the final stages of the construction at Nivim, the flooring, bathrooms, landscaping, etc etc...

Photos from top-left: Julia Pfeiffer Burns Park at Big Sur, CA; Fresh organic carrots; Lavender fields, Sonoma, CA; Wildflowers, Pacific Coast, CA; Vineyards, Sonoma, CA; Bright organic rhubarb; Artichoke flowers; and Cabin in the redwoods, Big Sur, CA

We are elated to present to you pre-final photos of Nivim Goa from last month.

CLICK ON LINK for fullscreen photos.

Be sure to click on the 'fullscreen' icon on bottom right. 

Shot in April, these photos show the house just before the final finishing stage. We began construction on the house end of January 2011. The core principles of the house is to promote architectural excellence and environmental sustainability.

We are now about 2-3 months away from finishing. We are aiming for the 'Gold' level green homes certification from the Indian Green Building Council and will be the first home in Goa to be certified. Read more on the green initiatives at Nivim Goa.

As for architectural excellence, we have attempted to create spaces that are inspiring, use natural materials and design building openings that all together enhance the user's relationship with the environment. Read about our design concept.

The photos above give the feel for the raw architectural space and materials, and show the bare building that is not hiding behind any fancy finishes or landscaping.... Do see the pictures and we will let you be the judge of how far we have succeeded in achieving our goals.

See all the design and construction updates for Nivim Goa.

All photos courtesy Sanjeet Wahi, Photographer, Delhi.

Old teak wood beams found with a Mumbai vendor

While using wood, an important question for us was to determine whether we would consider wood to be a sustainable material or not. Wood is a naturally occurring renewable material and hence can be considered sustainable. The issue is the over-logging of forests worldwide leading to loss of critical forest cover and all the resulting problems of loss of habitat, environmental disastors and climate change. This problem can be somewhat overcome by buying wood that is certified to come from forest following sustainable forest management practices. When we began our search for wood, we did our research and found that there was only one certified plantation in India that sold only rubber wood. Most other certified wood is actually imported to India. This results in spending large amounts of energy in transporting the wood across continents to finally arrive in India.

The solution we arrived at was to use reclaimed wood, that is to reuse wood reclaimed from old buildings, bridges or railway sleepers in our building. For this purpose, we conducted several trips to Delhi and Mumbai and identified a vendor who promised us a stock of old Burma Teak wood that had been used in buildings during the British times. The deal was struck, advance payment made but then it turned out (which happens often) the vendor had over-promised and would under-deliver…. Stuck at the last minute, we were forced to make a decision while keeping cost, time and quality all in check. The decision we made was to use virgin Burma and African teak wood in the project.

Luckily, we were able to source some old teak and matti (local variety) wood from Goa itself. We bought wood that was used in old homes as roof rafters and floor beams. The advantage of using old wood is that it has completely dry or seasoned, has achieved its equilibrium moisture content and therefore presents no danger of bending or warping. And once you shave off the top weathered layer, the wood looks and behaves as good as new.

Stack of old reclaimed wood brought to the site

Carpenter working with old wood to remove nails or any sections that are spoilt

Carpenter working with old wood to remove nails or any sections that are spoilt

Cutting the old wood to remove the outer weathered layer and to make usable sections

Cut old wood, look as good as new !

The challenge of using old reclaimed wood apart from sourcing it is actually working with it. The wood from roof rafters often has nails some of which have lost their heads, and therefore it is difficult to predict where there is a nail within the wood section. This creates a problem while cutting the wood, as an unexpected nail can break the blade of the saw, leading to additional cost and time lost in replacement.

In addition, a lot of time is spent is preparing the wood, in sorting it based on size and variety, cutting and disposing any sections that are damaged and also carefully examining the wood to remove any nails or other intrusions. This takes time and labor cost. Also, as one would expect carpenters would much rather buy new wood and straight away begin work rather then spend time in preparing the wood before crafting it.

In any case, we went through all the motions of figuring out the process and executing it. The result is some beautiful wood that we are reusing and saving a few trees. Also important to note is that in the end, the cost of using old wood come to be more or less the same as new wood due to the additional cost in working with it and high wastage but ofcourse there are significant environmental savings that are difficult to quantify.

Back to Part I - Romancing Wood, an introduction to our choice for using wood, and Part II - Seasoning and treating wood

Wood stacked outside the kiln ready for drying

We did a lot of research and determined best practices while using wood. To avoid the common problems with wood, we sourced tree logs that had been lying with the saw mills for a year or two so they were air-dried. We then took this wood and got it kiln dried (or seasoned). In this process, the wood is kept in a kiln for 15 days at controlled temperatures to dry the moisture in the wood. Kiln-dried wood is dried to a moisture level of around 15%.

Wood will always retain some level of moisture, the moisture content is highest when wood is freshly cut and it reduces as wood dries over time. As wood dries, it shrinks and that results in the bending of wood. If the moisture content in atmosphere is high then wood may absorb some of this moisture and expand. Hence, the jammed doors during monsoon. But over time, wood reaches an 'equilibrium moisture content (EMC)'. Once this point is reached then wood does not react noticibly to changes in moisture content. Kiln drying accelerates this drying process. EMC varies with type of wood, local weather conditions, etc. A moisture content between 12-15% is found to be close to EMC in areas of high atmospheric moisture.

Photo of the kiln while it is drying our wood inside

The temperature controls at the kiln

Engineer at kiln checking the moisture content using a moisture meter

Now for wood that is used outdoors there is always the danger of rot. This danger is most prevalent if wood is used close to the ground level where it can potentially be prone to water logging. We have dealt with these problems by avoiding the use of wood for decking on the ground and providing ample slope elsewhere to prevent any water logging.

Then there is the danger of attack by termites and other wood boring insects. This problem is somewhat negated by use of stone/ concrete foundations and plinth, materials that termites cannot pass through. In addition, we have chosen to use primarily teak wood that is known to be naturally resistant to termites. As an additional layer of protection, we are treating all our wood with rot and termite resistant chemical before use in the project.        

Finally, there is the important question of sustainability while using wood. More on that in Part III of this post. Back to Part I with introduction to our choice of using wood.

We recently crossed another project milestone by completing the first design stage documentation towards the Green Homes certification awarded by the Indian Green Building Council

We are targeting the gold level certification and will be among the first green certified homes in Goa.

Some of Nivim's main green features are listed below. We will try to do detailed write-ups on some of these in future posts.

Trees and preserving site’s unique features

– Our project site had 14 existing trees before construction and we preserved these trees and incorporated them in our design. The design also retains nearly 35-40% of the site as natural landscape. New landscape is planted with majority local species to have minimal need for irrigation water use.

Building orientation and design

– The main house building is oriented with the longer façade facing North-South to minimize direct sun exposure on east and west where the sun is lower increasing heat absorption. Ample shading devices have been planned to further reduce sun exposure and heat intake.

Daylighting and cross ventilation

 – 100% of living spaces are designed to be adequately day lit with ample shading and openings for cross ventilation. This eliminates the need for any artificial lighting or mechanical cooling during the day saving energy use and providing healthy indoor air quality.

Energy

 – 100% use of solar power for water heating. Use of 3-star energy efficient refrigerator (40%less energy use) and 5-star rated air-conditioners (25% less energy use). Use of solar control glass on east and west façade to reduce heat absorption to indoors.

Cool Roof

– 75% of roof is finished with highly reflected material to reflect sun’s heat thus help in maintaining lower temperature in living areas below.

Two openable walls per room provides 100% daylighting and cross ventilation

Water

 – We are collecting 50% of rainwater runoff from the roof and storing it for future use for landscaping and for swimming pool use. Prioritized use of low-flow fixtures in the bathrooms saving 30% of water without having any impact on perceived flow of water and use. We are treating 100% of our grey water* on-site to be used for landscaping thus further reducing pressure on municipal water resources.

* Grey water is all water from bathrooms and kitchen drainage except water from the toilets. Grey water is filtered on-site through a root zone water treatment system.

Permeable paving

– 75% of site’s paved surfaces are built using permeable paving to allow maximum percolation of rain water back into the ground.

Construction Materials

– Use of over 50% building material from within 500kms of the site to reduce embodied energy spent in transporting materials over long distances. Encouraged reuse of salvaged building material as well as building material with high recycled content such as fly-ash bricks, fly-ash cement, recycled tetrapak boards, aluminum and reclaimed wood. Reducing the use of cement** in construction by building load bearing walls and filler slabs. 

**Cement production is known to produce large quantities of greenhouse gases, for every ton of cement produced one ton of GHGs are released in the atmosphere. GHGs are known to be the leading cause for climate change. Read more here.

Low VOC paints

–Use of low VOC external and internal paint to reduce exposure to hazardouschemicals to humans.

List of green certified buildings in India, http://www.igbc.in/site/igbc/certifiedbuilding.jsp

To make up for my silence on the blog for the past few weeks and it being Valentine's day and all, I offer you all some exciting pictures from the site that is now in it's finishing stage.

The pictures show the house with some woodwork already up and more on the way. It also shows the pool ready for tiling, deck ready for decking and gardens ready for planting ! Hope you ENJOY them as much as I did !!

The following pictures show the sequence of spacial experiences in the living room:

Living room exterior with the front courtyard with existing trees and most of our amazing team (In front, Contractor Binod Arya and Site Supervisor Manoj Shetgaonkar)

The interior of the living room from the back wall, showing the staircase frame, play of light through the louvered opening, front courtyard with existing trees, the pool, deck and gardens, and the hills beyond.

Part of the front elevation

Partial view of the house with the pool and gardens in the foreground. All the area on the right in the picture will be a planted lawn with a row of trees along the boundary wall.

Detail of the living room with the louvers, exposed basalt wall, monumental room height and the tall existing trees.

View of the entrance courtyard, part of deck and pool pavilion

We have a small milestone to celebrate this week. We are completing 32 weeks into construction at our project site. With a projected total of 12-14 months as our construction timeline, we are close to the 60% milestone. The real reason to celebrate is that we have completed 60% of construction on-site and are almost on-track to finish within our projected schedule. For anyone who has built in India, this is quite a considerable feat. Projects in India are ridden with unexpected and often unexplained delays mainly due to the unorganized construction industry, loose legal frameworks and maybe skewed priorities among builders and contractors. While design is all glamorous and intellectual, the construction process is where one needs to get down and dirty with all kinds of details of sourcing the right materials, controlling quality on-site, meeting deadlines and coordinating with the various professionals involved. Our team deserves a lot of credit, they are working hard and have a common unique trait (that is central to our hiring process but sadly not that easy to find), they all "take pride in their work".

Last month, we had the privilege of a visit from two prominent architects from Delhi to our site. They left with two comments. First - "Finishing a project in India in 12 months is only possible if it is regular building, it is very difficult to finish a project in that time while building the way you are building". I guess they were referring to our load bearing stone wall structure that require much longer to build than a typical concrete structure, plus the large size of our rooms with high ceilings and possibly to the fact that we have very large openings and not little pigeon hole windows and doors. Their second comment was, "If the talent exists then how come we do not see buildings in Goa built in even half as conscientious manner as you are building." This is the best compliment we have received so far and I was joyous to hear this observation.

At our 60% milestone, we have completed nearly 90% of our civil works, electrical and internal plaster. Civil works for external landscaping is almost 50% complete. We are now busying ourselves with the internal and external door frames, plumbing and flooring.

Sketch rendering of our elevations and opening design

Since, we keep talking about our extra large openings, it is clearly evident that they are critical to our design proposition. We have gone back to our drawing boards many times in order to perfect the design of the fixed and movable doors and windows. The final design looks like the rendering above. All openings will comprise of fixed glass windows on top with wood louvers and movable sliding door panels below. The movable panels will all have a fixed shutter on one corner with wood louvers. All the remaining sliding doors when opened will stack behind this fixed frame. The louvers are designed such that they provide an interesting play of light and shadow within the room at different times of day. Louvers reduce direct sunlight and glare into the rooms. On the other hand, louvers also reduce the visibility to the outside. Keeping this in mind, the openings have been carefully designed with a balance of louvered panels and ones with clear glass.

Sample of a fixed louvered section of the opening built on-site for review

Another interesting functional design feature in our external opening design is that the fixed louver panels will actually be fitted with mosquito nets and have a sliding glass door behind them. This is our proposed solution after various design iterations to address the following conflicting factors that influence living in Goa:

- the ability to keep the doors open for as long as one can to connect with nature

- the insurgence of mosquitoes at dusk specially during monsoons

- the ability to allow for cross ventilation at all times of day even when there are mosquitoes, or if it is raining, or for any other reason the doors need to be kept closed

- the need to make the space air-tight if the use of mechanical air-conditioning is needed

Attention to details such as this comes only from living in a place through the seasons to know peculiarities in climate and livability. Trust me, I wish I had mosquito nets in the openings in my house that allowed cross ventilation, did not block my view, were easy to clean, not stuck with velcro, did not obstruct my ability to open and close my windows and most importantly kept the mosquitoes out but the breeze in.

Another key success of adding nets to the openings is enabling cross ventilation at all times and reducing the need for mechanical air-conditioning at all times of the day throughout the year. This reduces the energy requirement of the house and the pressure of added development on the land.

As a result of our opening design, 100% of our living spaces are daylit. This is based on the math that shows that 100% of our living area has a daylight factor of at least 2%. (Daylight Factor = Window Area/ Floor Area X Actual Visible Transmittance X Constant)

In addition, 100% of our living spaces have access to fresh air ventilation. This calculation is based on the area of openable windows as a proportion of the living area of each room.

Both these statistics far exceed the standards for Indoor Air Quality as mandated by leading green guidelines as being critical to healthy living.

So far so good. looking forward to more happy discoveries and experiments in the remaining 40%.