Goa is not only known for its beaches, but it is famous for its flora and fauna as well. If you're someone living in Goa, you will know of its vibrant variety of aviary species. The state is home to 5% of the world’s bird species and about 50% of the bird species found in India, making it an important location for birdwatchers.

Intermediate Egret

Red Whiskered Bulbul

Asian Geen Bee Eater

The bird-lovers visiting Goa have a lot of places to choose from; Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary, Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary, Carambolim Lake, Soccorro Plateau, Morjim Beach, Curtorim Wetland Complex and Zuari are among the significant birdwatching locations here.

Purple Rumped Sunbird

Pale Billed Flowerpecker

Barn Swallow

Black Winged Stilt

Black Headed Ibis

Brahminy Kite

Oriental Magpie Robin

Gull Billed Tern

We here at GROUNDED have attempted to give you a compilation of the most commonly spotted birds in Goa, especially the regions closer to our villa projects. For anyone looking to move to Goa, check out our upcoming sustainable villa developments here.

All photographs are taken by our COO and resident wildlife and architectural photographer, Sanjeet Wahi.

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In this IG Live, we speak to Dr. Ajit Gokhale, the founder of Natural Solutions, India to discuss ‘Building Reed-bed system for Wastewater Management’.
Over our conversation, we get into details about the components of a Reed bed system, how the water purification is carried out, and the right methods of implementation. We also debunk common misconceptions about reed beds such as odor and maintenance requirements. Finally, we speak about the different types of flowering and fruiting plants that can be used for reed bed systems in Goa and along the Western Ghats.

Natural Solutions aims to spread environmental literacy and offers sustainable solutions for Urban as well as Rural Problems of water scarcity, Solid Waste Management, and wastewater treatment. Here are some key takeaways from our conversation.

Debunked myths about reed-bed systems

• A reed bed system does not smell if designed correctly. The simple precaution of introducing the inlet pipe at the bottom of the reed bed and not the top of the ensures that no foul smell is emanated.

• A reed bed does not have to be designed in a segregated area. It can very much designed as part of the landscape to be a walkable, usable space that can be accessed regularly.

• A reed bed can be used to effectively purify not just greywater but also black water and industrial wastewater when implemented correctly. It does not require significant additional maintenance.

Maintaining a reed-bed system

• A reed bed system typically consists of two parts - a sedimentation system (a septic tank/ an anaerobic digester/ Jalrakshak) and a filtration system (the reed bed itself). The entire system requires very little external care or maintenance.

• As with any common drainage or waste treatment system, the septic tank/ anaerobic digester/ Jalrakshak has to be cleaned occasionally.

• The reed bed itself does not require any maintenance. The plants can be trimmed for aesthetic value but it is not necessary. Trimming does not hamper the reed bed system as long as it is done as per a pruning schedule. Care has to be taken that the base of the plants are intact.

Benefits of a reed-bed system

• A reed bed system is a one-time investment with lifelong benefits. It is extremely low maintenance in the long run.

• Depending on the microclimate, the reed bed can purify every 1L of impure water to create 0.7 to 0.9L of filtered water that can be reused.

• The filtered water can be reused for irrigation & gardening, washing cars, and for flushing.

• The reed bed can be integrated as an accessible part of the landscape of the house with flowering and fruiting plants and trees that become home to local biodiversity.

Reed beds are sustainable, scalable, cost-effective ecologically engineered systems that can effectively purify wastewater. They are easy to maintain and can be designed into the landscape irrespective of the project size or typology.

The year of 2021, while challenging, also marked several truly special milestones for our practice. We completed our design-build project in Goa, House with Three Pavilions, our countryside house Navovado won a platinum certification from the Indian Green Building Council, we watched our design for a lovely Lake House take physical shape in the picturesque Western Ghats. As a studio, our team has grown and we have been able to share our knowledge in sustainability through a series of Instagram lives and magazine columns with a diverse range of industry experts. As we begin a new year with a clean slate, looking back at the milestones from the year past, our #topnine2021 ! Giving gratitude for all that has been and here's to a wonderful and prosperous 2022!⠀

Celebrating Navovado, our design-build vacation house in the Goan countryside through a gallery of photographs of the courtyard house. Earlier this year, Navovado won the prestigious Platinum Certification from the Indian Green Building Council. Navovado harvests all of its roof rainwater and recharges the water well on site. The use of low-flow water fixtures further improves water efficiency. Focus on use of insulation on the roof, double-glazed glass, low­energy use appliances, LED lighting and 100% hot water from Solar power makes this home extremely energy efficient. The structure is constructed using locally manufactured materials and materials with a high recycled content such as Laterite stone, Matti wood, Fly-ash brick and Slag cement. The garden is planted using native local species to reduce water use for ir­rigation. Finally, large openings allow for maximum daylighting and cross-ventilation, reducing the energy use for lighting and cooling.

The heart of the home lies in the large central courtyard that is an extension of the kitchen, living and dining space. The courtyard houses the swimming pool and provides a green private space to be enjoyed by all the residents of the house. The courtyard morphs in its use depending on the time of day and occasion. The guest bedrooms on the ground floor are designed as pavilions on either side of the courtyard, while the first-floor bedrooms have a large terrace overlooking the courtyard that connects the two levels.

Find Navovado featured in detail on our Instagram page here.

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Photograph of Nivim, by Bharath Ramamrutham

The opportunity to build on a contoured site can be both a challenge and a blessing. Even as it requires unique structural solutions, a contoured plot of land offers great design advantages. The sloping site automatically facilitates unobstructed views. It allows the building envelope to feel like a private sanctuary because there is no close visual connection with other neighbouring buildings beneath or above. The rolling site terrain also allows the architecture to cascade, creating multiple distinct ways of experiencing the space and its surroundings. For our houses in Goa, we use the following principles to build on terraced sites sensitively and sustainably.

• When we build on a contoured site, we refrain from cutting or filling excessively. As a principle, the land topography is retained as much as possible.

• Every contoured site speaks a unique story. The soil, water and vegetation indicate how the site fits into the regional topography. The natural paths created indicate how water flows through the site from higher to lower contours. While designing, we like to take a site positive approach and make minimum alterations to these existing natural systems. This ensures that we are not tampering with the natural water flows within the site, hence avoiding any unexpected flooding during the abundant monsoon in Goa.⠀

• We also like to keep the site land around these water channels permeable without any cement cover. The natural paving ensures that there is a simple but high functioning rain water harvesting system where water is allowed to percolate into the ground and does not flow down and away from the site, preventing any water deficits in the future.

• One of our first steps on any site is to understand everything there is to know about the greenery. The kind of vegetation usually indicates where the water collects on site and shows the different kinds of life forms within the site. It helps in developing a cohesive ecological response strategy while designing.

• Understanding the vegetation also helps us design and build with nature. Unlike flat sites, where one would typically only see the base or trunk of a tree from ground level, a contoured site allows one to interact with the dense foliage of a tree on a higher level and the woody bark of another tree on a lower level simultaneously. We try to find these vistas to celebrate and curate through architecture.

• We look for terrain and topo sheets to place the site inside its regional context. Most of these sheets are easy to access, available online, and are often on university websites. Once we have an initial understanding of the levels, we model the site in 3D using software such as Google Earth, SketchUp, and Rhino. Most of these software also allow us to geo-locate our contoured plot to check for accuracy.

• While proposing a design, we usually look at a maximum of a 1m level difference from one space to another. This is done to avoid cutting and filling as much as possible and to move with the land terrain.⠀

• We love to use a material palette that is either sourced locally or naturally and build using local construction techniques. We take cues from the surrounding sites and buildings around us to identify the most effective and least intrusive construction methods for every piece of land we build on.

Practicing these simple steps helps us to build sustainably and design houses that are gentle on the land they stand on. To know more about the methods, tips, tricks and processes we follow while designing, visit our blog series, Designing A House In Goa.

In this IG Live session, we speak to Monish Siripurapu, Founder of Ant Studio in Delhi, India. Studio Ant works at the intersection of art, nature, and technology. Through their research and development wing Coolant they have made strides in building sustainable innovations through their all natural air cooling products. In this conversation, we discuss the science and method behind building this cooling system. We understand the system of Evaporative Cooling and the opportunities it presents in different contexts. We also speak about the process of research behind building this product and explore the nuances of parametric design. Tune in to watch our entire conversation.

I recently conducted an IG Live on taking A Site Positive Approach. As a follow up to that, I conducted another video session to get into details and answer pertinent questions about Rainwater Harvesting. I discuss the elements that make up a RWH system, compare the differences between rural and urban water management systems, and introduce some of the various options available for harvesting water. I also speak about the Goan monsoon patterns and the site specific methods that are useful in tropical areas. As an example, I explain the simple but effective well system created at Navovado, our completed vacation house in Goa. I also explore natural water systems such as ponds and bioswales which we have physically implemented at our project The House with Three Pavilions in Goa.

In this IG Live, I delve into the factors involved in taking A Site Positive Approach. I speak about how design can contribute to the land it stands on as well as simple measures that can be taken to ensure the site is preserved and that resources are managed well during and after construction. Over the Live, I explain the importance of the water management systems at our houses in Goa, and the natural systems we have implemented such as a pond and bioswales. I also answer questions about site positivity in the rural and urban contexts, speak about the opportunities offered by certain materials and the feasibility of creating a positive impact. Tune in to watch the entire session.

To know more about taking a site positive approach, you can read our blogpost on the subject which looks at the strategies implemented at The House With Three Pavilions.

Geoffrey Bawa is an unforgettable and continuous inspiration to most architects. There is an intangible relationship with nature that is so beautifully established. To see our inspiration translate into our work - in design, in spatial character, in connection and reverence towards nature - finding new meaning in every site we build on, feels wonderful and magical.

As we look back on our projects, it feels great to see many of our spaces carrying the sensibilities and sensitivites that Bawa inspired throughout his practice. The following set of images puts our project photos alongside some expertly crafted spaces by the tropical wizard. It is our ode to the master architect, a reflection of the small but diverse ways in which he has touched our design thinking and building values.

Building with nature

Watching these two pictures side by side leaves us with a sense of achievement and happiness. The first picture is from our project, The House with Three Pavilions in Goa. The second picture is from Ena De Silva's house, built by the master Geoffrey Bawa.

Verandahs celebrating the trees of the land
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The first picture is from our project Navovado, looking at the old mango tree preserved during construction on site for this vacation house in Goa. The second photograph is from Bawa's Lunuganga estate, framing the magnificent tree by the lake.⠀⠀

Making greenery part of the building elevation
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The first picture is from our project Navovado, as boundaries are blurred between the house and its landscape. The second photograph is from Bawa's Lunuganga country estate, picturing the house among the greenery perceived from the lawn.

A Place in The Shade⠀
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The first picture is from our project The House With Three Pavilions, as the semi open corridor faces the internal courtyard on one side, touching it with an in situ seat and transitioning into different rooms on the other sides, each celebrating different views. The second photograph is from Bawa's estate, as the corridor behaves like a verandah even as it connects the indoor spaces from side to side. ⠀

A Welcoming Wilderness⠀
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The first picture frames the entrance to a pavilion at The House With Three Pavilions, brought alive with the growth of native plant species. The second photograph is from Bawa's Lunuganga garden, with the entrance pathway bordered by the lush wildscape on one side. ⠀

Read Part II of Finding Bawa here.

To the jaded, the mention of green buildings implies a marketing gimmick, and to an idealist, it conjures images of buildings built with mud and bamboo with compostable toilets. Invoking a strong response either ways, we recently concluded a Q&A session on Green Buildings on Instagram. The session had over 300-people join over the course of a 30-minute session. 

The first question that we tackled was, ‘What is a Green Building’? My answer, ‘A green building is one where you’re trying to reduce the impact of the building on the environment.’ It is about making the right choices at every stage of the project, with the ultimate goal to minimise one’s footprint on the environment. To make a building green, the architect must treat the environment as a key design criteria from the first step of the design process right until the occupancy stage. 

It is our commitment to build sustainably and we green certify all our houses in Goa. Our first home, Nivim was the first green certified residence in Goa. It received a gold-level certification and our project Navovado has recently been awarded the platinum-level certification by the Indian Green Building Council. Platinum being the highest level available in the ranking system.

While a building can absolutely be green without a certificate, a green certification is a great way to stay accountable to oneself throughout the design and construction process. It provides the involved professionals with a detailed list of checks and balances with specifications and design criteria that need to be considered and incorporated at every stage of the design and construction process.

In India, TERI (home-grown) and IGBC (offshoot of USGBC) are the primary agencies that issue green certifications. Both these organisations use a credit based system for the evaluation of green building design and performance. The credits fall under the following categories: Site Planning, Water Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, Indoor Air Quality, and Materials among others. Throughout the process, extensive documentation with detailed calculations are required which is then reviewed and tested by the certification body on site. While the system is elaborate, it proves effective as a way to stay true to one’s goals of sustainability. However, it is important for architects to avoid incorporating design elements or features, just for the sake of securing points and focus instead on strategies that are feasible for that specific project life cycle and use.

Demystifying Green Building

I would like to cut through the clutter on this topic. Specially as I would like to demystify the concept and express that green building design is not necessarily a specialized science, nor is it forbiddingly technical where only certain qualified professionals can build green buildings. On the contrary, it is my strong belief that a building built with the basic principles of good architecture would do very well on the green scorecard. The process of green building design starts with a deep understanding of the site, local climate, wind patterns, local materials and resources. Once a building is sited to take advantage of the sun and wind to maximize daylight and cross ventilation, is designed to be responsive to the weather patterns and is built using local materials, then that in itself is a great start towards making the building green.

In the predominantly hot and humid climate in India, one can further think of reducing the heat gain through an informed design of the building envelope. This will have a tremendous impact on the thermal comfort within a building and hence reduce the energy use in the building. Water is another key natural resource that is dwindling with increased human activity on our planet. Rainwater harvesting provides a simple (sometimes ‘no-brainer’) solution to this problem. The idea is simple, instead of allowing rainwater to drain away from your site, one can design systems to either collect it and reuse on the site itself, or feed it back to the earth to recharge the underground aquifers. In addition, a simple introduction of dual flushes can reduce water use by 50-60% and aerators to taps, which can reduce the water use by upto 70% percent. Aerators mix the water from the taps with air, and as a result the water pressure feels the same even when the amount of water flowing through the taps are reduced.

When it comes to building materials, it is wise to use local materials. In most cases, the vernacular building techniques and the local labor would be well versed with the local material. The green quotient of buildings can be further increased by choosing materials with a higher recycled content, higher recyclability, reusing salvaged materials and materials that are rapidly renewable such as bamboo.

The choices to go green are not always straightforward. Cement for example presents a big conundrum in the building industry. The production of cement produces large quantities of CO2, a greenhouse gas with a lasting impact on global warming and climate change. In fact, the production of every kilogram of Portland cement produces an equal amount (one kilogram) of CO2. This presents a huge challenge for our industry where the widely accepted structural material is cement. Wood is another material that presents a difficult choice with sustainability. On one hand, it is a naturally renewable resource and is biodegradable, and wood can be used and reused multiple times. But at the same time, we are cutting irreplaceable virgin rainforests at an alarming pace with long lasting disastrous impact.

Finally, a green building doesn’t have to cost a lot more. Majority of green building strategies are common sense and based on sound architectural principles, which do not come with an additional cost. In addition, there are simple systems that are available at extremely reasonable prices. The aerators mentioned earlier are a free addition offered by most companies that sell sanitary fittings. The difference is for the architect, client and the vendor to be aware of these systems and integrate them into the building design in a timely manner. 

We must as a community of architects pledge to make green building design as important as aesthetics in our projects. A simple change in the thought process can have a long lasting impact on the quality of life for our future generations, which is a cause worth fighting for.

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