Elsewhere is a gorgeous down-to-earth resort in Goa with history that dates back to 1886. It is a located on a thin stretch of land adjoining the Arabian Sea. Defining true barefoot luxury, this is the resort Brad and Angelina have rumored to call home during their visit to Goa.

Elsewhere has 4 old houses on the beach that have been lovingly restored and the result appears breathtaking. Retaining the names of their historical use, they are referred to as the Captain's House, the Piggery, the Bakery and the Priest's House.

We love the simplicity of the architecture and the renovations. We love how the houses are simply a medium for users to experience the surrounding landscape which has been left largely untouched. We can imagine some beautiful breezy mornings and starlit nights in these homes.

The Captain's House

The Priest's House

All images are used with full permission, courtesy of the Elsewhere website.

Image courtesy of NYTimes.

'Pollen from Hazelnut' is an artwork installed by the sculptor Wolfgang Laib at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in January 2013. I was fortunate to have been a witness to this unbelievable piece of work and it has stayed with me all this while.

The installation is made with bright yellow pollen that the artist has carefully collected from the surroundings at his studio and home since the mid-1990s. In 2013, he finally laid it out as a rectangle on the gray concrete floor in the museum's atrium. I am captivated by the whole thought, the process, the dedication, the love, the artistry and the joy of the piece. Visually stunning, the piece exhibits components of smell, color and most importantly feelings and beliefs.

I can't remember the last time I had such a strong emotional reaction to a piece of art.

Below is a short video of Mr Laib and his process of creating 'Pollen from Hazelnut'. He calls his process 'a quite work', we love every moment of it and hope that you will love it too..

I love Manish Arora. I find him to be one of the most innovative trend-setter global-Indian designers today. He exhibits such bravery with his bursts of colors and wild bold prints. I like that he does not hold back and strays far beyond any ‘safe-zone’.

He exhibited the same bravado when he revamped his apartment in Paris and we love the result. He actually got a graffiti artist to spray paint his entrance ! And that was just the beginning. The loud pops of color, pexiglass furniture and his toy collections makes the apartment very original, uber-chic and avant-garde. (even the duct-tape on his boxes is neon orange !!) J’aime !

Images via article in NYTimes and Ozone Design Lifestyle.

The post would be incomplete without the wonderful-quirky-bashful-full of color video ‘Holi Holy’ by Manish Arora. The video celebrates the first time when the widows in Benaras played Holi (last year).

View fullsize

GOPIXPIC

Herzog & de Mueron is a Swiss contemporary architecture firm, one of the best in the world according to me. They have been hired to design the Kolkata Museum of Modern Art which is a very exciting prospect for all of us design lovers in India. I heard them speak some time back and one project in particular caught my attention and imagination.

It is one of their lesser known works, the Dominus Winery Estate in Sonoma, California. I love the contemporary design aesthetic, the simple building form, use of natural material, the play of light in the interiors and the building’s ability to blend into the surrounding landscape.

I specially love the elegance of clean straight lines and linear geometry that reveals textures and fine details when inspected up close.

All images via Dominus Estate (First image via Travelmodus).

Here is a video of what it feels like to spend a day at Nivim as the light changes from morning to evening.

Goa TL Full Compressed 03 from Anjali Mangalgiri on Vimeo.

Welcome ! This is the view from the main entrance door towards the pool and deck at Nivim

Ever wondered why the house is called 'Nivim' ?

'Nivim' is the name of the land the house is built on. We found it on the historic land records for the house and it only made sense for us to continue to use it as our commitment to the history and legacy of the land and our love for the inherent beauty of Goa !

We are the first green certified residential building in Goa !

Nivim was awarded a Gold level green homes certification from the Indian Green Building Council. We are celebrating !

Read about the green features at Nivim Goa, at our previous blog post.

In simple words any new construction specially on a greenfield site (where there were no buildings before) has a negative impact on the environment (scroll down for why?). But the reality is that we need buildings and implementing green building practices help us in reducing the impact of the building activity on the environment.

How does building activity impact the environment:

• Buildings consume large amounts of material and energy during construction and generate waste

• Buildings continue to consume energy, water and other resources during their lifetime along with continualy generating waste (domestic waste, solid waste and water waste)

• A building on a previously vacant greenfield site changes the land and its relationship to the surrounding environment:

  • buildings change the natural landscape of the site by reducing existing vegetation, changing natural topography, and water flow patterns

  • buildings create concrete barriers to absorbtion of water back into the earth thus increasing storm water runoff (leading to flooding of low-lying areas and additional burden on existing infrastructure) and fall in underground water table (due to reduced recharge)

  • Loss of natural landscape also results in the loss of habitat for animal and bird life

  • Materials used in a building have a direct correlation to the health of its residents

Most of the above reasons are fairly well understood in the building community then what are some of the reasons that green building practices are relatively inaccessible to the everyday builder? even when they are driven by common sense and reflected in many traditional construction practices. We have found that:

• There is increasingly a lot of superficial jargon surrounding green buildings that needs to be shed

• It may be easier to start from our backyard rather then wait for top-down government led infrastructure development and policy formulation

• There are available green certification processes than can offer a system of checks and balances but sadly the industry is disillusioned about them or find them too tedious and expensive

• Project planning is the key to success. It is vital that at all stages of design and construction; the builder makes choices that minimize the impact on the land, reduces use of energy, optimizes use of water resources, prioritizes reuse and recycling instead of use of virgin materials and reduces waste.

The Pavilion at Nivim Goa

We designed a pavilion at Nivim Goa. It is an expanded pool and garden pavilion wrapped in wood screen and glass doors. It is nestled among existing mature trees and floats over the pool deck in the front elevation. We love this special addition to Nivim.

Interestingly, we recently came across a house in Chile with a pavilion set among the breathtaking landscape of Andean mountains. The pavilion has a wrap around patio with a pool. There are many parallels in design concept and look and feel of this pavilion with ours at Nivim. We thought it will be fun to share the project here. See the photos below. All photos and content courtesy : Archdaily

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House on the road to Farellones, Courtsey Archdaily

Down to Earth is without question, the leading science and environment magazine in India. The magazine takes leadership in addressing issues and concerns related to environmental issues. It is one of the few magazines that has laboriously researched articles where the editors try their best to not take sides and put forward the facts.

Down to Earth has been leading the way in sound publishing regarding green buildings as well. They have recently compiled all their articles and resources on green buildings in one portal.

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Screenshot of Down to Earth magazine resource page on green buildings, link.

Our favorite section is the one called '6 Cardinal Directions for Better Buildings', namely:

1. Thermal Comfort

2. Ventilation

3. Light

4. Water & Energy

5. Building Materials

6. Safety & Design

While, architects, builders and institutions debate the relevance of green buildings, the need for certification and Griha vs. LEED; here is Down to Earth saying that green buildings in not a new science but simply a building built with common sense while being cognizant of the above 6 factors and their impact to the quality of any/ all buildings. We absolutely agree with that.

Here are a few other gems from the magazine that we love:

- Architects love brick as a building material, it is low-cost, easily available and has the natural earthy aesthetic quality. These factors often make 'brick' come across as a green material. But here is an article that challenges that notion with facts on energy use during the traditional brick making process as well as loss of cultivable soil impacting agriculture and lastly the pollution from the kilns.

Link to Infographic at Down to Earth- This is a link to a great infographic that lays out the 22-step process required to obtain permits for any building project. This may make you laugh-out-loud but is so very true. Link to related article.

Link to 'Dampness' Infographic on Down to Earth - A great article on Dampness with yet another winning infographic.

We love you 'Down to Earth'. Thank you !