Houzz Tours
Goa Houzz: A Home Inspired by Lunar Landscapes
SAV Architecture + Design define this home in tropical Goa with a cluster of louvred walkways and a curving pool
Houzz at a Glance
Location: Siolim, Goa
Year built: March 2020
Size: 550 square metres (5920 square feet); 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 1 powder room
Architect & Interior designer: Amita Kulkarni and Vikrant Tike, partners, SAV Architecture + Design
Photos by: Fabien Charuau Photography
Tucked away in the lush greenery of Siolim is a beautiful holiday home, conceived as a tropical modern house that connects with the landscape at all times. The house was designed to have a strong narrative influenced by the elemental nature of Goa. Amita Kulkarni and Vikrant Tike, partners at SAV Architecture + Design explain, “Inspired by the sinuous curved forms and raw textures of the lunar landscape, the Moon House was designed to bridge the feel of Tropical Modernism like of Geoffrey Bawa with the fluid and dynamic lines like of Zaha Hadid, so that the architecture of the house is constantly shifting and shaping between nature and space, allowing it to blend seamlessly with its surroundings”.
The house is built in a simple, monolithic style using concrete and locally available slate stone, shaped around existing trees with lots of inside and outside spaces that flow together. Since the house had to be built on a compact plot, the designers felt “the house could be an introspective one, where, through having a central pool and internal courtyards, the house could look into itself for its connection to the outdoors.”
Location: Siolim, Goa
Year built: March 2020
Size: 550 square metres (5920 square feet); 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 1 powder room
Architect & Interior designer: Amita Kulkarni and Vikrant Tike, partners, SAV Architecture + Design
Photos by: Fabien Charuau Photography
Tucked away in the lush greenery of Siolim is a beautiful holiday home, conceived as a tropical modern house that connects with the landscape at all times. The house was designed to have a strong narrative influenced by the elemental nature of Goa. Amita Kulkarni and Vikrant Tike, partners at SAV Architecture + Design explain, “Inspired by the sinuous curved forms and raw textures of the lunar landscape, the Moon House was designed to bridge the feel of Tropical Modernism like of Geoffrey Bawa with the fluid and dynamic lines like of Zaha Hadid, so that the architecture of the house is constantly shifting and shaping between nature and space, allowing it to blend seamlessly with its surroundings”.
The house is built in a simple, monolithic style using concrete and locally available slate stone, shaped around existing trees with lots of inside and outside spaces that flow together. Since the house had to be built on a compact plot, the designers felt “the house could be an introspective one, where, through having a central pool and internal courtyards, the house could look into itself for its connection to the outdoors.”
A cobbled driveway leads up to the house whose gently curving façade, partly clad in the black-grey texture of locally sourced slate stone, seems to grow organically out of the terrain.
Discover which stones are best suited for Indian homes
Discover which stones are best suited for Indian homes
The entrance to the home is a melange of textures and moods. The coolness of the concrete wall contrasts with the warmth of the wooden pivoted door that is characterised by a custom-crafted metal handle (see it here).
Upon a closer look, one part of the doorway reveals itself to be a lunar calendar screen that filters sunlight, projecting dappled patterns on the concrete floor, showing the phases of the moon in light and shade.
As one enters, the powder room falls on the right, adjacent to the open dining and kitchen space. “With its Goan-Portuguese inspired traditional cement tiled flooring and light ‘monolithic’ furniture, the open-plan dining is a light space that beautifully blends a local and international feel,” says Tike.
Tiles: Bharat Flooring
Why you should consider cement tiles for a timeless look
Tiles: Bharat Flooring
Why you should consider cement tiles for a timeless look
Shaped around an internal courtyard, the dining area receives plenty of light, natural ventilation and has a constant connection to the outdoors.
The living space is defined by a textured wall mimicking the lunar landscape. The muted colour palette is interspersed by spurts of blue that echo the colour of pool outside, and wooden accents that bring in a sense of warmth.
Find a specialty contractor on Houzz
Find a specialty contractor on Houzz
The double-height doors of the living room slide and fold to open the interiors to the outside pool which is shaped as a fluid crescent, forming the centre of the house.
Browse through more ideas to bring the outdoors indoors
Browse through more ideas to bring the outdoors indoors
From the living space, a crafted wood and metal staircase leads to the first floor of the house with a terrace on the right and a bedroom on the left.
All furniture is custom-made
All furniture is custom-made
The louvred ‘bridge over water’, overlooking the courtyards and the crescent shaped pool, links the main bedroom to the rest of the house.
The semi-outdoor louvred corridors create a play of light and shadows. Circular apertures in several spaces in the house evoke the full moon, keeping up the lunar theme, and at the same time connect with the outdoors.
“These louvred walkways, courtyards and terraces, inspired by Geoffrey Bawa and traditional Goan homes, create a series of interconnected inside-outside spaces evoking a soft mood when one moves through the house,” Kulkarni says.
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“These louvred walkways, courtyards and terraces, inspired by Geoffrey Bawa and traditional Goan homes, create a series of interconnected inside-outside spaces evoking a soft mood when one moves through the house,” Kulkarni says.
Get your home photographed by a Houzz pro
“The master bathroom is designed as a sky-lit monolithic and seamless bath space that elevates the experiential and reflective quality of the house,” explain the designer duo. Crafted out of concrete, the bath space connects to the tropical sunlight through circular openings.
Accessed through a curved staircase from the master bedroom and from the bridge over water, the louvred terrace invites restful recreation. Designed like an observatory with its circular openings, it is a great spot for some moon watching at night and for enjoying the play of shadows on sunny afternoons.
Look at more ideas on Houzz for terraces and balconies
Look at more ideas on Houzz for terraces and balconies
The partners explain,"Created as an architecturally introspective structure, the Moon House looks inwards towards its multiple louvred courtyards and its pool, creating moods of reflection and romance throughout the place”.
Read more:
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Tell us:
Which design feature did you like the most in this house? Do tell us in the Comments section.
Read more:
Bangalore Houzz: This Bungalow Is Half-Indoors and Half-Outdoors
11 Indian Homes That Revolve Around Courtyards
Tell us:
Which design feature did you like the most in this house? Do tell us in the Comments section.
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