Room to Breathe

N ikhil Padgaonkar compares the process of designing his Goa home to a child drawing a collection of shapes on paper and calling it a house. ‘I wanted to work with very basic forms — cubes, triangles and rectangles — without any wings or extensions,’ says the documentary film-maker and multimedia creator, who has no formal architecture training. The result, however, is a striking hilltop retreat that’s anything but basic.

Located in the northern village of Moira, the home is shrouded in screens made of galvanised steel slats that effortlessly bring the outdoors inside. ‘When you step into the home from the east entrance, you can see right through to the other entrance and the forest beyond,’ says Padgaonkar. ‘The house is merely a transitory space between two outdoor points.’ The thin steel tubes keep the north and south facades of the home open to the dramatic verdant views of an ancient church, a river and lush fields. And to block the glare of the sun, the east and west facades are clad in rust-coloured Rajasthani kiln bricks, a striking contrast to the steel.

The property follows the natural gradient of the land, unfolding across three terraces. The main house is a cuboid structure spanning approximately 185 square metres that sits on the top terrace, while the middle terrace structure houses an office, pool and garage, and the bottom terrace a separate studio apartment.The entire north facade of the home boasts large balconies that are cantilevered two metres above the top terrace. ‘I wanted to give the impression of an object perching on the hill rather than firmly affixed to the ground,’ explains Padgaonkar.

The home’s main entrance leads into an airy double-height living room, where exposed concrete ceiling, hand-trowelled grey lime plaster walls and dark limestone floors evoke a raw industrial loft. Above the living space is a mezzanine floor that houses a master bedroom delineated by curtains instead of walls, Padgaonkar’s son’s bedroom and a small office for his wife, a jewellery designer and photography critic.

The furniture is a mix of angular custom-made galvanised iron and teak pieces and traditional Indian items. One of the most charming corners of the home is the north-facing veranda, which has a colourful red charpoy opposite a tree trunk that pierces through the floor and rises to the roof above. Reluctant to fell the four towering trees that were already growing on the property, Padgaonkar incorporated them into his design by creating two patios around them instead.

It’s clear that Padgaonkar has poured his heart and soul into the home. After purchasing the land, he gave up film-making to teach himself how to sketch and build. Refreshingly humble, he eschews design jargon and says he used intuition and logic to create rigorously simple forms with economy of materials. In trusting his instinct, he has created space to savour the simple things in life, something that no amount of training could teach.