Goa: A bungalow in Assagao designed to awaken the five senses

This 5,000-square-foot vacation home – made by Studio Flamingo for a young couple in their early forties, their two children and their dog – features a canvas where traditional Portuguese architecture tempered by Goan sensibility is presented in a modern format, part of a charming luxury Portuguese village themed housing community in Assagao, Goa. Bordered by cobblestone paths with landscaped as a green fence, this two-level home comprises an entrance hall, living room and dining room, three en-suite bedrooms, kitchen and utility areas, terrace room and open balconies.

“Not falling into the comfort zone of relying completely on the vernacular design of the state, but creating a space that offers a new visual experience despite its roots in the rich Goan-Portuguese architectural tradition has been the challenge to which we were confronted and befriended during the conception. process for this project, ”say the duo of sisters Esha and Aashni Pandya, the interior designers who together run the Mumbai-based company, as they give us an overview of the newly built bungalow.

“While we developed this design language to support the visual experience of space, our primary design intent was to impact the subconscious mind – to teleport [the residents] in a quiet place, ”says Aashni. The duo strove to achieve the desired result by appealing to the five senses: sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste.

The entrance, the porch and the foyer

The main door, a restored antique, welcomes the family into the vacation home and opens onto a row of slender niches carved into a wall. These arch-shaped niches, complemented by delicate handcrafted wooden details, are deliberately incomplete framed, setting the tone of the house from the start. “These asymmetrical compositions remind the subconscious mind to lose the rigid structure of the city and sink into a quiet Goan home,” Esha explains.

A window seat has been consciously woven into the entrance hall so that once the main door is closed after entering the house, the connection with the outside world is not lost. This opening not only allows more natural light to enter the space and provide a visual connection with the outdoors, but also acts as a contemplative corner, where one can curl up and read a book, spend a moment. calm or connect to the outside world, a rare luxury in the post-pandemic world.