ArchShowcase 
Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Nivim House in Goa, India by architecture R/TMarch 17th, 2017 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: architecture R/T Nivim is Goa’s first Gold rated green building certified by the IGBC – Indian Green Building Council in October 2013. It sits on a 1025 square meter property on a hill in a sleepy village in Goa. Before construction, the site had 14 fully mature trees- two jackfruit trees, one mango tree, two tamarind trees and one telful tree. The design of the house incorporates all these existing trees. Two trees in particular were located right in the center of the property and one of them rises up almost 15 meters.  Image Courtesy © Bharat Ramamrutham.
 Image Courtesy © Bharat Ramamrutham. The house is designed such that two walls in each room can completely open to make the rooms a part of the surrounding landscape. Each bedroom is designed like a pavilion in the garden with its own private verandahs and green space as well as large bathrooms that can only be built in the countryside with their own dedicated open space and open baths. The remainder of the property is designed with overlapping courtyards and gardens.  Image Courtesy © Bharat Ramamrutham.  Image Courtesy © Bharat Ramamrutham. An important criterion at Nivim was to employ green practices without sacrificing the luxury lifestyle for its occupants and architectural design of the house. Impact on the environment was a key factor while designing the house. During construction, Nivim Goa minimized use of energy and resources by using local materials and materials with high recycled content while also minimizing waste. During operations, the house will consume less energy and water, use solar energy, recycle and reuse rain water and grey water on-site while providing a healthy environment for occupants.  IImage Courtesy © Bharat Ramamrutham.  Image Courtesy © Bharat Ramamrutham. The buildings have been built using materials naturally available like stone, wood, adobe fillers and new materials made from recycled wastes like fly-ash bricks, tetrapac sheets, etc. For one, the hill slope has been retained and the building integrated within its natural slope. The natural and locally available basalt stone and its un-plastered finish makes the building blend well with the surrounding landscape as well as offer thermal cooling to the building. The open plan with minimal walls allows for maximum natural ventilation and day lighting minimizing the use of artificial systems to cool and ventilate the building. The adobe and terracotta pot fillers also reduce the thermal heat effect and effectively help in limiting the heat absorbed by the roof/terrace slab. The china mosaic finish also helps in reflecting sun’s heat. The solar water heater reduces energy consumption. All waste water from the kitchen and the bathrooms is routed to a waste water treatment system with reed beds, settlement and polishing pond. A large underground tank harvests 1,00,000 liters of rain water and replenishes the swimming pool. There are tangible benefits of the above systems in energy and water savings.  Image Courtesy © Bharat Ramamrutham.  Image Courtesy © Bharat Ramamrutham. Some materials like laterite rubble, mud for adobe fillers, have been recycled/reused from within the site. Load bearing system of construction has been employed for all the stone masonry. Stone walls reflect heat; cool the building, so no artificial cooling is necessary. Percolation of rain water through percolation pits or pipes has been installed at certain points on the site to improve the ground water table of the area and the well water on the lower stretches of the hill. Since subsurface is hard laterite, rain water from the plot is channelized to an underground tank for storage and use for the swimming pool and secondary uses. The floor is finished with cudappa mirror polished in the main living/dining and kitchen areas for better durability and in rough Kota finish in the ground floor verandah areas and swimming pool harlandscape for a rustic look.  Image Courtesy © Bharat Ramamrutham.
Contact architecture R/T
Categories: Building, Green House, House, Residential, sketch up |
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
email
Facebook
Twitter
RSS Feed
