City: GOA
Ar. Poonam V. Mascarenhas
Poonam is a multi-faceted professional, serving as an architect, building conservation expert, researcher, and author. With over three decades of experience in India and abroad. She is the founder and director of the acclaimed Goa-based design studio, Archinova_Environs.
Poonam embarked on her career journey in 1991 at Auroville, where she delved into alternative building techniques, including compressed earth blocks and ferro-cement. Her extensive research in traditional architecture of Kerala led her to become a Charles Wallace Fellow and on returning- a consultant for INTACH Jaipur. In this role, she worked on conserving and rejuvenating 22 listed heritage sites, encompassing temples, fort walls, cenotaphs, stepped wells, gates, reservoirs, and the design of Heritage Walks in Jaipur and Amber, all funded by the Asia Development Bank’s Rajasthan Urban Infrastructure Development Project (Tranche I-2001-4).
At her studio, Archinova_Environs, Poonam and her team have breathed new life into numerous Goan heritage houses and several privately owned palaces in Rajasthan. Notably, their eco-friendly boutique apartment project, Samskruti Hoysala, located in Bangalore, earned several awards, including the Best Green Project in 2014.
In 2016, Poonam was appointed as the Cultural Heritage Management Expert Consultant for the ADB- funded Infrastructure Development Investment Project for Tourism in Himachal Pradesh, undertaken by IPE Global Ltd.
This project included the rehabilitation of Shimla Townhall in November 2018 and the conservation of historic urban precincts and buildings in Mandi Town, such as temples, ghats, Victoria Bridge, and the restoration and reuse of Vijay High School, completed in 2020.
Since 2022, Poonam has served as a consultant to EGIS in the capacity of a Cultural Heritage Specialist for Project Support Consultancy (PSC-2) for the ADB-funded ‘Karnataka Integrated and Sustainable Water Resource Management Investment Programme’ –Tranche-2, at Hampi.
Poonam’s extensive body of research-based publications comprises over 20 articles and papers in peer- reviewed journals, as well as books like Kerala Heritage Guide (2000) and Silent Sentinels, Traditional Architecture of Coorg (HECAR, 2005), now in its third edition. She has contributed to monographs on Auroville architects Poppo Pingle (Mapin, 2012) and Piero and Gloria Cicionesi (Mapin, 2018). Poonam’s book Mapped Heritage of Panaji, Goa (GHAG, 2018) curates and maps the built and natural heritage of Panaji, the capital city of Goa. Additionally, her chapter titled ‘Vernacular Building Tradition of India’ is featured in Schittich C.’s (Ed) Vernacular Architecture – Atlas for Living Through-out the World (Berlin: Birkhauser, 2019).
Poonam’s article ‘Water Culture Connection: A Conservation-Led, Integrated Development Strategy for Water to Meet SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation’ was published in Vol 80 of the International Journal of Ekistics and the New Habitat. Her latest endeavour is the conceptualization, curation, and co-editing of the book Conservation and the Indian City: Bridging the Gap (INHAF & myliveablecity, 2023).
Beyond her professional endeavours, Poonam is the co-founder of the Goa Heritage Action Group, a citizens’ group and serves on the first Scientific Council Steering Committee of ICOMOS India. She has shared her knowledge through lectures at national and international conferences, including engagements in the US, Italy, Korea, and Nepal. Her commitment to education is evident through her roles as a visiting faculty member, thesis guide, and design jury member.
Ar. Sarto Almeida
Ar. Suhas Gaonkar (Prof A)
Ar. Vishvesh Kandolkar
Ar. Dean D’Cruz
Ar. Gerard da Cunha
Ar. Ruturaj Parikh
Sharing a boundary with a historic chapel in the village of Salvador-do-Mundo Goa, this residence-cum-studio space is designed on a linear plan with a conscious attempt to leave more than half the site empty for a rich, tropical landscape. On the ground floor, a studio space flanks a kitchen and an external staircase that connects with the residence on the first floor. The staircase is designed to connect the two spaces on two different levels internally as well as externally. The design follows a simple grid that imagines the possibility of transforming into a layout for a fulltime residence in the future.
Built on a concrete frame, the house hosts a nine-feet cantilevered slab that covers the staircase and the essential services towards the south. On the east, a thickly foliaged forest landscape is borrowed by the house for views in multiple spaces. Simple materials – IPS Floor, Cudappah Steps, Timber Windows, Metal Frames, Exposed Brick and Laterite, and a Load-Bearing Vault composed of Wire-cut Bricks frames the building. The building roof vault is finished in a stunning coat of Black China Mozaic – a waterproofing surface that adds a beautiful sheen to the vaulted ceiling. It was built over eleven sections around the idea of ‘lost scaffolding’; it was set over a custom metal frame which was removed post-curing.
Perforated metal sheets enable breeze to flow uninterrupted through the house. The built in furniture is composed along the designed niches and the moveable furniture is repurposed from the furniture of the former premises of the studio.
Built on a very limited budget, the building uses its east-west orientation and stack-effect through the vaulted roof to remove hot air and enable comfort without exhaustive use of air-conditioning. The house borrows the luxuriant landscape of Goa with the native trees including Mango and Teak framing the wonderful garden within and around the site.
The site is a small parcel of land of 525 sq meters area. The building having a built up area of 240 sq meters approx and 140 sq meters footprint is nested in a linear alignment keeping most of the site vacant for the lush context. The access to the site was through a narrow lane amidst the afforested green, hence special care was taken to make sure the vegetation around is not impaired and trees on site are not removed and changes to the building design were deployed; even accommodating for one tree to pass through the building.
