By Neena Bhandari
Sydney, 02.08.2024 (The Hindu): In a burgeoning real estate market, three eminent architects – Dean D’Cruz, Gerard da Cunha and Arminio Ribeiro – go down memory lane and reflect on how Goa has transformed from a tranquil haven into a bustling hub as tourism and construction take centerstage. They underscore the need for environmentally and socially responsible policies and planning to foster sustainable communities, where cultural heritage and modern development can coexist in harmony.
Dean D’Cruz, co-founder and principal architect of Mozaic, recalls waking up to a rooster crowing and the aroma of curries simmering on woodfired stoves in his uncle’s home, where the extended family lived together. It was a cohesive existence that permeated their village, Saligao, in Goa.
He has meticulously restored his 105-year-old Portuguese-style villa, nestled in a quiet green corner of Saligao, where I meet him on a rainy evening. The home has been progressively restored from about 50 years ago. A staircase leads to the balcao (a porch) that overlooks a courtyard garden. The main verandah features columns crafted from single pieces of Burma teak and the flooring is adorned with Spanish-Portuguese tiles. Inside, two spacious living rooms with original oyster shell windows with pointed arches, flank the entrance. The use of shells is now banned, instead frosted glass can be used in the pointed arches.
It was in the early 1980s that he returned to Goa after graduating from Sir J.J. College of Architecture in Mumbai. The Hippie Movement was sweeping across the state, and it was slowly emerging as a desirable destination for a retirement home. But there was a dearth of new building construction.
It prompted D’Cruz to partner with architect, Gerard da Cunha. Together, they began harnessing low-cost materials, drawing inspiration from the traditional Goan architecture. They started reusing and recycling local materials, such as laterite stone, brickwork, coconut rafters, waste china mosaic, situ (terrazzo) and Athangudi tiles to design affordable retirement homes for people who really needed them.
D’Cruz still receives requests to design retirement homes from people, he says, who genuinely want to make Goa their final home, imbibe its cultural ethos, and consciously protect its fragile ecology.
In recent years, Goa has become a coveted destination for people wanting to build their second or third homes. It has led to the proliferation of a new architectural paradigm, driven by consumerist desires for luxury and exclusivity.
“These homes are outlandish, fully air-conditioned with all the frills, such as swimming pools. This new architecture is really changing the ethos of the place”, says D’Cruz. “It’s putting immense pressure on the land and resources – water, electricity and spaces for parking. Moreover, this surge in demand for expansive mansions has driven up cost of land, building materials and construction, placing local Goans out of the residential market”.
“Sadly, the second and third home market is increasing in Goa; and even worse a speculative market is emerging where people are building only to resell immediately”, he adds.
This shift has created a dichotomy between accommodating the demands of a burgeoning real estate market and conserving Goa’s cultural and environmental heritage. In villages with a huge demographic change, isolated, elitist enclaves characterized by gated communities and absentee homeowners is changing the social fabric.
“These homes are in a way dead real estate unlike hotels, which are efficiently used and provide employment to the locals,” D’Cruz adds. There has been a spurt in hotel construction, especially around the new Mopa airport in North Goa.
D’Cruz has designed from boutique hotels, such as Nilaya Hermitage in Arpora, Pousada Tauma in Calangute; to jungle lodges for the Taj and other groups like Jehan Numa Retreat; and 200-room resorts like Club Mahindra Holidays, Assonora.
He has also designed a number of institutional projects like the Pallottine Institute of Philosophy and Religion – Assagao, Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr and more recently a number of homes, homestays and small hotels.
Embrace local ethos in construction and tourism
However, one positive outcome from new arrivals to the state has been the revival of many dormant villages, such as Assagao. But D’Cruz stresses that development has to be balanced with impetus on sustainable land use, educational institutions, local marketplaces, healthcare and recreation centers that cater to the overall needs of these growing communities.
He points out that communal engagement is vital to preserving Goa’s heritage. So, it is important that development integrates spaces for human interaction, such as a chapel or a local market, that formed the focal meeting point for the village community.
Many Goans are opening their homes as homestays for tourists. It is providing owners the income to maintain these old homes and at the same time offering visitors a genuine Goan experience. D’Cruz ran a part of his own home as an Airbnb for a while to share the place and its history with visitors. He recommends formalizing and supporting homestays with a listing of the houses and their features so visitors can choose accommodation based on their needs.
Until now beaches have been the main attraction for visitors to Goa, but D’Cruz cautions that by 2050 the state will probably lose enough beaches due to impacts of climate change to make this a non-tourist destination. Already, discerning tourists are finding Goan beaches too crowded, polluted and dirty.
He underscores the need to move towards a more sustainable form of tourism by tapping the potential of resources, such as Goa’s agrarian roots, indigenous cuisine and Indo-Portuguese culture.
D’Cruz regularly conducts workshops, master classes and seminars on architecture, planning and environment, and writes for leading magazines in India and abroad. He has been supporting the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm; Oxford Brookes University UK; and PRATT Institute New York with architectural and planning programmes in Goa.
Besides running his architectural practice, he is currently dedicated to improving academic standards across the country through awareness of criteria that address environmental and social issues in architecture and planning, being the Design Chair and on the Board of Studies for a number of colleges. He is also actively involved with the Goa Foundation and the Goa Bachao Abhiyan.
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