This document summarizes the vernacular architecture of Goa, India. It describes Goa's location and climate, and how its architecture developed to protect against monsoons by blending Portuguese and local styles. The main types of houses discussed are Portuguese, Hindu, and Christian homes. Portuguese houses featured balcos (verandas), high plinths, and decorative windows and doors. Hindu houses had central courtyards and fewer colonial influences. Christian homes incorporated balcos and ornate windows to identify sailors' houses. Colorful exteriors and intricate details characterized all Goan architecture.

1. GOAN
VERNACULAR
ARCHITECTURE

2. LOCATION
Goa is Located on the west coast of India in the
region
known as the Konkan
Goa is a former Portuguese colony, the
Portuguese overseas territory of Portuguese
India existed for about 450 years until it was
annexed by India in 1961
Renowned for its beaches, places of worship and
world heritage architecture
Being in the Tropical zone the climate is warm
and
humid
Temperatures from 20 c – 35 c
Sudden downpours and tropical thunder storms.
FACTORS AFFECTING ARCHITECTURE OF GOA:
To protect from fierce monsoons
The Goan master builders executed these ideas using local building materials, making the
Goan house a mixture and adaptation of design elements and influences from all over the
world.
 The architectural style of Portuguese-built churches

3. EXAMPLES OF VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE IN GOA
PORTUGUESE HOUSES
:
The traditional pre-Portuguese homes were
inward-looking with small windows.
 The houses opened into courtyards, and rarely
opened onto streets.
 Balcos are commonly found in Goan houses which
is a wide veranda running along the front of the
house and occasionally along its sides and at the
back.
 The large balcos had built-in seating, open to the
street, where men and the women could sit
together.
 This, together with the plinth, which and usually
indicated the status of the owners. The houses of
rich landlords had high plinths with grand
staircases just leading to the front door or balcony.

4. EXAMPLES OF VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE IN GOA
ELEMENTS
:
 Large ornamental windows with stucco
mouldings open onto verandas.
 Windows gradually became more decorative,
ornate, and expressive.
 Front doors were flanked by columns or
pilasters.
Pillars, piers, and colors were not influenced by
any style in particular; rather they conform to a
rather mixed architectural styles.
 Railings were the most intricate embellishment
in a Goan house.
 The interiors have a high ceiling Well Typical
rooster motifs on rooftops.

5. TYPES OF GOAN HOUSES:
•Style : Indo Portuguese Style
•Internal courtyard concept.
•Building Materials : Laterite stones,
Baked clay tiles
GOAN HOUSES
HINDU HOUSES CHRISTIAN HOUSES
•Porch (balcos)
•Tall european style columns.
•Building Materials : Laterite stones,
local bricks and mangalore tiles.

6. GOAN HOUSES (HINDU HOUSES)
:
• Ancestral Hindu houses in the town are plain,
closed structures which conceal the illustrious
tradition of the inhabitants
•The goan Hindu Architectural style is different
from the Portuguese- influenced style.
•Hindu houses have little colonial influence
• A step or two (plinth level) lead into quiet
entrances, with small windows opening out on to
the street.
• The house reveals its beauty only indoors – rooms
converge on to the courtyard with ‘Chowkis’
• Column and their brackets are pre-Portugese
features.
TYPES OF GOAN HOUSES

7. TRADITIONAL HINDU HOUSES
:
• Rectangular in plan
• Single storey
• Central courtyard with tulsi plant
• Central entrance has a verandah
• The rooms are arranged around a central
pillared courtyard
TYPES OF GOAN HOUSES
A typical Hindu home is low-scaled with
a low plinth, a small seating porch with
short bulbous columns and a loft like
upper floor with windows.
TULSI PLANT

8. FEATURES OF HINDU GOAN HOUSES
USE OF COLOUR
 Dramatic and startling colour—
initially achieved with natural and
colored dyes- plays an important role
in goan architecture.
Colors was decorative and used
purely to create a sensation.
CORNICES
Country tiles used as a corbel are a
feature peculiar in goa.
The effect achieved is aesthetically
pleasing, giving a roof projection a
solid, moulded appearances.

9. FEATURES OF HINDU GOAN HOUSES
INTERIORS
•Painting on walls
•Walls up to dado height finished with glazed tiles
•Floral pattern below the cornice
•Floral painted tiles adorn the doorways to the houses

10. TYPES OF GOAN HOUSES
GOAN HOUSES (CHRISTIAN HOUSES)
•The arrival of the Portuguese brought foreign
influences and opportunities for Goans to
travel.
•The contours and colours of the houses began
to change
•Goans who embraced Christianity sought new
identities, and their houses were one facet of
Cultural expression.
•Houses acquired ‘balcaos’ (sit-outs facing the
street) with built-in seating at the entrance of
the houses.

11. TYPES OF GOAN HOUSES
•Columns line the balcaos, and large, ornamental windows
with varying helped sailors spot their houses as they sailed into
port.
•Gateways to the houses were lofty and elegant in the 18th
century later they designs were replaced by towering
gateways.
•Railings were the most intricate embellishment in a Goan
house.
•The rich tropical colours of these edifices add a wealth of
character to goan architecture.
•Pillars, piers and colours do not seem to be influenced by any
style in particular.
•Only churches and chapels were allowed to remain white,
and the law required other buildings to sport a colour.
•Windows gradually become more decorative, ornate and
expressive
•Almost all Goan houses have a false colour. ceiling of wood
•The houses thus were painted deep ochre, sapphire and
claret.
•The Kitchen in Goan house was at the . fartherest end of the
house.

12. TYPES OF GOAN HOUSES
•The practice of building grand staircases in the entrance halls, many windowed facades; busts of
classical Renaissance figures in the pediments of façade windows, grand dance halls as a focal
point of the Baroque style staircase home.
•The window shutters are particularly enchanting
• In the early days of Portuguese rule, only churches and other religious structures were permitted
to use white to color their exteriors.
•The domestic residential structures automatically adopted bold and sensational colors
subsequently achieved with the use of vegetable and natural dyes in the past.

13. Thank
you!!!..