dorinSTEFAN: casashopron

architects: RMA Architects
Location: Valpoi, Goa, India
Architect In Charge: Rahul Mehrotra
Consultants: Sewri Consultants (P)Ltd., Riyaz Rangawala, Sunil Services, Aseem Merchant
Area: 1,685.25 sqm
Year: 2009
Photographs: Romil Sheth, Rajesh Vora, Courtesy of RMA Architects

Located in the verdant environs of eastern Goa, the Think Tank Retreat is composed of eight living units and an alternate health centre. The ancillary programs of the health centre (massage rooms, a conference facility and kitchen) are conceived as independent boxes that are integrated on a common plinth under a large clay tile roof. The terraces of each of these separate boxes are also accessible and serve as useable covered spaces for informal meetings, yoga, and meditation.

Natural cross ventilation, built in insulation through the double roof and concerns of the building weathering gracefully with minimal maintenance in the tropical climate of Goa were the central concerns in the design strategy. In addition the use of local materials for the primary building elements: laterite walls (quarried within a 5 km radius of the site) and the clay tiles ( made locally) for the roof localize and extend the indigenous building traditions in the locality.