Emerging like a sculptural monolith from the edge of a salt pan, this house is a masterclass in elemental architecture — poised between land and water, tradition and modernity, permanence and porosity. Situated on a ten-acre property patiently acquired over a decade, the home is nestled quietly between the Chapora River and a mangrove belt, anchored in place by three man-made salt pans that dictate not just the footprint but the spirit of the architecture.
The Salt Pan House Is A Masterclass In Tradition And Modernity | We Design Studio
Stringent regulations limiting the home’s built-up area forced the designers to distill the design philosophy to its purest essence. The designers intended the home not to be adorned — but to be discovered. From the outset, the vision shared by architect and client was one of restraint and reverence: a spatial response guided not by ornament, but by climate, context, and material truth.
The architecture unfolds as a vertical triptych — a tactile composition of concrete, timber, and zinc. A raw, sculpted concrete volume anchors the home to the earth, while a delicately screened teakwood louvered box floats above it, culminating in a light-weight pitched roof of titanium-zinc alloy that hovers like a protective canopy. This interplay of mass and lightness, of opacity and permeability, defines the home’s visual and functional core.
The designers placed the built structure at the southern edge of the largest salt pan, allowing the home to stretch its limbs toward the landscape. Between the residence and the reflective body of the salt pan lies a linear swimming pool. With an infinity edge that visually dissolves into the saline waters beyond, the pool becomes an architectural gesture of continuity — an extension of the home’s quiet dialogue with water.
The designers carefully orchestrate the arrival experience. A steel-framed entrance canopy, flanked by laterite walls, leads into a soaring double-height lobby. This space acts as the spine of the house, opening into an expansive living, dining, and bar area that in turn, connect the home to the to the pool deck.
The designers use expansive glazing and canopied verandas to blur the boundary between interior and exterior; they frame views and filter light, inviting the landscape into the heart of the home. A guest bedroom on the ground floor faces south and looks towards a green belt of lush foliage.
Circulation is equally poetic. A metal staircase rises through the double-height space to the first floor, home to four bedrooms and a family lounge. A continuous balcony encircles this level and openable teak wood louvered screens shield it.
The screens shield the home from Goa’s sun and monsoon, while the lower-level spa—accessed from the pool deck—offers steam, sauna, and changing rooms, blending utility with indulgence.
The material palette is indigenous, tactile, and honest. Every surface resonates with an architectural sensuality that celebrates the natural variations of materials. The builders constructed the staff quarters in exposed concrete and locally quarried laterite stone, paying homage to regional construction methods.
The builders rendered the ground floor in polished cement plaster, while the first floor glows like a lantern at night. Inside, grey, black, green, mustard, and terracotta cement surfaces convey rawness, softened by cane, exposed plywood, and veined Indian granite.
The designers enhance the site with amenities—a pickleball court, gym, yoga pavilion, private jetty—and a greenhouse that supports a self-sustaining lifestyle.
The client’s decades-spanning art collection weaves contemporary culture into the home’s design.
Despite its scale and setting, the home remains compact, efficient, and deeply connected to its environment. “Architectural niches discreetly tuck in services, allowing primary spaces to breathe freely.”
Building within a coastal regulatory zone brought unique challenges — from constructing a coffer dam for the pool to integrating an open municipal drain into the site planning. Each obstacle was resolved not with compromise but with ingenuity — elevating the design rather than diluting it.
In its totality, this home is not merely a residence — it is a lived landscape. One where architecture, nature, and craft converge with quiet authority, creating a sanctuary that is at once poetic and pragmatic.
Fact File
Designed by: We Design StudioProject Type: Residential Architecture Design
Project Name: Salt Pan House
Location: Agarvado, Goa, India
Year Built: May 2025
Built-up Area: 6000 Sq.ft
Principal Architects: Nupur Shah & Saahil Parikh
Photograph Courtesy: Ishi Sitwala
Firm’s Website Link: We Design Studio
The Firm’s Instagram Link: We Design Studio
Firm’s Facebook Link: We Design Studio
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