The National Institute of Water Sports in Goa by M:OFA Studio takes its inspiration from the raging waves of the ocean, making its context the main driving force

Form follows function, or function follows form. Why does this have to be a debate? There are some structures that reinforce the debate, and some others that urge us to rethink. The National Institute of Water Sports (NIWS), Goa is one such architectural marvel. A ginormous, silvery, sinuous structure seems to emerge out of the ocean, mimicking the rhythmic movement of the waves. The NIWS was commissioned to New Delhi-based architectural firm M:OFA Studio as the winning entry of an international design competition that sought an iconic landmark for the first-ever water sports institute in Asia. With their ground-breaking vision for the institute, M:OFA emerged as a clear winner. The jury acknowledged the proposal with a statement that said “MOFA’s design for NIWS makes a clear iconic statement that would one day become a symbol redefining the new Goa on a global map. The design not only makes a bold statement but paints a strong image of a water sports institute with its large wave-like roof with sweeping curves”. And indeed, the NIWS, completed in 2023, has certainly put Goa on the global design map. We caught up with architect Manish Gulati, the visionary behind the design to understand the thought that went behind the design, and the process itself. Here’s an excerpt…

Goa now has an iconic landmark. Tell us about the process. What was the brief? And how did you respond to the design brief?
Manish Gulati (MG): In 2010, the Goa State Government, in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, launched an international design competition for the National Institute of Water Sports in Goa. This public institute, being the first of its kind in Asia, provides employment opportunities to various segments of society, offering a range of courses from short-term certificates in adventure water sports training, lifeguard operations for beaches, and rescue operation training for defence personnel to long-term BBA and MBA courses in Travel and Tourism Management.

The design brief required the institute to achieve two key objectives: firstly, to make a bold, iconic statement with an expression that extends beyond mere functional pragmatism; and secondly, to adopt a fresh approach to typical Goan architecture—a language that is more global yet grounded, resonating with the vernacular through the use of local materials.

The design is a fine amalgamation of functional pragmatism and architectural aesthetics. What, according to you, led to M:OFA winning the competition?
MG: A clear design approach with a bold idea yet utilizing every local resource available. We had a clear narrative right from the beginning, the right balance of poetic expression with a systematic approach to its construction. We were looking for an expression that would integrate the cultural and economic importance of water sports into the educational fabric, ensuring that training and development for every local lifeguard to a tour operator in this field, is state of the art and globally competitive. With the use of local materials at the ground level and a poetic expression of the floating roof, we wanted a balanced relationship between the local ethos and the global approach.

We started by categorizing the functional brief into bigger zoning chunks. While the institutional, administrative, residential and recreational functions retained their individual zones, the space between them would be rather fluid and continuous, thereby creating these in-between sub-functions essential for informal interactions between various groups of people, defined by their roles on the campus. For the overall language, we searched for an expression that connects the architecture to its broader context, of the sea and the Goan town that resides alongside. Adventure water sports are perceived as a leisure activity, on the other hand, institutes usually tend to box in formal functions from the informal. Here, the surfers, who find the thrill in the sea, in order to retain their attention within the classrooms temporarily disconnected from that rush, we attempted to translate that adrenaline and the constant tension created between the forces of the sea and the surfers engulfed within them. It was important to create this fine balance between the practical day-to-day functionality yet maintaining this constant dynamism.

Your designs challenge conventional norms. And that is true even in this project. Take us through the firm’s design philosophy.

MG: M:OFA is more than 20 years old. We started as a firm that always questioned conventional norms and continued to push the envelope. Every project has been a research and development of a newer language and a system that has helped strengthen the subsequent project, giving the firm a solid foundation to stand upon. We strived for boldness, whether it’s the structure, unconventional planning to improve living quality or inventing newer construction systems and materials to push sustainability with longevity.

After analysing our practice and using that learning, M:OFA way of working can be summed up into three words—‘Bold with Less’. M:OFA has always strived to make clear, bold design statements, especially when it comes to urban or institutional architecture. We believe in creating spaces that uplift the human spirit from the day-today mundane, a kind of architecture that inspires every user, a clear narrative that’s more than just functional pragmatism. The ‘less’ is defined by the resources used in order to execute the boldness in our designs. We believe in the optimization of every resource; right from monetary to human, preservation of micro to balancing in sync with macro nature, energy consumption to carbon footprint, under every such vertical and many more undefined, the design is multi-layered, based on clear systematic approaches for every step. We use the highest level of technology available to us to define various systems.

These systems range from streamlining the functions to get the most efficient planning that optimizes human energy to a step-by-step construction methodology and engineering that optimizes financial resources as well as ensuring the lowest carbon footprint on site.

You can’t think about Goa without thinking about the sea and the beaches. How much did the topography and the context inspire the design?
MG: Goa, with 70% of its land along the coast, relies heavily on the sea for its economic growth. There’s a local saying: “In the Goan blood, God mixed some sea salt too.” Apart from fishing and tourism being the key industries, marine tourism has also evolved as an independent stream over the years.

The architecture for NIWS is inspired by the dynamic nature of the sea. It erupts, rises and folds into a series of trochoidal waves, ready to engulf everything that comes its way. Viewed from above, it appears like a mythical creature born from the adjoining Arabian Sea, mimicking its nature. While, from the ground, within its spaces, it appears to be in constant motion with its shifting perspectives. The eye doesn’t rest at a single point, with its multiple points of view and continuous movement spine, the architecture intends to blur the perceptible notions of its elements. The walls, floor plates and roofs indulge in this fluid dialogue at various points that once rendered by the ever-changing play of light and shadows; it creates this tense, disruptive narrative for its users like a theatre where motion is a constant and the pause is a search. The architecture thus, becomes a conduit, ensuring it’s not a static structure but a lively inspiration for adventurers gearing up for water sports.

The design is a stark deviation from the ‘form follows function’ narrative. Here, the form is as important as the functional aspects. How did you balance the two aspects?
MG: As mentioned above, we wanted the architecture to create a poetic yet disruptive statement at the urban level, like a sea wave. It’s disruptive, with its uncontrollable force that engulfs everything in its way, yet there is this human spirit that fights that force and that’s where the first seafarers and surfers were born. We were looking at an architectural expression that depicts this tension and balance at the same time.

One enters the building over the rainwater collection pond through a winding bridge that widens as it approaches the entrance foyer to accommodate student gatherings, thereby serving as an urban plaza. The corridors and plazas throughout the complex merge seamlessly, creating a fluid navigation along with a series of pockets with multifunctional spaces that can hold impromptu workshops to informal gatherings. The fluid planning of the building allows us to create seamless movements within various functions through the use of ramps and bridges, thereby making it inclusive for every user. Every part of the building including the pool can be accessed barrier-free making mobility easier for everyone. The connections between the classrooms to the library are seamless through the use of a wide bridge that not only acts as a connector but also as a semiformal reading and contemplation space. The auditorium can be accessed from three levels: the classroom level for seamless access for the students; the administration for the staff and teachers; and the internal plaza for outsiders. Hostels being a part of the main wing maintain their privacy yet with the shortest distance from the classrooms to make it easier for the students to attend classes on time.

The buildings have been oriented climatically to harness the incoming sea winds. The high roof within the classrooms and louvred screens at the upper level, the double roof over the hostels—all of it helps in creating the stack effect there by reducing the use of air-conditioning drastically. The embodied heat is further reduced by the double roofing pressure equalized system which allows the sea winds to enter between the two roofs thereby reducing the heat gain from the roof. The additional rainwater collection pond under the entrance bridge stacks natural rainwater in Goa to take care of the peak summer requirements thereby eliminating the use of groundwater during summers.

Given that it’s a government project of this scale translates into the fact that there are multiple stakeholders involved. How did you handle the multiple layers of bureaucracy?
MG: Building a project at this scale, with an expression that gives due importance to this kind of an institute, in extremely tight government budgets, came with its own plethora of challenges. The tight budgets and the lowest bid contract were two constraints that led us to adopt a systematic approach. The fund distribution across the project had to be equity-based through the choice of the right materials and the use of technology was needed to simplify construction methodology literally, like a child’s play. While one part of the office dealt with bureaucratic clearances, the other part was constantly simplifying and innovating newer, simpler methods of construction closer to the hard ground reality.

The functional planning went through a few iterations at the beginning of the project. While the competition brief had more area allocated to the academic and administrative zones compared to the residential zones, this ratio was reversed as we progressed and felt the need for a higher area allocation to student hostels as compared to administrative areas. Our intervention in optimizing and streamlining the functional areas yet fulfilling the university norms helped in creating multi-functional spaces that ultimately helped in controlling the overall costs of the project.

The materials used play an integral part in deciding the longevity of the structure, the visual impact, and the carbon footprint. Take us through your choice of materials.

Materials for finishing were decided on the basis of tight budgets and longevity to minimize the maintenance during the lifetime of the building. From the local granite dry louvered cladding (with air gaps between the structure and the cladding to reduce heat gain) to local laterite masonry walls, low emissivity glass that reflects 70% of heat and a lightweight double roof finished with low maintenance colourcoated Galvalume panels, the overall material palette contributes to reducing the overall carbon footprint.

The choice of materials was based on two factors—longevity in Goan climate and tight budgets. This meant that the materials had to be locally sourced and even if they were factory produced, their availability should be easy within that region to reduce the travel time and the overall carbon footprint. At the ground level, we intended to use more laterite vs granite as the former is supposedly a more local material than the latter. During the course of the project, after visiting a few local quarries, we realized that the prime laterite used in construction has already been depleted over the years and quarrying more will do a bigger damage to the local resources. Hence, we switched to more of Granite from the adjoining state with the use of minimal laterite in a single bold wall that surrounds the administrative block. The stoic nature of this wall symbolizes the solid grounded value system of the institute while the floating roof above acts as a counterpoint that is symbolic of the freenatured spirit of the young students within the institute.

The building’s constant motion is captured through the digital fabrication of the mega roof structure clad using colour-coated roofing sheets, allowing cost control in a government project with a limited budget. Resolved as a grid shell structure using trapezoidal panelling; the 4000sq m roof for NIWS drapes the entire complex like a free-flowing wave. It is designed as a lightweight structure with a pressure equalization system. Comprising more than 15000 pipes of varying lengths, the structure is constructed in smaller part modules, large enough to be lifted and put in place manually. Over 5000 customized roof panels, each with a unique shape and size, were CNC cut and folded to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle over the large parametric wave roof. The assembly creates continuous gutters, ensuring unobstructed water flow and making it one of the most complex digitally fabricated roofs in India.

What was the most fulfilling aspect of working on this project and why?
MG: The vision and the idea with which the project was started, was carried through till the end with complete support from all the stakeholders. Right from the beginning we had support from the Ministry of Tourism to the state government and the main contractor, everyone worked to make this dream project come to its fruition with the highest global standards maintained all throughout the project.

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