The CEO of one of India’s fastest-growing tech companies has built the country’s first house framed in mass timber. Located in Vagator in Goa, a tiny state off the west coast of the Indian Peninsula, the 8,650-square-foot (or 800-metre plus) dwelling is the new home of Sahil Barua—famous for saving Delhivery and making it India’s largest fully integrated logistics company – is fully wrapped in charred wooden panels overlooks the Arabian Sea. Mr Barua even kitted the house out with his very own woodshop in the basement!
Designed by Architecture Discipline, the home – which uses glue-laminated timbers prefabricated in New Delhi before being transported to Goa for final assembly – is “Monsoon proof” – with 11 exposed glulam portal beams, using wood as strong as steel, pitched over a block roof.
Sitting on the highest point of a heavily slopping block, with views of the Chapora River to the north and the Arabian Sea to the northwest, Akshatt Bhatt, the architect responsible for the house, said that preserving the site’s slope and vegetation was one of the most critical considerations in ensuring the dwelling left a lasting impression residents and visitors alike.
“The way the building touches the ground is important, as this is the level at which the user first establishes contact with the building,” Mr Bhatt said, adding that the house – perched on a foundation of stilts and concrete retaining walls – has a raised floor, which “not only minimises the cut and fill on the site but also protects the home from moisture and capillary action that could damage it over time.”
Inside, the interiors feature darkened timbers used extensively in furniture, partitions, and joinery, while the external facade is fully cladded in wood using the centuries-old Japanese yakisugi technique.
Fully durable and resistant to heat and moisture, yakisugi—which translates to ‘burned cedar’ in English—is, according to Mr Bhatt, “a perfect blend for Goa’s demanding climate,” giving the timbers a distinctive dark form against the rich greens of the surrounding trees.
- Click here to read more about India’s soaring demand for timber, which is now used in government buildings and private mid-rise and high-rise developments—including Antilia, one of the world’s largest private residencies, where mass timber has been used from top to bottom.
