“Sukoon is the word that came to my mind when I first saw Villa Brisa – harmonious, serene, and a warm home surrounded by sprawling views of the paddy fields and the lush Anjuna hills on the other side.”
– MR. RAJEEV VYAS, HOME OWNER
At Villa Brisa, texture and materiality take centre stage in this contemporary ode to the Portuguese aesthetic.
Nestled in Goa’s Anjuna on a 10,500 sq.ft. plot of land lies Villa Brisa. The four-bedroom home was designed as a modern Portuguese retreat for Mr. Rajeev Vyas and took 19 months to complete.
Deviating from the traditional Portuguese design colour, here, a palette of beige, cream, yellow and blue come together, while elements of the aesthetic such as tiles (the main door has blue tiles panelled above), flooring and the structure of the home were maintained. The home is a play on textures and materials in a herringbone pattern—the materiality ranges from Shahabad stones and rough marble laid in a mosaic format to polished wood and terrazzo. The entire design of the home started evolving from this rough and polished stone look, while the kitchen features terrazzo flooring. The wall surfaces are plain white with niches here and there to enhance depth.
The living and dining area feature expansive double-height ceilings from which 10 ft. modern brass chandeliers are suspended. The den or games room is on the first floor and you can look into the living and dining area from here.
With the colour palette of the whole home being white, beige and cream, the use of wood adds further warmth. The client’s brief was that the home should look light and airy and exude warmth. The first floor features two bedrooms and the games room.
In the bedrooms, white and yellow and white and blue are the dominant colour. The designers played around with the curtains, using sheer curtains over the floor-to-ceiling windows to bring in the beautiful landscape. The high walls of the compound allow for privacy while also protecting from direct sunlight, thereby suffusing the room with beautiful golden light.
The other bedroom has a thatched roof that is 1.5 times higher than a normal roof. With this incredible height, a wooden four-poster bed and interesting hanging light fixtures add to the drama and scale of the room.
Outside, the designers focused on a tropical mood board with the landscaping, adding decorative lamps, a pond and elements of a fish and wave design to bring in the surrounding water bodies. The landscape gives an ‘infinity’ effect because there is no construction or any structures around. It instead flows into unmarred greenery with views of paddy fields and swaying coconut trees.
Highlights: Herringbone patterned flooring in the living room that continues from the floor to the wall. The herringbone used here consists of broken chips—more than 10,000 stones—that were physically hand-cut and hand-pasted in a certain format, even on the walls.
Staircase: Everything from the risers to handlers is in wood. There are plain white walls with polished Burma teak wood with a larger-than-life chandelier hanging above.
Swimming pool: Usually, pools have a 1.2 metre step to get in, but here there are end-to-end steps on the shorter length of the swimming pool, giving the feeling that you are walking straight into the pool. The pool overlooks lush paddy fields and gives a sense of an infinity pool.
The details: While the entire home has an underlying concept of Modern Portuguese style, we wanted to go a little offbeat with the artefacts. We used Arabesque elements in terms of sculptures in the niches on the walls, vases, and so on. To tie in the whole look, we had a larger-than-life rug in a modern design.
The terrace: The terrace area is a nice, cozy semi-covered area with a bar and seating that overlooks the landscape.