A larger-than-life, silvery mythical creature appears to have found an anchor around the Arabian Sea; its bulbous wings mimic the passionate dance of the ocean waves. The image in discussion is the architecture of the National Institute of Water Sports (NIWS) in Goa, India, designed by New Delhi-based architectural firm M:OFA Studios. Completed in 2023, the 12075 square metres complex was commissioned to the architects as the winning entry of an international design competition that sought a daring landmark for a first of its kind water sports institute in Asia. The facility, equipped to provide short-term and long-term courses related to water sports, rescue operations for the defence forces and MBA in tourism, ensued close to 8,000 drawings that were meticulously prepared by M:OFA’s team for the granular articulation of certain architectural details for onsite construction.

A public institute also visualised as a mega urban art installation at the seafront that fluidly weaves in its fabric the pragmatic functional aspects of an adventure sports facility, the sports architecture abolishes the use of a corridor and the distinction between interior formal space and an outdoor informal one. The wave-like composition of the architectural form is beautifully facilitated by a mega grid shell roof, conceived through digital fabrication. The 4000 square metres roof, composed of trapezoidal panelling which involved the use of over 5000 customised colour-coded panels, has been fitted like a jigsaw puzzle over an unobstructed grid shell.

“We never looked at it as a static building, but more as a poetic expression from day one, a full-fledged educational Institute that appears as a mega art installation becoming a major landmark for Goa,” Manish Gulati, founder and principal architect of M:OFA Studios, tells STIR over a video conversation. Responding to the project’s vision that sought an architecture that goes beyond functional pragmatism to embody a language that is global yet equally rooted in its place, the architects hinged the design on tying the thrill associated with adventure water sports to spatial zoning. Contrary to the planning of traditional institutional setups where spaces are boxed into formal and informal pockets, NIWS features a fluid design that blurs typical spatial categorisations such as that between classrooms and corridors.

The complex comprises institutional, administrative and residential zones that collide with informal recreational spaces, creating a dynamic wave-like effect. Large open spaces close to 10 ft x 20ft wide double as impromptu areas for workshops, student gatherings and interactions; the sites often turn into spirited classrooms throughout the day. Gulati discussed the refinement of the design, particularly given how the brief shifted its focus from a free concept in the competition stage to a programme-oriented scheme when the project began. He says, “By the time the functional brief came in, we realised it needed far more residential space than the academic. The entire hostel was almost three times what the competition brief had outlined. Classrooms had to be much lesser.”

Dwelling on the overarching idea of locating spaces on the site, Gulati adds, “We imagined the whole institute to be a large conduit, within which we slotted the classrooms. Every formal function is a zoning inside an informal space, which is a very different way of looking at a building, particularly what brings the aspect of fluidity in. There is no typical corridor in this building but large open spaces which become the zones for student interactions.”

A video capturing the complex shows skateboarders zipping through a continuously elevated bridge and making their way into the shaded semi-indoor sections of the complex. The effortless movement of the skateboarders, as Gulati describes, “depicts that you literally could go from any point of the building to another without stepping up and down anywhere, thereby reinforcing the idea of fluid mobility.”

There is no formal entry to the institute. An arrival foyer is avoided, a feature typically found in government buildings, that lets you drop someone off or pick them up from a specific point on site. “You enter at three different points in this building. There is no drop-off. In fact, we didn't want the cars to come to the building at all. There is a side ramp that takes them to the basement or the ground floor area,” he explains. The architect further adds that people initially thought the bridge—that starts as a thin path and becomes very wide at its mouth—was designed for vehicular traffic. Instead, the mouth of the building is a space of congregation for students, a place that can pack over 100 people at a time.

One entrance to the institute winds around a water body that leads into the student zone constituting the student lounges. The second ingress point cuts through a building with an auditorium and classrooms and another that has a library and the administration on either side. The third entry is via the student plaza that takes you either to the hostel on one side or to the guest rooms on the other. One aspect that ties the three entrances is how they converge to the centre—a large open space constituting a dining area for the students, like a knot to these fluid wings.

Draping the entire complex like a wave is its shimmering roof. Much like a wave that erupts at one point and collides with multiple waves as it violently gushes on, the roof emerges as a fierce force of its own. Lending the building the image of an urban art installation that could be seen from the sky, it plays a major role in imparting the project its iconicity and functional pragmatism. From writhing above the classrooms before it moves out and covers the informal student plaza across certain areas—everything happens under the roof. “To make a roof like this”, Gulati comments, “there's a huge amount of engineering that went behind it. It's not easy to build a roof like this with an L1 contractor in this country where you're not using any mechanical means. And to build it manually, we had to break it down like a kit of parts.” Over 5,000 customised roof panels were CNC cut and folded to fit within the parametric wave roof. As per M:OFA Studios, the assembly resulted in the making of one of the most complex digitally fabricated roofs in India.

The material palette of the project was further attuned to the brief that sought references to the Goan context while prioritising longevity and a reduced carbon footprint. Where the use of local granite dry louvred cladding that involved air gaps between the structure and the cladding reduced heat gain, the local laterite masonry walls control the microclimate. Furthermore, a low emissivity glass on walls reflects 70 per cent of heat and the lightweight double roof with pressure equalisation system is finished with low maintenance colour-coated Galvalume panels.

A project of immense scale, ambition and rigour, the protracted journey of realising NIWS traversed several negotiations with different stakeholders on multiple stages of the development. From navigating tedious government protocols to convincing the locals of the nearby village of the workings of the project and the granular articulation of the roof form to the contractor, it was quite a journey for the design team. “The concept got over 10 years ago but to have it up and running is what was the fun part—the most painful perhaps, but at the same time very interesting,” observes Gulati. 

STIR asked him if NIWS has been the most ambitious and experimental project of his practice so far, a studio that he established in 2002 as a multidisciplinary atelier that celebrates lines, tectonics, flow and nature. From masterplans, sports facilities, residences and institutes, to resorts, restaurants, offices and temporary installations, the vast spectrum of the projects is backed by exhaustive research and a combination of intuitive and parametric processes. NIWS, Gulati concludes with a smile, “got executed to its full capacity”, which offered an affirmative response. “There have been far more experimental, much larger ambitious projects, but either they have not seen the light of the day or they're still in the making.”

Project Details

Name: National Institute of Water Sports
Location: Panjim, Goa, India
Typology: Sports Institution
Office: M:OFA Studios
Lead Architect: Manish Gulati
Design Team: Abhishek Sorampuri, Anuj Mittal, Saurabh Singla, Aakanksha Hajela, Tanushree Verma, Sonakshi Madan
Gross Built Area: 12075 sqm
Year of Completion: 2023