At The Cove in Assagao, Goa by Rya Interiors, arched openings bring Goan sensibility to the 4,500-square-foot holiday villa. Drawing from the forms of traditional Indian homes and Goan residences, the arches appear alongside white textured walls, cobalt-blue fenestrations, terracotta accents and sloping roofs, recast in a more restrained contemporary expression. Expansive arched thresholds frame the surrounding tropical greenery, while sunlight dappling through them creates a shifting interplay of light and shadow. Around the pool, arches, patterned tiles and ambient lighting heighten the villa’s Indo-Portuguese lineage, lending the setting an old-Goan charm.
Arches Beneath a Forest Canopy
A groin-vaulted ceiling inspired by the criss-crossing branches of a forest canopy, transforms the passageway into an immersive architectural experience.
In Ramayan House, designed by Envisage Architects, the passageway ceiling draws on the experience of moving beneath a forest canopy, translating a scene from the Ayodhya Kaand into an architectural experience. A groin vault traces the intersecting forms of branches overhead, while light and shadow animate the arched geometry as one moves through the space.
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Arches at Every Threshold
A sequence of arches leads from the foyer through the passage, each one framing a different part of the house.
For RGP Design Studio, arches and archways become a structural throughline, connecting the home’s separate zones into one continuous sequence. At Janki House, the approach begins in the foyer, which opens through four proportioned arches, each leading to a different part of the house. The motif continues across the first-floor passage, garden walls and stone boundary wall. Curved and chamfered wall ends and vaulted ceilings soften the geometry further, while terracotta tiles, timber and stone reinforce the sense of continuity.