The Fall of Correa's iconic Gateway

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the fall of Correa’s iconic gateway

A wave of new developments being carried out at Cidade de Goa, the 5 star resort designed by Charles Correa in the 1980S, threatens to sideline the essense of the place that he sought to achieve. The latest, the demolition of the famous entrance gateway. What does it mean for the complex?

The Cidade de Goa resort in Dona Paula is porbably more famous for the fact that it was designed by the great Charles Correa than for it being a five star luxury beach side getaway, atleast in the minds of architects. It remains however, a beautiful place to experience with mesmerizing vistas and a picturesque setting constantly ushering you to pinch yourself and ask ‘Is this real?’. Yet, it is its own biggest competition, and finds the need to constantly revamp itself inorder to keep up with the trends of the hospitality sector. It is this very reason that has bought the demolition of one of the iconic elements of Charles Correas masterplan; the entrance gateway.

Cidade de Goa, situated in Dona Paula, was built in 1982 based on a concept of a Iberian town by Charles Correa. In the roughly 1000sq.m of area he has created an entire experience of a town with little nooks and gimmicks to characterize it. It has all the feels of a Goan town, or village, rather as it explores the century old relationship shared between land and water, central to the Goan identity. It therefore serves as a great modern icon for the place.

Cidade de Goa is no stranger to change. It has undergone major refurbishment and extension works ever since its inception in 1982. Architect Ralino De Souza comes to mind, who designed the new wing symmetrically opposite to the main block and executed it so sensitively that it blends in seamlessy with Correas building. Infact, the onlooker would think that it was all designed by Correa himself. However, in recent times, change seems to have accelerated in the complex, with a new hotel block being built right behind the original quatros of the resort.

This divides the site into two very distinct parts - the lower one with the original resort (and other structures) by Charles Correa, and the upper portion with the new hotel on the cliff. The entrance driveway would then be required to be the focal nodal point from which circulation to either is carried out. Hence one can see the owners desire to demolish the entrance gate for a bigger and more grander one befitting the

increased capacity and footfall.

The old gateway would pleasantly greet passers by on the Dr. E Borges Road

Now you might think - why the fuss over just a simple gateway? But is that all it is was? a structure like any other, built in stone to certain dimensions and plastered and painted over? Wrong. This, just like the other buildings, was no ordinary piece of architecture. For one, it was the face of the resort; It was the only parcel of built form that stood facing the main road warmly greeting passers by while also cordially inviting visitors into the site for a memorable experience. One can reminisce about the friendly exchanges with the security guards while they asked you to open your trunk for security check. Once you were good to go, you would then embark from there to the lower part of the resort.

The gateway was also a vital part of the concept of the resort. Anyone familiar with the design and layout of the resort will know that it is but a mixture of fragmented abstract pieces of imagery which on the whole unite together to give the visitor the experience of a lifetime, etched into the soul. This experience is sequential, built up slowly in the visitor at each stage, taking him around like a rollercoaster. Take away the first and most important part, and you ruin the whole thing. Much like watching the climax of a movie without the whole build up.

Through visual imagery, Correa has made the mundane extraordinary. A wall in the passage of the lobby is therefore not just a wall, but a street leading to you to different experiences, painted ofcourse, but adding a ‘fourth dimension’ to the space. Correa roped in many famous painters from Mumbai for this trompe l’oeil which reaches its height at the entrance traffic circle, with the soldiers guarding the door.

Changing Times : the new multi storey hotel juts above the landscape overlooking the resort. Note the right wing building by Architect Ralino De Souza on the right, blending seamlessly into the surrounding environs

So the gateway is part of a much larger scheme of things, and its strategic position as the first of all these elements, the one that kick starts all of it gives it prime importance, a bit like the show starter which sets the tone for things to come, makes it all the more harder to swallow this new development. Once one passes the gate, one would descend onto the road carved out in the rock to ultimately lead to the complex. Not to mention, the entrance was also a part of the logo of Cidade de Goa. Clearly, we can see how important it is.

Correa once wrote about this sort of multi fragmented experience. ‘As a young architect, I’m perplexed by the contrary attitudes of two quite different thought processes...one which produces architecture which has very strong conceptual ideas - but which you do not really linger beyond the first five minutes.’ while the other ‘which does not involve any holistic schema at all’. Cidade de Goa clearly follows the second thought process - it is but a ‘series of spellbinding effects, one after another, perhaps without any real inter-relationshop - except, ofcourse, that one set-piece follows the previous one in a knockout sequence’. The same concept is followed, as he points out, in Chinese Gardens where the sum is greater than the part.

So before anyone dismisses the demolition of the entrance gate as an ordinary event, it is best to go deep down into the ethos that Correa has fixed into the site. Only then will one know the implications of the act. However, in order to prevent sounding too clingy... we must move on. What comes in the place of it remains to be seen but no matter how big or grand it may be, it would never quite compare to Correas gateway. The resort will survive and continue to hit the heights and won’t really be affected by it. But those who have experienced the transition through that gateway will know what a good feeling it was. Sadly, noone can experience it ever again and all that remains of it is photographs and memories in people’s hearts.

References: Frampton, K. (1997). Charles Correa. Thames & Hudson; Correa, C. (2010). A Place in the Shade. Gurgaon: Penguin Books