"Balcão" and the Goan manor houses: anatomy of a singular architectural element

Abstract

The Goan balcão is one of the most striking elements of Goan residential architecture and one of the attributes that is usually mentioned regarding the “Goanness” of Goan houses both for its architectural characteristics and the enormous cultural and social burden associated with it. The balcão precedes the main entrance to the Goan manor house and usually consists of a staircase of greater or lesser apparatus that offers access to a space flanked by masonry benches that can function as a semi-outdoor living space. Its importance in the context of Goan Brahmin Catholic houses can be seen in the individualisation and independentisation of this architectural element within the overall ensemble of the house, having taken on its own forms and expressions that have been replicated, reinterpreted, and reinvented over time.