English
Court
Quepem, Goa, India
Equipment and Infrastructures
The Quepem Court building was designed between 1910 and 1912 and is situated by the road accessing Sanvordem on the right bank of the Paroda River, where the town begins to expand to an area deemed to offer better living conditions. The same structure was also meant to house the Records Office and the Building Registry. The year the work began is not known, though it was under construction in 1914 and was renovated in 1960. It is likewise not known whether the renovations were far-reaching or changed the building’s functions in any way. The structure seen nowadays is a U-shaped building with central accesses and interior distribution corridors facing the patio open to the northwest. The main façade has a simple symmetrical vocabulary with a metal- structured central veranda. The judges’ offices are in a more private area on the first floor, next to the audience hall accesses. On the ground floor are the public attendance offices, while the archive and work offices are at the back. The central area where the accesses are located functions on both floors as a public waiting area. The first floor is cross-ventilated by the veranda on the main façade and the gallery at the back. But the rooms are generally poorly ventilated. As in most period public buildings, the first floor has full-length windows, though the main façade veranda and the way the building is organised inside indicate some concern regarding climate. The site was chosen with a view to stimulating urban growth by erecting a public building and shows options similar to those used in the territory’s other main cities.