Sthapatya Ved in the USA - Upstate House Mag. Feb. 2006 - Vedic architecture employs ancient design

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ENLIGHTENED DESIGN

Vedic architecture employs ancient design principles to promote peace and

well-being

 

Upstate House Magazine

February 2006, http://upstatehouse.com/article.php?issue=31&dept=43&id=472

 

By Susan Hodara, Photos by Linda Bell Hall

 

In the four years that Terry and Bernard Nevas have lived in their Weston,

Conn., home, their lives, they will tell you, have never been better. Their

sleep is refreshing, their meals are nourishing, their work is productive.

Though their two children are grown, Ms. Nevas says she feels "a deepening

richness of experience within our family." As for their 30-year marriage, Mr.

Nevas says, "We had a perfect marriage before we moved into our vastu, and now

it is even more perfect."

 

The Nevases' vastu is their airy, sun-filled, 4,200-square-foot home situated at

the top of a winding, tree-lined driveway. "Vastu" is the Indian word for a

structure built according to the ancient architectural principles known as

Sthapathya Ved—one of 40 Vedic bodies of knowledge dating back to 2500 B.C. and

addressing a range of topics from the arts to the sciences. Sthapathya Ved,

which some say lent concepts to the Chinese feng shui, dictates the precise

layout, orientation, and dimensions—down to 1/16 of an inch—for a building that

is aligned most closely with the laws of nature, and thereby maximizes the

well-being of its inhabitants.

 

Currently in the planning stages is the first Sthapathya Ved home in New York.

The house will be built on four acres in Bedford Hills by Elizabeth and Hollis

Taggart, who are currently renting in Bedford, and who have constructed two

other Sthapathya Ved homes, one in Boone, N.C., and one on Kiawah Island, S.C.

What convinced them to build a Sthapathya Ved house here, says Ms. Taggart, a

writer, was their seven-year-old son, Lincoln. "After we'd been in our rental

for seven months, he told me, 'I love this house, but I don't feel as protected

here,' she says. "That was last February. We started looking for land in March."

 

Terry and Bernard Nevas learned of Sthapathya Ved through their over 30 years of

meditation and involvement with Transcendental Meditation. They are the

directors of the Maharishi Enlightenment Center of Mid-Fairfield County,

currently located in their home, where they teach meditation. They built their

house in collaboration with Neil Hauck, of Neil Hauck Architects, LLC, in

Darien, Conn., and a Sthapathya Ved architectural consultant in Iowa responsible

for ensuring that the design conformed to Vedic principles.

 

Sthapathya Ved buildings have been constructed across the globe in an assortment

of styles, including log cabins, Swiss chalets, and stone villas. The Taggart

home, says Ms. Taggart, blends "the best of American architecture." The Nevas

residence is a hybrid, says Hauck, of "colonial and Connecticut farmhouse with

classical Italianate influences." But regardless of size, form, or location, all

such homes have common elements.

One is a fence surrounding the structure; the Nevases' is white picket. "The

vastu fence delineates an area around the house that is protected," says Mr.

Nevas. "Its placement is determined mathematically."

 

Atop the house are five conical finials—kalashes, in Sanskrit—positioned where

sections of the roof intersect. Their role, Mr. Nevas explains, is to connect

the individual to the cosmos, and he adds, he and Ms. Nevas have experienced

their power. While constructing another Sthapathya Ved home in North Carolina a

decade ago, they made regular visits to monitor its progress. "At one point,"

Mr. Nevas says, "we arrived at night. It hadn't been long since our last visit,

and not much had been done, but something was different. We felt peaceful and

energized, but we didn't know why. The next morning, we saw that the kalash had

been placed on the roof."

 

Another feature of a Vedic home is its Brahmasthan, the exact center, again

measured mathematically and sized in proportion to the rest of the house. "The

Brahmasthan is the center of lively silence that supports everything else in the

house," says Ms. Nevas. Within the Nevases' Brahmasthan sits a table holding an

ornate floral arrangement. The area surrounding it is demarcated by four

floor-to-ceiling columns, and the Brahmasthan itself extends to the roof, where

it is bordered by windows on all sides. "Nothing travels through the

Brahmasthan," says Ms. Nevas. "It is a space that is unused."

 

The Nevases' front door is well used, however, because it faces east in what was

determined to be the most auspicious place to enter the house. According to

Vedic principles, the orientation of the entrance governs an array of

influences. East, the most advantageous direction, promotes enlightenment and

fulfillment, while south, the least desirable, brings destruction and loss. If

an east-facing entryway is impossible, north is an acceptable alternative. Mr.

Hauck notes that, although he would normally have centered the Nevases' door,

Vedic calculations required that it be shifted off-center.

 

The placement of rooms and the orientation of some of the furnishings also

follow Sthapathya Ved wisdom. The kitchen is in the southeast corner, "where the

warmth of the sun kindles digestive qualities," Ms. Nevas says. Sinks face north

and stoves face east. "In India, much of Vedic knowledge has been lost," she

notes, "but people still know to put their stoves against the east wall."

 

The dining room is on the south side, where, Ms. Nevas continues, "the rays of

the midday sun are good for the metabolism." While it is ideal to face east

while eating, she acknowledges, "it would be pretty unsociable if everybody

always faced east," and adds that she sits opposite her husband when they dine.

 

Mr. Nevas's office is in the southwest corner ("where the man's office should

be," Ms. Nevas says), with a corner desk facing east and north. A meditation

room, a feature in all Sthapathya Ved homes, is off the entryway on the

northeast side; it is, she says, "for quiet purposes—meditation, praying, doing

yoga."

 

Upstairs, the master bedroom faces southwest ("to catch the setting sun"). The

children's bedrooms follow dictates for male and female child: south side and

north side, respectively. All beds are positioned so sleepers lie with their

heads to the east. Even the bathroom abides by the Veda, with toilet and sink

facing north.

 

An important aspect of Sthapathya Ved is the use of natural materials, which

affected numerous choices throughout the Nevases' house. They heat and cool

their home with a geothermal system that uses an electric pump to draw in

subterranean water. The walls are six inches thick and insulated with cellulose

instead of fiberglass. (A renewable-energy expert advised them that solar power

was not an appropriate option for their location, as they would have to rely

heavily on backup sources).

 

The wood floors have a water-based finish. Wall coverings are made from natural

grasses and cloth applied with nontoxic paste; walls that are painted use

low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint. Tiles are ceramic; furniture fibers

are cotton, linen, or silk; rugs are vegetable-dyed, nontoxic wool. The beds are

made in organic cotton sheets and wool mattress pads. An organic lawn-care

service cares for the garden.

 

The bottom line, the Nevases avow, is that their quality of life has been

enhanced. "We followed the requirements to a T," Ms. Nevas says. "It all feels

right."

 

The Nevases are not alone in acclaiming the benefits of Sthapathya Ved.

Houseguests, Ms. Nevas says, "come for a day and stay for a week." Ms. Taggart

notes that since moving to her non–Sthapathya Ved rental, "I don't have the same

vitality as I did in Boone. Fatigue is harder to flush out." In Boone, she

continues, "I'd never experienced such a flow with my writing. When we moved to

Bedford, it kind of dried up."

 

Hauck agrees that the design of the Nevas house brings positive influences to

the family, but says, "My personal belief is that it works two ways. The Nevases

are peaceful, intelligent, and enlightened, and they in turn charge their house

with positive energy. There is a constant cycling, similar to the process of

evaporation, condensation, and precipitation."

 

"The whole basis of Vedic architectural principles is to create as healthy an

environment as possible," he continues, "starting with the individual room,

extending to the individual building, and aiming toward the construction of

ideal towns and cities. These priorities are quite different from those for most

buildings being built today, where the driving forces tend to be style,

function, or profit."

 

Mr. Nevas illuminates those priorities further: "Maharishi has stated that the

reason world peace cannot be attained, despite ongoing efforts for so many

centuries, is that people are living in homes that create unpeaceful

individuals. That is why it is so important that more people live in Sthapathya

Ved houses. Basically, this is a massive reconstruction program to create world

peace." Until that is accomplished, those like the Nevases and the Taggarts are

pursuing personal peace. "The body houses our faculties and our souls," says Ms.

Taggart. "The house houses our bodies. There is great potential for the home to

serve its inhabitants more than we know.

 

"Day and night, it adds up," she continues. "If you know it's available, and you

can provide it to your family—that's what life's about."

 

To tour the Nevas house, call (203) 227-7590 or e-mail Media.

 

 

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