Author: Susan Hodara
Publication: Upstate House Magazine
Date: February 2006
URL: http://upstatehouse.com/article.php?issue=31&dept=43&id=472
Vedic architecture employs ancient design
principles to promote peace and well-being.
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."
