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Issue #17:
July, 2012
Welcome to our Issue
- A Tribute to the revival of Vedic knowledge
- Natural Materials, Superior Insulation
- Our Latest Videos
- The Effect of living in Maharishi Vastu
PUBLISHED BY:
Maharishi Vastu® Architecture, Applying the principles of Maharishi Vastu design
641-472-7570 (phone)
641-472-8691 (fax)
info@maharishivastu.org
About Us
Live or work in Maharishi Vastu and gain a powerful influence of fulfillment, happiness and perfect health for the rest of your life.
Maharishi Vedic® architecture provides the universal rules and principles to design buildings, developments and cities to bring the beneficial influence of all the laws of nature to human life.
Maharishi Vastu is the holistic science of establishment that connects the parts to the whole, the individual to the cosmic.
What we offer to you:
- Pre-designed plans for homes and larger buildings.
- Custom design of homes by affiliated architects.
- Site evaluation: to help you find an ideal site.
- Master Planning for developments and communities.
- Consultation services: to ensure that your architect’s custom design will have a fully nourishing influence.
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Copyright © 2011 Maharishi Vastu, Fortune-Creating, Maharishi Sthapatya Veda, Maharishi Vedic, are registered trademarks used under sublicense or with permission.
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A Tribute to the revival of Vedic knowledge
Sitting high above the confluence of the rivers, Ganges, Jamuna and Saraswati, The Maharishi Smarak* is a spectacular sight.
Located on the west bank of the confluence opposite the city of Allahabad, the building is visible from all over and is a fitting tribute to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s revival of the ancient vedic knowledge, including Maharishi Vedic architecture.
The buildings use only the best and most advanced Mandir construction. It is fully carved inside and out with no iron support of any kind, completely built with interlocking stones and beams. Every aspect of the construction is being overseen by a Sthapati (vedic architect) whose expertise is in this type of Vastu building.
The core of the main building is the Hall of Silence whose walls will be lined with skillfully executed marble panels displaying the most significant themes of the Vedic knowledge as revived by Maharishi.
We know everyone will enjoy watching the incredible and most recent video updating the progress of the buildings’ construction. To view, go here (and be sure to wait until the music begins about 1 minute into the video footage).
Clearly the Maharishi Smarak will stand as a timeless memorial to the eternal wisdom of vedic life re-enlivened for the world by His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
* The word Smarak is derived from Smiriti and means Memorial
Natural Materials, Superior Insulation
Two ideal systems for building Maharishi Vastu homes have been put to work in several recent projects in Europe and the US. One of these systems is still virtually unknown in the US though common in Europe, and the other is gaining fans among homeowners, architects and builders in the US.
Many of you have seen this picture and been following the story on our Facebook page of the construction in progress on the Peace Palace in Erfurt, Germany. The first story of the building utilizes the ideal building method of the Master Builder system. The second floor is being constructed of large bricks, known commercially as Poroton bricks.
These external wall bricks can measure up to 16 inches in thickness and have superior building and insulating qualities. Similar to the Master Builder system panels, they utilize air to create a super insulation. In this case, the brick material is mixed very precisely with sawdust and then fired to a high temperature. In the heating process, the sawdust is dissolved and air pores remain. These enclosed air “pores” provide thermal insulation. The porosity of the clay blocks and a carefully designed geometry intelligently reduce heat losses through exterior walls.
Used as the internal wall system, Poroton blocks help control temperature peaks and troughs. High room temperature reached through solar gain is absorbed and stored in the walls. This heat is slowly released back into the room as the surrounding temperature drops. The dual capacity of the bricks to thermally store and insulate can keep a building cool in summer and warm in winter.
Not only does this provide a high degree of insulation, but also promotes the exchange of humidity between indoor and outdoor environments. The bricks maintain the indoor relative humidity and keep wall surfaces dry and room climate comfortable due to their moisture control properties. Poroton bricks have the lowest natural moisture equilibrium of all building materials and are vapor permeable.
These bricks have been available for some time in Europe but are still not manufactured in the US. Take a look at what can be achieved on the level of beauty and symmetry using these bricks and stucco exterior as shown in this example of a Maharishi Vastu home in Holland.
But, in the US, parts of the middle east, China, India and Australia, as well as Europe, a similar technology is used employing concrete by adding air pores through a series of induced chemical reactions caused by the presence of naturally occurring elements in the materials. In Holland and Germany, it is thought to be the second most utilized and inexpensive building material after the Poroton bricks. Because it is easy to handle even for do it yourself builders, it is available at every European town’s home improvement construction store. Similar to log kit homes, you can purchase whole house construction sets to build your own home with this system and you can even put it together, block by block yourself.
The common name for this building material is autoclaved, aerated concrete block or AAC for short, and was invented in the mid 1920’s by a Swedish architect. A highly thermally insulating material, it is used for both internal and external construction. Besides the insulating capability, one of its advantages in construction is its quick and easy installation as the blocks can be routed, sanded, and cut to size on site using standard carbon steel band saws, hand saws, and drills. The most common brand name of AAC is Hebel. It is in either blocks or panels.
When AAC/Hebel is cast in forms, several chemical reactions take place that give AAC its light weight (which is as low as 20% of the weight of concrete) and thermal properties by creating air pores, just as in the Poroton bricks. Then, during a steam pressure hardening (autoclaving) process, more chemical reactions take place to create AAC’s high strength and other unique properties. One of the most attractive aspects to AAC construction is its lower environmental impact over other cement construction materials. Its improved thermal efficiency reduces the heating and cooling load in a building; its relatively light weight saves cost and energy in transportation and in labor handling; its flexibility in size minimizes solid waste, and its resource efficiency means its environmental impact is low in all phases of its life cycle.
Several Maharishi Vastu homes have been built in the US using AAC block several in Vero Beach, Florida and Austin, Texas.
Another is under construction in South Carolina. View a photo album of the Vero Beach homes.
Both of these superior construction systems achieve a high standard as natural and non-toxic materials, a principle of great importance in building a Maharishi Vastu home.
Our Latest Videos
We have been busy making new videos for you to enjoy and be inspired by! If you have not seen them, be sure to visit: www.VastuTV.com.
The first is Jon Lipman’s guided tour of the Sustainable Living Center recently opened at Maharishi University of Management’s campus in Iowa. A classroom building and living laboratory for the students in the university’s Sustainable Living program, this building has many unique and beautiful features. You can view all of these and hear Jon describe a building that combines the best of green, self-sustaining energy systems with the human, sustaining qualities of Vedic design and construction principles.
Next is the interview of Christian Hoffman, who along with his father Eric, constructed a prototype tiny cabin according to the principles of Maharishi Vedic architecture. More than 200 people visited the cabin during a public open house and a conference held the following day at MUM’s Sustainable Living Center.
The next video is a slide show of our newest portfolio, the Classic Series. With houses ranging from 750 SF (70 SM) to 4500 SF (418 SM) these homes display the beauty, symmetry and elegance of a classic mansion available in a wide range of sizes as well as a variety of landscapes and functions.
Finally, we have just posted another progress video on the Peace Palace construction in Erfurt, Germany. The exterior walls are now fully stuccoed and the scaffolding has been removed so you can see the building’s true beauty shining forth!
The Effect of living in Maharishi Vastu
Many people have told us wonderful stories over the years related to their experiences of the value of their Vastu fence. Here are a sampling of more recent anecdotes related to us.
From a client about to complete her house:
“When the Vastu fence went up continuously around the house yesterday and I returned to find it finished, I walked inside and a pure silence had overtaken the house. It was as though before there was a constant barrage of activity coming inside from all directions and all of a sudden with the advent of the Vastu fence, it all totally stopped. Silence pervades everything there now. And when I am gone from the Vastu, I can still feel the silence inside.”
From another longtime homeowner:
…I feel very protected and safe in this house. If some storm is raging outside, I somehow feel that all is well as long as I am in our house….” This homeowner had a large tree limb go down during a significant wind storm last summer and while the limb, which was close to 12 inches in diameter, fell inside the fence, it landed on the ground without doing any damage to the house or the gardens surrounding the house.. And, this is a very compact Vastu with a mere 10 feet between the edge of the house and the fence!
We know from previous articles published on our blog page that there is a very powerful shield created around the house and its inhabitants. The Vedic texts ascribe this effect as coming from the Vastu fence - a very specific, marked area, sized according to Vedic dimensions and proportions, surrounding the Maharishi Vastu home or building.
To read these previous articles visit: http://www.maharishivastu.org/news/texas-fires-stalled-by-vastu-shield-effect.html
and http://www.maharishivastu.org/news/hurricane-irene-versus-maharishi-vastu.html |
