Role of Vaastu in Contemporary Residential Design

By Shubhra Kannan and Vibhavari Jani.

Published by Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal

Format	Price
Article: Print	$US10.00
Article: Electronic	$US5.00

Within the fraternity of environmental psychology, growing
concern towards human health
and environment quality has revived the viewpoint of
designers and planners for residential planning.
Researchers have shown the importance of ambient indoor
environment for the maintenance of residences
Quality of Life (QOL) and Health. Also alongwith the design
of the house person’s characteristics
play an important role in the formation of the perception,
belief and attitude toward the residential
environment and its satisfaction. To maintain the
residential QOL and health, ancient Indian science
of building i.e. Vaastu is becoming more popular these days
in India. On the basis of topographical,
climate and energy system, vaastu talks about the
significance of different directions (north, east, south
west, northeast, northwest, south and southwest) in
residential planning. A building designed according
to Vaastu claims to ensure better health and QOL of the
residences. Based on the above notion, present
study applied ANOVA and Regression analysis to analyze the
impact of Vaastu principles. For this
purpose, 64 participants from vaastu and non-vaastu
residences were administered the measure of
‘Housing Evaluation’, ‘Housing Satisfaction’ and WHO-QOL
short version. Result showed that main
effect of Vaastu played a significant role for Housing
Evaluation, Housing Satisfaction, overall QOL
and Environment QOL dimension. Further same data was
analyzed for Vaastu predictability and was
found that Vaastu as a predictor didn’t play a significant
role for QOL but Housing Satisfaction emerged
as a significant predictor. Implications of the findings
are discussed in the light of person’s perception
of residential design.

Keywords:	Architecture, Environmental Psychology, Design Perception

Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5, pp.75-90. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 1.890MB).

Dr. Shubhra Kannan

Independent Researcher, Greenfield, Wisconsin, USA

Shubhra Kannan is an idependent researcher. She aspires to establish herself as a Design Research Consultant. Shubhra had worked with various organizations as an independent design researcher in Bangalore, India. Shubhra holds a Ph.D. in environmental Psychology from D.D.U.Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, UP, India (2005). Her Ph.D. work reflects how the residential environment in the city of Gorakhpur, UP, India affects the inhabitants and what features of residential environment is essential for the inhabitants of the city of Gorakhpur, UP, India. Her work also studied Vaastu, one of the ancient Indian science of building. Shubhra has presented many papers at various conferences and is active member of APA and EDRA.

Prof. Vibhavari Jani

Professor, School of Architecture, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana, USA

Prof. Vibhavari Jani was trained as an architect, interior designer, painter, singer, and as a dancer and serves as a Cunningham Endowed Professor of the Interior Design Program within the School of Architecture at Louisiana Tech University. She holds a Master of Arts degree from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad, India. She received a Gold Medal for her undergraduate work and a Best Thesis Award for her architecture research work. Prof. Jani has also received many grants for various research projects. Her paintings, poetry, essays and articles have been published in India, the UK and the US. Among her many publications, “Creation” the book of her abstract paintings based on the Vedanta Philosophy is her favorite. Prof. Jani also illustrated a book entitled “Baal Vikas Yatra” (Baby’s Growth Book) in 2000. Her book of Poetry “Sumbandh Naam Nu Ek Phool” was published in 1999. Her research work on “Interiors and Furniture for Open Plan Offices” was published in 1990. Currently she is working on a textbook “Non-Western Design Tradition” which will be published in 2010. She gives lectures on this subject to create awareness about non-Western cultures.

Reviews:

There are currently no reviews of this product.

Write a Review