IS VASTUSHASTRA REALLY IMPORTANT ?

The advent of this ancient science (is it a science?) of Vastushastra is credited to the Vedic civilization in our country, where a Vastupurush mandala was used to define the cardinal directions of placing various rooms within the house. In last 15 years or so, we are witnessing a revival, where many people claim that if this system is followed, we get results like health & wealth in our life. There are for & opposite opinions towards this aspects.

There are certain directional aspects given in Vastushastra which hold true & seem logical, if we want to place a house on an open plot in our Hot tropical country . Eg – Kitchen to the east /southeast will obviously have morning sun rays coming in Kitchen & you will feel fresh. Bedroom advocated by vastushastra in south west is considered to be the major direction of wind. Living areas to north are the areas which will remain cool because as sun moves from east to west, it seldom comes in from the north inside the house. Staircase block placed in south or west increases building height & shades the house. The open space as per vastushastra is in the center. Most of our traditional houses had shaded courtyards from where light & ventilation to inner rooms were taken.

Let us not forget that even if Vastushatra is our ancestral wisdom,it evolved centuries ago when the social conditions were different . When you try to apply the same logic of cause & effect of the Do’s & Dont’s  in today’s circumstances of apartment housing built to accommodate more & more units for Sale only, the original wisdom is twisted & applied. When you put four apartments around one staircase & lift shaft, you are bound to get three apartments which are non Vastu complaint as per the directions given by Vastushastra. Certain logical explanations regarding history & evolution of Vastushatra are given in the web site of Maharashtra Andhashradha Nirmulan Samiti. Check their url with link -www.antisuperstition.org

So I  leave it to you to believe it or not !

As Architects, we believe that the logic of Design lies in Space making & providing comfortable living conditions in your home with or without Vastushastra.

- Hrishikesh

DO WE NEED WALLS ?

Do we really need walls in houses today? 

The concept of wall dividing rooms evolved due to the notion of privacy & security. In the times when women & children were not supposed to mix with the outside guests, kitchens were with walls & doors. Many a times , in the old typologies like ‘Wada’ or Haveli, you will find separate internal courtyards, where the kitchens & family spaces open out. Against the huge size of earlier houses, our homes are like match boxes (apartment blocks). Also now times have changed, where women are equal (or stronger !) than men & are mostly working women. The kitchen is no longer a secret or a very private space. & can be opened out to the living areas. Hence the walls between Kitchen & Living can ‘disappear’ or have a semi existence enough to cut of the vision (of the mess we create while cooking) from the living areas. Yes but we do need walls with doors for Bedrooms which are still very private spaces. Sometimes walls can become grills or semi transparent screens as well. Thus the locations & character of walls depends upon the ‘notion of privacy’ of your own family.

Here are a few examples of Walls between Kitchen & Living rooms

In our own home, a step wall with high ceiling connects living room to the kitchen. It hides a refrigerator behind it.

 A stepped wall with  connects living room to the kitchen. It hides a Kitchen ota behind it. This is in a 3bhk fkat we customized in Kothrud -Pune.

A dwarf wall which divides (& hides a dining table) Living room & Kitchen in another house we customized in Pune.

Here is a wall in form of a partition in a friends house, we did. It has a glass which stills brings light from the large kitchen window behind but also has storage which can be accessed from the kitchen.

You can very well have an Open kitchen, if you eliminate the wall between Living / Dining & Kitchen. Some times , even a serving platform counter with cabinets above  can partially divide the Kitchen from the living area.

We still feel , bedroom need walls, though few days back, a very senior Architect was telling me about this house which he is doing, where bedrooms do not have walls, but sliding translucent glass partitions. So the entire house opens & glass screens can slide whenever you require them to. Strangely, the traditional Architecture of Japan had sliding screens dividing rooms many centuries ago!

So, when you have a  question about building internal walls, think twice before you build them. If you don’t something different can be done with them.


-   Hrishikesh

INTERIOR CHANGES DURING CONSTRUCTION

It is always beneficial to select an under construction house, if you  want to customize it as per your needs. The earlier you book, better it is .

Following are the changes you can make in your apartment as per the stages of construction :

1) The floor slab is yet to be cast:

a) You can leave conduits for electrification more preciselly  or you can install floor mounted concealed up lights.

b) If you want to have partition walls in some other material other than brick like Ferrocement , you can leave continuation from the floor slab reinforcement steel bars

c) You can leave cutouts within the floor slab after consulting the Structural engineer or the original Architect of the apartment

2) The floor slab is cast but the RCC columns & roof slab are yet to be cast:

An ideal stage to get the changes required done

a) You can run concealed pipe lines for electrification through columns & beams

b) You can control beam depths of roof slab (you can make them more but cannot reduce them) in consultation with Structural engineer

c) You can make cut outs in roof slab if your apartment has got a terrace above & have skylights afterwards

d) You can add or omit RCC lofts for storage

e) You can leave extra hooks in the roof slab for “zula” or swings

f) You can add extra electric points in the slab along with metal hooks for extra fans or you can change the location.

g) You can leave metal pipes in beams for passing AC drain pipes of extra electric conduits

h) You can omit RCC lintels over entrance doors if you want large openings especially when lintels are connected to columns

3) Entire RCC work is over but Brickwork & plaster is not yet complete:

a) You can change location of Walls & alter heights of walls as most walls are partition walls in Brick or Concrete block.

b) Alter Toilet layout & Change Sanitary ware & alter plumbing accordingly

c) Alter entire electrical layout based upon an Interior layout according to your needs & select fitting accordingly.  You can make provision for Inverter battery backup.

d) Change sizes of Doors & Windows (although some developers do not allow changing sizes of windows as it affects the external elevation of building). You can even ask the developers to fix doors & their fittings as per your material specifications.

e) Change entire kitchen layout & plumbing and also make provision for Dishwasher and Washing machine in kitchen or dry balcony.

f) Change entire finishing like Flooring tiles, Wall tiles in toilet & Tiles in Kitchen, Paints etc

4) The apartment is entirely complete with all finishes & fittings:

a) In case you get a property which is complete or you buy a Resale property, it will still be worthwhile & it is very much possible to make changes in the concealed electrical wiring & concealed plumbing according to your Interior layout & design requirements.

b) You can go in for an entire Interior makeover with Wall panelling wherever required, False ceiling (in which you can install light fittings as per your needs) & Custom made furniture.

c) Now a days , some many modern materials of construction are available in India like you can make partition walls using Dry wall systems like Light weight interlocking Puff Sandwich panels or Gypsum systems or Sliding folding partitions using Branded hardware. Hence even if you need to make any changes in house which is complete, there are Lot of  possibilities !

A small piece of Advice :

Never go in for any major decision of Interior changes & Design on your own without involving  professional help from either an Architect or an experienced Interior Designer. Some times you may feel things as very easy & you may succeed doing it through your Carpenter ,Mason or a Contractor but you may waste More Money ,More time & Energy & will never get the same result, a professional will get.

- Hrishikesh

SELECTING YOUR DREAM HOME

Selecting an ideal house is always a major decision in Life. Few aspects what people see and which are of course important are Locality, in which you select to live, Amenities, Children’s play areas & facilities like Parking, convenient shops nearby, or availability of  public transport systems etc. People who believe will look deeply into ‘Vastushastra’ or any of the spiritual science pertaining to their own castes or sects. Principles of Directionality, giving the location of Rooms according to Vastushastra can give you Health & Wealth as per your belief, but there is very Big Question you should ask yourself:

Does your Home , (the apartment according to its plan) suit your Needs & lifestyle?

In reality the Apartments in India are designed & developed as ‘Salable Commodity’ by the developer. Thus the maximum available FSI (Floor space Index – A legal term giving the maximum amount of Built area you can build on a given area of plot) is consumed to fit in as many number of apartments as possible. Even though certain principles of Vastushastra like East West entrance may be followed, in larger projects there may be huge number of flat which may not be ‘Vastu compliant’. Also while planning Apartments are stacked together to save a lot of Cost price , for e.g- saving on shuttering used for slab casting or the length of drainage piping etc  as the Developer has already invested huge funds in buying the expensive land ,where he goes on to build the scheme. The design of all flats has to be same to achieve an economy & speed of construction. Hence in reality only few variations are made & it is up to you & your family to adjust in the purchased apartment.

Instead of running from project to project or from agent to agent , if we can judge the Apartment based upon its plan (available in brochures) we can very well shortlist few houses & select one of them.

Hence, all  we need to look at “What are the few common patterns of apartment designs generally available” & chose one of them in which you can stay as per your lifestyle after making minor modifications if required.

Given below are few types along with their Diagrams which represent their planning patterns.

One Bedroom Hall Kitchen house –  1 BHK flat

a) Generally Designed as a compact unit with an area somewhere between  450 -600 sq ft.

b)      A General Design diagram is as given along. It will have a sequential layout of rooms placed along one another –Living – Kitchen Dinning– Bedroom. Space for a small dinning table may be available in the Kitchen. Room sizes may vary but in general you will have Living room as the largest, Bedroom without an attached toilet, & then the smaller Kitchen

c)       Toilets will be generally divided into separate WC & Bath area. In some smaller size flats this division is not made & there is a common toilet with a small lobby. Wash basin is generally placed in the toilet lobby.

d)      It may have a single Terrace or a balcony of around 35 -50 sq ft accessed either from Living room or from Bedroom. You can decide which to take but remember one thing, that very rarely 1BHK flats have a Dry Balcony, so ultimately your clothes line or even a washing machine will be seen on this terrace

The biggest challenge in owning a 1BHK flat is that, how can you make the maximum use of the small area available & accommodate maximum facilities according to your needs of a Growing family. Another challenge is figuring out how the various rooms can change functions  as per their requirement , like many a time, the Living room will have to function as a Bedroom in the night if the family is large or if guests come to stay.

2BHK TYPE A: 850 to 1200 sq ft area

a) This is the most common type of plan, where rooms are sequentially arranged. So you enter in the Living room which should be large to accommodate a sofa set, TV unit & may be an Indian sitting area. Living  may or may not have an entrance lobby, though it is great if you have a lobby as it ads into more privacy. Then you access the kitchen. From kitchen you can access the bedroom areas , toilet & dry balcony.

b) This kind of layout is beneficial for people who like to have a certain privacy for  Kitchen, Dining  & Bedroom areas.

c) There is  also a possibility of having an open kitchen by making low height walls or by dividing using a pantry serving counter. Many times kitchen comes with an L shape kitchen plat form or two parallel platforms. An area for Fridge should be clearly defined so as to make the minimum movement triangle between Fridge, Sink & Cooking flame .

d) There are usually two toilets. A set of WC & Batch (sometimes as common toilet) with a lobby & one attached to the Master bedroom

e) Master bedroom is usually larger to accommodate, a large wardrobe, Bed, Bedside table, Study table & may be a blank wall to have a Television. The other Bedroom can be planned as Kid’s bedroom

f) The terrace is attached to Living room or Bedroom and can be well maintained as washing clothes & drying can go in the Dry balcony.

This kind of layout is Best for a Family of four with two kids and because there is a Designated space for each activity, the Interiors can be planned with furniture elements which are rather ‘Stable’ & with a Designer brand & Character to suit your lifestyle.  

There is a variant which come as 2.5 BHK, where an additional room of minimum size (10’ x 10’) is added which can double up as a Study or Puja room or which can be merged with Kitchen is placed alongside.

2BHK Type B: With Non -Sequential Room arrangement

a) In this kind of a planning pattern , you will have  the Kitchen right at the Entrance of the Apartment & may be accessible from outside or soon as you enter. Thus you can enter the kitchen without disturbing the activity in Living room

b) In this case dining area may be integrated with the Living room or may be separately provided

c) Bedroom area with two bedrooms will be similar to Type 1

This kind of layout will be useful to people who would like to have a Kitchen area approachable from outside especially where you have Maids or Domestic help to  work separately in Kitchen without disturbing your life in Living area & Bedrooms.

3BHK Type A: 1000 sq ft to 1700 sq ft area with Sequential Room  arrangement

a) Sequential arrangement of Rooms starting from Living to Kitchen dining then three bedrooms.Living is a large room similar to the living in any 2 BHK apartment , where one can accommodate range of sitting arrangements. It may have a separate Dining area attached to either living room or kitchen .

b) Usually two bedrooms will have an attached toilet. One bedroom will function as Parents bedroom, the other two being children’s bedroom & master bedroom

c) It may not have a separate set of Bath & WC . It will be replaced by a common toilet with a lobby.

d) Rest all facilities like kitchen , dry balcony etc will be similar to a 2BHK apartment.

e) There may be two terraces, one large & one small.

A traditional type of 3BHK apartment, will be very useful for a large family with parents, two kids & grandparents living in the same home. Or separate rooms can be given to kids Though the investment in terms of total price may be high as area is more, it is worthwhile to buy a 3BHK apartment when you family size is bound to be large.

3 BHK Type B: With Additional Bedroom arrangement

a) This type of 3BHK apartment will be actually a sequential 2BHK flat but with an additional Bedroom added along with an attached toilet

b) A characteristic of this type of room arrangement is that the 3rd room is right after you enter the house or directly accessible from outside.

This kind of apartment is best buy for people who envisage a ‘Work from home’ office or a segregated study area  or have frequent guests coming who need to be occasionally accommodated.

With a large 3BHK apartment, a Duplex or a 3.5 BHK variant may also be available,though they may have their advantages & Disadvantages.

- Hrishikesh