To Build a Hindu Temple in Virginia

This is the story of what happened when the Indian community of Glen Allen, Virginia, came to us with the intention to build a 20,000 square foot Hindu Temple and Community Center. I was the project architect, working at the time for nbj Architecture on this very challenging project.

Vaastushastra and Vedic Consultancy Services

Vaastushastra or Vedic Architecture is the science of creating habitable spaces that follow the laws of nature. The principles of Vedic Architecture are time tested and Universal in nature. They can be applied to any building be it a home, office, factory, retail or a hotel. We offer the following Vaastushastra services:

Vaastushastra and Fengshui

The origins of Vaastushastra are Indian and those of Fenghsui are Chinese. The literal meaning of Vaastushastra is ‘Science of building technology’ and that of Fengshui is ‘Wind water’. The underlying principal of both however is balancing of elements and some differences exist on how this is done.

Room Placement and Vaastushastra

While doing interior decoration one must keep in mind the orientation of the home, the directions of sunlight and wind. Vaastushastra identifies the five elements of Nature in a home in different directions. North-East has Water element, South-East has Fire element, South-West has Earth element, North-West has Wind element and the central part is assigned to Avakash or Ether.

Vaastushastra and Surrounding Landscape

Vaastushastra has a number of rules for the location, shape, topography of the site and it’s surrounding landscapes. The shape of our property should be regular and rectangular having a proportion of 1:2. A polygonal shape or a shape with rounded corners and irregular sides should be avoided. The site elevation of property in ascending order should be as follows:

Vaastushastra and our Homes

According to Vaastushastra manifesting any creative idea of the mind into physical reality is a scientific endeavor. It requires an understanding of the five elements of nature namely Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether and knowledge of astronomy and astrology. The main aim of Vaastushastra is to create a home that is comfortable, peaceful and in harmony with nature. In such a space a person is creative,