Design and experience: a typo-morphological case study of Maharishi Vāstu Architecture in Perú

Along with Feng Shui, Vedic architecture from ancient India (also referred to as Vāstu architecture by theorists and practitioners in the West) has become a design and construction approach of interest to architects in western countries. The most widely applied version of this approach is Maharishi Vāstu Architecture (MVA) as realized in not only hundreds of homes throughout the world, but also in the design of university campuses, commercial buildings and retreat communities in India, Japan, Netherlands and the U.S., as well as in the design of an entire city in Iowa. However, while applied in countries as diverse as Brazil, Ireland, Malaysia, Spain, Thailand and United Kingdom, this approach to architecture has not been the subject of detailed case study analysis. To rectify this situation, the present study investigates the application of MVA in Perú by examining not only the location, design and construction of two houses, but also the lived experiences of owner–occupants within them. The houses located in Cieneguilla and Pachacámac, the first two MVA urban developments in South America, were designed by this study’s second author, a Perúvian architect, and have been featured in arq: Architecture Research Quarterly, the preeminent architectural journal of Latin America. One house is oriented to the east, the other to the north; one is single story, the other two stories; one is a homage to tradition, the other more modern; and one includes local adobe materials, the other standard brick and render. However, both houses are consistent with the ancient Vedic precepts of architectural design (specifically the 3 × 3 Pīṭha diagram from the Mayamata) and the ancient Andean Chacana diagram. Results of lived experience from semi-structured interviews, consistent with findings from a previous international study of 158 MVA home–occupants, indicate that owner–occupants in Perú report increased health, vitality and good fortune, a range of practical benefits, and improved quality of life as a result of owning and living in an MVA-designed home.