“Vastu” from a technical point of view

Extracted from the textbook of BUILDING CONSTRUCTION by S.P.Arora & S.P.Bindra

ASPECTS AND SUN DIAGRAM

Purely technical, ancient Indian Vaastu was confined to architects (Sthapathis) and handed over by word of mouth or through hand-written monographs. It was treated as the science for the construction of temples and royal palaces. The principles of construction, architecture and sculpture have been incorporated in the science.

According to the science behind this, the basic objective of planning of buildings is to arrange all the units of a building on all floors and at level according to their functional requirements making best use of the space available for a building. The shape of such a plan is governed by several factors such as climatic conditions, site location, accommodation requirements, local bye-laws, surrounding environment, etc.

In spite of the certain principles or factors, which govern the theory of planning, are common to all buildings of all classes intended to be used for residential purposes. These principles, enunciated below, are not rigid but just factors to be considered in planning:

1. Aspect
2. Prospect
3. Privacy
4. Grouping
5. Roominess
6. Furniture Requirement
7. Sanitation
8. Flexibility
9. Circulation
10. Elegance
11. Economy
12. Practical Considerations


1. Aspect: ‘Aspect’ means peculiarity of the arrangement of doors and windows in the external walls of a building which allows the occupants to enjoy the natural gifts such as sunshine, breeze, scenery etc. aspect is a very important consideration in planning as it provides not only comfort and good environment to live in but from hygienic point of view also.
A room which receives light and air from a particular side is said to have aspect of that direction and all such rooms making a dwelling need particular aspect. From this angle, the following aspects for different rooms are preferred (Fig. 3.4):

a) For kitchen – E – aspect.
b) For dining room¬¬¬- S-aspect.
c) For drawing and living room – S-aspect or S-E- aspect
d) For bed rooms- S-W -aspect or W-aspect.
e) For verandahs – S-W-aspect or W-aspect
f) For reading rooms, stores, class rooms, studios, stairs, etc – N-aspect.

From the above sun diagram it is clear that the kitchen should be on E – aspect, so that the morning sun would refresh and purify the air and keep the kitchen cool during the remaining period of the day. The dining, drawing and living room should have a S- aspect or S-E – aspect. The sun is towards the south during winter and more deviated towards the north during summer. Similarly, the bedrooms should have W-aspect or S-W- aspect, since the breeze required in the summers will be available from west side only. But a verandah, a gallery or some such sun-shading device, must be provided on one side (i.e., W or S-W side) so as to protect the structure the structure from the hot afternoon sun. as there will be no direct sun from the north and only diffused light will be available, hence reading room, stores, stairs, studios, classrooms, etc. are placed towards the north.


2. Prospect: ‘Prospect’ in its proper sense, is the impression that house is likely to make on person who looks at it from outside. Therefore, it includes the attainment of pleasing appearance by the use of natural beauties, disposition of doors and windows, and concealment of some undesirable views in a given outlook.

‘Prospect’ and ‘Aspect’ both demand disposition of doors and windows. For sake of either seeing or hiding certain views, window sites play a vital role.

3. Privacy: Privacy is one of the most important principles in the planning of buildings of all types in general and residential buildings in particulars.

Privacy requires consideration in two ways:

i) Privacy of one room from another.
ii) Privacy of all parts of a building from the neighboring buildings, public streets and by-ways.

Privacy of the former type is attained by careful planning the building with respect to grouping, disposition of doors, mode of hanging doors, provision of small corridor or lobby etc. this can be also be achieved by planning screens and curtains.

Privacy of the latter type is easily secured by carefully planning the entrance and steering it with tree or creepers trained on a trellis.

However, the extent of privacy depends mainly upon the function. Sometimes, privacy of a part only is desired from exteriors, but the building as a whole is required to attract the attention of all.

Privacy is of supreme importance in bedrooms, water closets, urinals, bathrooms, etc. the kitchen apartment should be kept out of view of the passersby.

4. Grouping: grouping means the disposition of various in the layout in a typical fashion so that all the rooms are placed in proper correlation of there function and in proximity with each other. Every apartment of a building has a definite function or functions and there is also some sort of sequence in between them. The objective of grouping of apartments is to maintain the sequence of their functions with least interference. For example, in a residential building, dining room must be close to the kitchen, at the same time the kitchen should be away from the drawing room or main living room otherwise kitchen smells and smoke would be distracting. Services must be nearer to and independently accessible from every bedroom. The water closets, urinals, etc must be far away from the kitchen, dining room and so on.

In case hospitals, office buildings, etc. the administrative department should best be placed centrally for convenience of economy of service. In case of factories while manufacturing certain articles which are composed of some parts, the departments processing or fabricating such parts, should be arranged in proper correlation with each other so that the finished article is ready in last department for packing and dispatching.

It should be noted while grouping, a residential building provides efficiency, comfort and health to the occupants whereas the buildings other than residential type provide facility of economical service, efficiency and proper correlation

5. Roominess: ‘Roominess’ refers to the effect produced by deriving the maximum benefit from the minimum dimensions of a room. In other words, it is the accomplishment of economy of space at the same time avoiding cramping of the plan. It is essential particularly in case of residential buildings where large storage spaces is required, to make maximum use of every nook and corner of the built-up area of the building before making an addition to the plinth area.

It looks so simple task at first sight, but is really so difficult an art that it usually taxes the brains of the planners. For giving better impression of roominess, the following points should be kept in view:

i) A great skill should be exercised in making suitable arrangements of the rooms, doors and passages for accommodation in such away that the utility, liability, privacy and extension appearance are not adversely affected.
ii) A square room appears relatively smaller in size and utility than the rectangular room of the same area. For a rectangular room the better proportion is to adopt length as 1.2 to 1.5 times of breadth.
iii) A small room within ordinately high walls appear relatively smaller than its actual size.
iv) The disposition of doors, windows and cupboards, such that they don’t cross-cut this room area and obstruct the placing of furniture and adds to roominess.
v) The design of elements such as floor, walls, ceilings, lifts etc. should be such as to create the sense of space beyond its actual dimensions.


6. Furniture Requirements: The functional requirement of a room or an apartment governs the furniture requirement of a room. This is an important consideration in planning of buildings other than residential in particular and residential in general. In case of buildings other than residential, they are generally planned, with due thought to the furniture, equipment and other fixtures, to meet the needs of particular function required to be performed. This can be done by assuming the sixes of furniture pieces and then studying the circulation and space requirements round them.

In case of residential buildings, a room whether intended for a bedroom or drawing room or kitchen, the architect should take into account the furniture positions of all types likely to be accommodated, so that the doors, windows and circulation space do not prevent from placing of sufficient number of pieces.

7. Sanitation: Sanitation consists of providing ample light, ventilation, facilities for cleaning and sanitary conveniences in the following manner:
i) Light: Light has two fold significance, firstly its illuminates and secondly from hygienic point of view. Light in interior buildings may be provided by natural or artificial lighting. Glare in lights distracts the vision and hence the source of glare may be avoided.
Uniform distribution of light is necessary particularly in schools, workplaces etc. a room should get sunlight as long as and as much as possible. Vertical windows are, therefore better than horizontal ones.
Generally, the minimum window area for proper lighting should not be less than 1/10th of floor area; however this may be increased to 1/5th for buildings like schools, workshops, factories, chawls, dormitories, etc.
Good lighting is necessary for all buildings. This has three primary aims. The first is to promote the work or other activities carried on within the building; the second is to promote the safety of people in the building; and the third is to create, in conjunction with the structure and decoration, a pleasing environment conducive to interest and a sense of well being.

ii) Ventilation: it is the supply of the outside air either positive ventilation or by infiltration into the building. Good ventilation is an important factor conducive to comfort in building. Poor ventilation or lack of fresh air in the building, always produces headaches, sleepiness, inability to fix attention, etc. ventilation may be natural or mechanical. In natural ventilation, the air is supplied to the building through windows, ventilators, or other openings due to wind outside and convection effect arising from temperature or vapour outside the building. In mechanical ventilation the outside air is supplies either by mechanical device such as fan or by infiltration by reduction of pressure inside due to exhaust of air, or by a combination of positive ventilation and exhaust of air. Good ventilation is generally achieves by placing the windows, doors and ventilators such that they may catch as much breeze as possible.

iii) Cleanliness and sanitary conveniences: though the general cleaning and up keeping of the building is the responsibility of the occupants but even then the some provision to facilitate cleaning and prevention of dust are necessary in planning. The floors as far as possible, should be of non absorbent surface, smooth and proper slope should be given to facilitate washing with suitable outlets in the walls. Prevention of dust accumulation is essential. Dust helps the growth of bacteria and spread of disease.


Sanitary conveniences include the provision of bathrooms, water closets, lavatories, latrines, urinals, etc. in a building. Provision of such conveniences is not an optional matter but is an absolute requirement.

8. Flexibility: Flexibility means planning room or rooms in such away which, though originally designed for a specific purpose, may be used to serve other overlapping purposes also, as and when desired. This is particularly important for designing the houses for the middle class families or other buildings where economy is a major consideration. A house planned on the scientific principles, within a small space, must provide other similar activities such as listening to radio, child homework, entertaining guest and festive occasions such as holiday dinners, birthday parties, and wedding banquets and so on. These are two ways to meet the demands of festive occasions and religious social gatherings \( or congregations) one is to combine the drawing room and dining room by a removable partition or a screen between them, and the other way is to dine in open air. For the latter, a convenient access should be provided from the kitchen to the yard or garden and the space should be screened from public gaze.

9. Circulation: Circulation means ‘internal thoroughfares’ or the movement space provided on the same floor either between the rooms or within the rooms called ‘horizontal circulation’ and between the different floors through stairs or lifts called ‘vertical circulation’. Passages, corridors, halls and lobbies serve the purpose of horizontal circulation whereas for vertical circulation normally stair or stair-case, electric lifts, ramps, etc. are the means of access to different floors. In fact, for better circulation, the following points should be considered in the planning of a building:

i) The links between entrances, passages and stair-cases should be planned in a proper relation.
ii) All passages in a building should be straight, short, sufficiently lighted and well ventilated to achieve efficiency, comfort and convenience.
iii) All the sanitary\y services and stair-case must have an independent access from every room through a lobby, to increase the usefulness of the building.
iv) All stairs or stair-cases should the minimum requirements regarding tread, rise, width, landings, light and ventilation.
v) Stairs should have strong balustrades or parapets and hand, rail on both sides and should also be accessible from entrance as well rooms on floors being linked.

10. Elegance: ‘Elegance’ is the effect produced by the elevation and general layout of the plan. The elevation, therefore, should speak out the internal g\facts and be indicative of characters.
Elevation should be impressive and should be developed together with the plan simultaneously. With the economy limitations, elevation should be aesthetically good and attractive.

11. Economy: The economy may not be a principle of planning but a factor that certainly affects planning. The economy may restrict the liberties of the architect and may also require certain alterations and omissions in the original plan. The economy should not have any had affect on grouping or aspect, however the prospect at the most to some extent can be sacrificed if need be. Economy should not have nay adverse effect on the utilities and safety of structure.
A structure designed for a good strength and solid character may be costly in its initial cost but may prove cheaper in main run as it saves maintenance costs. No general rules however be frames to attain economy, as the ways and the means to achieve it in different situations are different.

12. Practical Considerations: The following practical points should be given due consideration in the planning of building:

i) Strength and stability of structure, coupled with convenience and comfort, should occupy the first place of importance in planning.
ii) Simplicity and effect of strength lend a lasting beauty and mobility to a building.
iii) It should be remembered that a building or a house is immovable property and is built to last for several generations. One has, therefore, no right to practice false economy by erecting a weak structure.
iv) While planning, it is necessary to keep provisions for either adding a wing or extending some part of some house without dismantling.

Contributed By : S P Arora