UNDERSTANDING VASTU

The Five Elements

Pancha Mahabhutas: earth, water, fire, air and space — and where in the house each element is at home.

Vastu thinks of the house as a small image of the world. What, in the Vedic tradition, builds the world also builds the house: the five great elements. Each has a quality, a cardinal direction and thus a place in the floor plan. A Vastu design checks whether the use of a room matches the quality of its place — and brings the two into agreement.

Earth — Prithvi

Stability and weight. Its place is the southwest: load-bearing mass, storage, the parents’ bedroom.

Water — Jala

Flow and clarity. The north and northeast: entrance, stillness, in classical compounds the well.

Fire — Agni

Energy and transformation. The southeast: the kitchen, classically the hearth — today also building services.

Air — Vayu

Movement and exchange. The northwest: guest rooms, circulation, spaces of coming and going.

Space — Akasha

The open centre, the Brahmasthan. It stays free — the space that lets all others breathe.

Planning to build or convert according to Vastu?

Olivera Reuther accompanies you from the first idea to the finished space — in Berlin and beyond.

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