Four award-winning architects speak of their experiences designing homes according to the principles of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda Design

The face of Fairfield, Iowa is changing—fast. Almost overnight a building boom has swept through the small (pop. 10,000) southeast-Iowa town, home of Maharishi University of Management. In fact, some locals say that there are more new homes and office buildings going up right now than anytime in the town’s 150-year history. And almost all of the buildings going up share one thing in common: They are being designed and built according to the timeless principles of architecture that are in accord with natural law—Maharishi Sthapatya Veda. The building boom has turned Fairfield into a national showcase for homeowners and real estate developers who are interested in incorporating this complete system of architectural design into their buildings.

Fairfield is also home to a large number of highly experienced, highly skilled architects from all over the world who have successfully incorporated their traditional design skill with the principles of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda. Four of these architects talked to Enlightenment about their experiences designing homes and office buildings in harmony with Natural Law.

Enlightenment: What appeals to you most about Maharishi Sthapatya Veda design?

Jonathan Lipman: We architects of the twentieth century have made a muddle of our work. For example, we’ve created housing developments that had to be torn down after 20 years because they sponsored crime. And we so routinely design buildings that poison their occupants that we’ve had to invent the term "sick building syndrome." In Maharishi Sthapatya Veda we have access to a reliable series of rules of architectural cause and effect, so that for the first time in modern history we can be assured that we are designing buildings that will have only beneficial effects on their users. This is thrilling, and very fulfilling to an architect.

Tony Lawlor: Maharishi Sthapatya Veda offers the fulfillment of what I wanted to do when I became an architect. I went into the building industry not just to have a job, but to feel the deep connection that comes from designing a building in a meaningful way. With Maharishi Sthapatya Veda, a home is not just a box where you put your stuff in; it’s really a place for dwelling on the earth that puts you in harmony with the processes of Nature.

Henry Dearborn: With Maharishi Sthapatya Veda everything has a reason, everything makes sense, everything has an order to it. I visited Washington, DC, recently, and I went through many houses in the most expensive areas of the city, and it was chaos. It almost seemed as if the architects couldn’t think of what new to do to make the houses interesting—there were so many odd angles and different features. It was as if they were bored with what they were doing. With Maharishi Sthapatya Veda there’s always a reason why you do something, which creates a real beauty and order to the whole building.

Enlightenment: How do you describe Maharishi Sthapatya Veda design to fellow architects?

Jonathan Lipman: I say that from the most ancient culture in the world—India, the land of the Veda—Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has located a series of timeless principles which describe the fine mechanisms whereby nature creates proportion and shapes objects, such as planets and stars and trees and human bodies. This ancient discipline of Sthapatya Veda gives us these principles, and allows architects to apply them to creating houses and office space. And when we do that—and when people live in these buildings—they have the most profound experience of "being at home" because they are in an environment that is entirely consistent with their own inner nature.

Enlightenment: How do architects and the public respond to these principles?

Tony Lawlor: Most architects grasp these principles when they start using them, because they are the essence of architecture—they’re the DNA of architecture. In some abstract way architects studied them in school and have seen them in great buildings throughout history, but then all of a sudden it’s made concrete through Maharishi Sthapatya Veda.

Carmen Quinton: I was working on a Maharishi Sthapatya Veda house in Montreal, and one of the requirements, from a design point of view, was that the house had to melt into the other houses in the neighborhood. They didn’t want it to stand out in any way, shape, or form. After the house was built, people would knock on the door and say, "I have to come see your house, and I don’t know why." They would go into the house, and without knowing anything about the principles, they would say, "Oh, I feel so wonderful here. I don’t want to leave. This is the most beautiful house I’ve ever been in." It was a beautiful home—there certainly were far more expensive homes in the area—but the people just didn’t want to leave.

Enlightenment: What is the future of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda in North America?

Tony Lawlor: The desire to have a home is one of the most fundamental human desires. And yet people are realizing that a more expensive and more complex house doesn’t necessarily create that sense of home. So inevitably people, in their search for a true home, will come to Maharishi Sthapatya Veda.

Carmen Quinton: I gave a symposium on Maharishi Sthapatya Veda in Ontario, Canada. It was open to the public and it was packed. Afterwards people came up to me and said, "We do not want to return to our homes after the knowledge we heard tonight." Even though these people had never heard about Maharishi Sthapatya Veda before, it resonated at the deepest level of their being and they embraced it. Everyone wants something better in their lives. That is why Maharishi Sthapatya Veda is the future of architecture. We just need to tell more people about it. And they need to experience this profound knowledge...this beautiful knowledge that makes every part of their life better.

Jonathan Lipman, A.I.A., is Chief Architect of Maharishi Global Construction and Director of the Maharishi Sthapatya Veda Consultation Service for North America. Jon has overseen over 150 Maharishi Sthapatya Veda design consultations across the U.S. on houses and commercial buildings. He is an award-winning architect and Past President of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy.

Henry Dearborn has been a Washington, DC-area architect for over 20 years, first designing single-family residential homes and later high-rise apartment buildings. He has been utilizing Maharishi Sthapatya Veda design for five years.

Tony Lawlor has been an architect for 25 years, working first with a large architectural firm in San Francisco that designed high-rise office buildings. He came to Fairfield ten years ago where he has done mostly residential work. He is also the author of two critically acclaimed books on architectural design.

Carmen Quinton, O.A.Q., has practiced architecture for over 25 years and taught interior design and architecture for 15 years. Before moving to Fairfield 12 years ago, she was partner at one of the oldest firms in Montreal where she designed educational, commercial, industrial and civic buildings as well as awarding-winning historical restorations. She was the founding director of the former MIU Institute of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda and has been using these principles in her work for almost a decade.

For more information on Maharishi Sthapatya Veda call 515-472-9605 (US) or 613-565-8525 (Canada) or visit: www.MGC-Vastu.com.