Vaastu - The Classical Indian Science of Architecture and Design, Sashikala Ananth

Vaastu, by Sashikala Ananth. Google Books Preview

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I've just finished a book long left unread, The Penguin guide to Vaastu, by Sashikala Ananth. As she says in the book, "Vaastu is...about the physical, psychological and spiritual order of the built environment and its consonance with the energies of the cosmic universe"

This has been a very useful insight into how relational design plays out in the world, particularly in answering the question—what should a designer 'do'? Or, even better—how should a designer be?

1. My role is to participate in the relational world. Many of the conversations I have had around relational design seem to focus on relationships with other people. Yet the idea is much more than that—it is about taking an ecological view of the client, their context, the design, the designer and the designer's context. It is necessarily a systems view, and one that sees a design 'outcome' as emergent from the conversation we all have, together. This means the best outcomes emerge from genuine conversation between everyone involved. Rather than hiring someone to impose a solution from outside, you're actually creating space for insights to arise naturally from the relationships between all the different elements.

   
   

2. The task is to support well-being. Much of a designer's work is to respond to client briefs. Sometimes, this brief is specifically about financial profit (as the authour points out, this isn't always a 'Capitalist' phenomena). The Vaastu view of the world is much more holistic, though, and is about supporting well-being, of which financial well-being is one. For instance, there are 12 types of Aayam (income or benefits), including spiritual tranquility, communication with the self, and pleasure. Similarly, there are 10 types of Vyaya (expenses or loss), including release from sadness, intimacy or love, and greatness. The most successful projects I've seen support the organisation's complete well-being—they strengthen culture, improve how people feel about their work, create sustainable value. Financial success becomes one outcome amongst many, not the only measure that matters.

There is a nuanced understanding of the relational world that the practice seeks to make apparent, and it makes quite clear that as a designer, my participatory role is to support organisations to achieve well-being. This philosophy is then translated into specifics for building houses and cities (which I won't go into), making that final and sometimes missing connection between an idea and the tools that come from it. A weekend read that might change how you think about your next project!