If you could build a home that would make you happier and healthier, wouldn't you jump at the chance? Using conscious design, this farmhouse was constructed using Vedic principles - an ancient concept that informs the architecture of a home by choosing the right light, natural materials and rooms placed strategically in accordance with the family's day-to-day activities. By focusing on sustainability, natural harmony and strategic positioning, Vedic designed homes deliver long-lasting benefits.
Just outside Fairfield, Iowa sits the Bargerstock's custom built home, designed by Maharishi Vastu Architecture, an organization that builds homes and other structures based on these principles. Jon Lipman, AIA director of Maharishi Vastu Architecture, classifies the home as a "rustic design, reminiscent of the American Midwest." Built using purposeful design, which promotes happiness and health of its occupants, the home faces east, capturing the bountiful morning light. "One principle is right placement of the different functions of a house....for example, the living room is located to promote the quality of conviviality," Lipman further explains. Upon entering the home, the center - or Brahmasthan - comfortably directs the home dwellers to the room openings that surround the heart of the home.
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The use of natural materials throughout the home is essential to Vedic design principals. Clay plaster walls, stone floors and generous use of wood on floors, walls and ceilings are dramatically realized in the great family room, which looks out over the lightly wooded yard.
On the other side of the home, a wide opening leads into the spacious and calming dining room. Beyond that, double doors lead to an outdoor eating area, which allows an easy move to al fresco when weather is prime.
Simplicity and ease are trademarks of the natural flow of this home. Within reach is the kitchen, placed to have the cooking station facing east, considered the most beneficial for both preparation and eating.
Moving through the house seems effortless. The glint off the stainless steel appliances is hushed by the lightly finished wood cabinetry and surrounds. Earth tones, like charcoal, obsidian and eggshell swirl around each other in the natural stone countertops. A rattan weave stool and high back chair melt into the environment, as a chorus of well-chosen accessories.
Back to the heart of the home, another angle shows a rustic country table, simply adorned with periwinkle wildflowers, its backdrop leading into the great room, where the family's baby grand piano awaits a song.
Returning to the great room, where music can be played for listeners taking in country breezes in the comfort of two well-placed easy chairs.
Within site of the entry way, the home center is placed to bring the entire home into harmonious alignment. Each room relates to the other, positively influencing everyone who lives within, or even those who are just welcome guests.
Restorative sleep comes naturally in a home built on Vedic principles. With a choice of open air or darkening shades, the bedroom is situated to provide a calm, uninterrupted sleep.
Because Vedic design works with nature’s own universal architectural principles, complementing farm living with rustic design was a natural outcome in building this home. One glance from the farmyard beyond, the Bargerstock's intentionally designed home is a respite in the bucolic Iowa farm country.
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