Low-energy Vastu harmonized Home from natural materials, Vranya, Sofia

Vastu Sastra is the world’s oldest concept for harmonization of living indoor spaces and the house is low-energy, planned with natural materials

Project description:

The site is accessible from North and East and the main pedestrian and car entrance in the plot are from the north side. The house and the garage are situated on the north-west corner of the site, opening a larger courtyard on the east and south, which are the desired directions.

The single-family house has two main living floors, connected by a stair on the south, and unheated roof space. The main building entrance is on the north through an entrance foayer. On the ground floor are placed: living room with dinning space, oriented towards east, kitchen, open space corridor, cabinet, bathroom, wardrobe, technical installations space, open stair. The green courtyard is accessible through a terrace on the south. The first floor contains a space for children games, master bedroom, two children bedrooms, common bathroom and a winter garden with an open terrace. The roof is 4-sided with 1-meter eaves for natural sunshading of the upper floor.

The building is square-sized with a simple volume. The ground floor is painted with white plaster and visually separated from the first floor, which is cladded by wooden ventilated facade. The facade resemble the traditional bulgarian housing architecture with horizontal composition and division of the two stories. The windows are rectangular, following the functional needs in the building and on the eastern facade is placed a big glazing connecting the living room with the green yard and the terrace.

The entrance foayer is a separated one-storey volume, cladded in wood in contrast to the white exterior plaster of the first floor. The garage is rectangular with a flat roof attached to the neighboring border.

The construction of the building consists of concreted foundation, thermally and water proof insulated, load-bearing panels from wood and straw for the exterior walls, wooden interior walls, intermediate ceilings and roof.

The building materials are mainly ecological and natural, including: wood, straw, clay, reed, ecological wood and glass wool, wooden windows, ceramic tiles, wooden floor, terraces, etc.  The facade is made from passive-house certified ecological prefabricated panel from wood and straw, ensuring high levels of thermal insulation and natural microclimate in the home. The interior plaster is made from clay, on the exterior is applied as diffusive climate membrane and wood insulation boards “Steico”. The interior walls are made from wood and wool insulation, covered by reed panels and clay plasters. The walls in the winter garden are made from interior glazing. The intermediate and attic ceilings are made from wood and thermally and acoustically insulated by wool.

Technical installations: the building, as well as the domestic hot water, will be heated by an “air-air” heat pump and boiler. The grey and black water of the building will be purified in a plant.

The building is planned as low-energy house by the following energy-efficiency measures:

•  compact building volume
• high levels of thermal envelope
• minimizing the thermal bridges
• achieving airtightness of the external constructions, including the windows installation
• high-quality wooden windows with good thermal insulation qualities
• usage of natural materials with thermal mass, sound and thermal insulation
• energy-efficient heating pump
• energy-efficient lights, etc.

The project follows the preferable orientations and space directions as described in the ancient scripture Vastu Sastra, which harmonizes the energy in the home, as well as the minds of the inhabitants. According to Vastu Sastra, which foundations can be traced also in Feng-Shui and the ancient architecture of Greeks and Romans, every living space is a sacred unit and should be organized according to the geometry of the universe and build with natural materials, as seen in the most famous Vastu examples, such as the ancient temple city of Angkhor Vatt in comtemporary Cambodia, dedicated to the Supreme Lord Visnu and the colorful, emblematic city of Jaipur, India.

Floor area: 233.73 sq.m.

 

Project Partners:

Energy-efficient building constructed by an ecological method (Strawbale wooden prefab modules by Ecococon): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4iE-rtZxRw&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR14i7R1o3c6dFjK4u9PRaX24KdYXjMC9PVO0t2Jnncqy0vcRpbWDeZiZnc

Technical project teamwork with: arch. Iva Delova & arch. Lina Yotova from Homenest: https://homenest.eu/ & ASEM (Association for building with natural materials, Bulgaria): https://www.facebook.com/natmatbg/

Project owner: Fahradin Fahradinov (Vamsi Vadana Das): https://www.facebook.com/fahradinov/

Vastu consultant: Chandrakanti Devi Dasi, www.vastubg.com

General contractor and wood construction company: Sponec LTD, https://www.sponec.com

Strawbale panels delivery and clay plasters: Barbali LTD, http://barbali.bg

Wood materials and consulting: JAF Bulgaria LTD, http://jaf-bulgaria.com/

Wood frame low-energy windows: Idial, https://www.idialbg.com

Ecological panels from straw for interior walls and ceiling finishing: “Ekopanely”, in partnership with Sponec LTD: https://www.ekopanely.com

Clay finishing clasters: Brezza Di Colori, https://brezzadicolori.com/

Ecological wool solutions: Saint-Gobain Isover, https://www.isover.bg/ and Knauf, http://knauf.bg

 

Concept floor plans:

 

Design variable sketches:

 

 

 

The process of making: