Orientation is the first decision in a residential project, and it is rarely a simple one. The plot's relationship to the sun, the prevailing wind, the slope of the ground, the road, the neighbour's setbacks, the local building byelaw — each pulls the proposed building footprint in a different direction. The architect's job is to find the arrangement that satisfies the structural and climatic constraints first, then the brief, then everything else.
When a client asks for Vastu, the studio accommodates the request inside that hierarchy. We do not lead with Vastu in our own framing of a project — we begin with site, structure, and program — but when traditional principles matter to the family, we incorporate them in a way that does not compromise load paths, daylighting, ventilation, or the building byelaw.
The most common conflict is between an east-facing main entrance (traditionally favourable) and a plot whose only road frontage faces west or south. The straightforward Vastu-first instinct — rotate the plan to put the entrance on the east — often produces a service yard at the front and a long internal corridor that the family lives with for thirty years. The structural instinct is to keep the public face on the road, route circulation cleanly, and accept the orientation. The two can usually be reconciled by treating the east face as a ceremonial entrance — a covered niche, a courtyard, a Tulsi platform — without making it the daily ingress.
None of this is universal advice; each project resolves it on its own site. The point of writing it down is to make the conversation we have on the first call a more useful one.
