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Maharishi Vastu using innovative materials with low environmental impact
At Home in Maharishi Vastu Newsletter Translate This Article
19 July 2012
A second technology that contributes to an ideal system for building Maharishi Vastu homes is being used in the US, parts of the Middle East, China, India, and Australia, as well as Europe.
See Part I of this article: Maharishi Vastu construction: Natural materials, superior insulation.
The technology is similar to that of Porotron bricks (described in Part I), which are common in Europe and are being used in the construction of the Maharishi Peace Palace in Erfurt, Germany.
In a different form, this technology employs concrete by adding air pores through a series of induced chemical reactions, caused by the presence of naturally occurring elements in the materials. In Holland and Germany, it is thought to be the second most utilized and inexpensive building material after the Poroton bricks.
Because it is easy to handle even for do it yourself builders, it is available at every European town's home improvement construction store. Similar to log kit homes, you can purchase whole house construction sets to build your own home with this system, and you can even put it together, block by block yourself.
The common name for this building material is autoclaved, aerated concrete block, or AAC for short. It was invented in the mid-1920s by a Swedish architect. A highly thermally insulating material, it is used for both internal and external construction. Besides the insulating capability, one of its advantages in construction is its quick and easy installation, as the blocks can be routed, sanded, and cut to size on site using standard carbon steel band saws, hand saws, and drills. The most common brand name of AAC is Hebel. It is made in either blocks or panels.
When AAC/Hebel is cast in forms, several chemical reactions take place that give AAC its light weight (which is as low as 20% of the weight of concrete) and thermal properties by creating air pores, just as in the Poroton bricks. Then, during a steam pressure hardening (autoclaving) process, more chemical reactions take place to create AAC's high strength and other unique properties.
One of the most attractive aspects to AAC construction is its lower environmental impact over other cement construction materials: ∙ Its improved thermal efficiency reduces the heating and cooling load in a building. ∙ Its relatively light weight saves cost and energy in transportation and in labor handling. ∙ Its flexibility in size minimizes solid waste. ∙ Its resource efficiency means its environmental impact is low in all phases of its life cycle.
Several Maharishi Vastu homes have been built in the USA using the AAC block system—in Vero Beach, Florida and Austin, Texas.
Another is under construction in South Carolina. View a photo album of the Vero Beach homes.
Both of these superior construction systems achieve a high standard as natural and non-toxic materials, a principle of great importance in building a Maharishi Vastu home.
For more about Maharishi Vastu* architecture, visit: www.maharishivastu.org/
This post appeared in the July 2012 issue of At Home in Maharishi Vastu®—The Newsletter of Maharishi Vedic Architecture.
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© Copyright 2012 Maharishi Vastu® Architecture
Global Good News comment:
* Vastu refers to Vedic architecture—the complete knowledge of design and building in accord with natural law—brought to light from the Vedic literature by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as Maharishi Sthapatya Veda.
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