Maharishi Vastu Architecture (MVA) is a set of architectural and planning principles assembled by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi based on "ancient Sanskrit texts" Maharishi Vastu Architecture is also called "Maharishi Sthapatya Veda" (MVA), "Fortune-Creating" buildings and homes, and "Maharishi Vedic architecture".
MVA has strict rules governing the orientation and proportions of a building. The most important factor is the entrance, which must be either due east or due north. The MVA architect also considers the slope and shape of the lot, exposure to the rising sun, location of nearby bodies of water and the other buildings or activities in the nearby environment. MVA emphasizes the use of natural or "green" building materials.
MVA homes are marketed in the US by Maharishi Global Construction, LLC, and by MVA Homes in the UK, both arms of the Transcendental Meditation movement. Several communities around the world have been developed using MVA principles. The plans for Peace Tower, which would have been the world's tallest building, followed MVA specifications.
According to Maharishi Global Construction (MGC) in Fairfield, Iowa, building a home according to the principles of MVA "connects the individual intelligence of the occupant of the house to the cosmic intelligence of the universe". Proponents of MVA say its basis is in the Vedas, 5,000-year-old Sanskrit texts that assert a connection between human health and building materials, orientation to the movements of the sun and spatial relationships. According to Lipman, Vedic architecture and feng shui have a common root, but MVA is more scientific, while feng shui has superstitious elements. Lipman says that MVA is derived from "lost and misunderstood" principles, natural law, "whereby the entire universe is created: galaxies, planets, human beings" along with buildings and cities.
Craig Pearson, Executive Vice President of Maharishi University of Management (MUM), says that spending time in buildings that follow these principles makes one smarter. Proponents say that MVA homes have escaped wildfires that burned neighboring homes, and that businesses located in MVA office buildings have greater profit and lower absenteeism. Residents of MVA homes in Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa say they felt vitality, calm and happiness when they moved into their Vedic houses. A mother says that her boys are more orderly. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has said, "Living in a proper vastu can eliminate 60 to 80 percent of the problems we encounter in life." Peter Warburton, Raja of England, says that the practice of Maharishi’s Vedic peace technologies is more powerful with Vastu buildings. Yale University architecture professor Keller Easterling says that MVA is fueled by a desire to create outposts for broadcasting the Maharishi Effect.