http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13513117&BRD=1395&PAG=461&dept_id=216620&rfi=6
Ithaca native Sarah Reid Adamson, daughter of Ithaca Ballet's Alive Reid
and the late Professor J. Thomas Reid of Cornell University, is working
to expand her Vedic architecture business, which has taken off in North
Carolina.
"Ithaca has the status of being the most progressive city in the USA. We
(RAAM Consultants, Inc.) are hopeful that we can inspire the
progressive-minded people of Ithaca to recognize the transformative
potential of Vedic architecture," Reid Adamson said.
Vedic architecture comes from the Vedic tradition of India, which also
includes AyurVeda, a form of yoga that incorporates
mind-body-environment integration. Like all Yogic practices, Vedic
architecture is a way of organizing space and the environment so that
those living within the environment are in tune with themselves and the
total environment.
Reid Adamson first became interested in Vedic architecture, which she
describes as "a holistic system of attuning the built environment to
resonate positively and constructively with the whole environment," in
the late 90s.
At the time, Reid Adamson was working for a female architect in
Fairfield, IA. Fairfield was home, she says, to "about 5,000
practitioners of Marharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation
program." In 1999, when a two-month Vedic architecture training course
came up in the Netherlands, she "jumped at the opportunity to add deeper
meaning to my architectural practice."
Vedic architecture is the most ancient extant architectural tradition.
It allows the built environment (home or office being constructed) to
mesh with nature.
A story that Reid Adamson shared describes a Vedic architecture home in
Romana, Calif. In October 2003, forest fires were sweeping toward the
home of Paul and Jeanette Worland, of Ramona, and their Maharishi Vastu
home.
Flames came within 50 feet of the home when 40-60 mph winds made a
sudden 90 degree shift and forced the fire past the home's Vastu fence.
Ten minutes later, the winds reshifted and the fire continued along its
destructive path.
"Vedic architecture," Reid Adamson said, "traditionally and from
experience has a life-enhancing, life-supporting and life-protecting
influence."
Currently, the business owned by Reid Adamson and her husband, Chris
Adamson, is working on Vedic architecture projects in North Carolina,
where their business is based. There has also been interest from
California, South Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Iowa and the United Kingdom.
"The reason to choose Vedic architecture is to be totally protected and
cultured by the space that surrounds us, and this is achieved by
attuning the living space to the constructive energy of the larger
environment," Reid Adamson said.
When considering construction of Vedic architecture many factors must be
considered, among them: orientation of buildings to the cardinal
directions with entrances to the east and north, placement of rooms
within buildings and proportions and dimensions.