Vastu+AR.
Using AR to help people apply Vastu Shastra in homes that are already built
Vastu Shastra tells people how to orient rooms, objects and activities. Real homes are already built, and the guidance is abstract. This research explores how AR can help people interpret it in place, without depending on an expert.
The problem
Vastu rules are written for empty plots. Most people live in homes that are already built.
[The starting point]
AR is usually used to put things on top of the world. I wanted to see if it could help people understand a set of cultural rules inside their own home.
The rules here are Vastu Shastra, which a lot of Indian households still use to decide where rooms, furniture and activities go. The question is whether AR can help people apply it on the spot, rather than just telling them what to do.
[Why it matters]
- Vastu Shastra is a traditional spatial decision-making system, comparable to Feng Shui in East Asia. It guides how people orient rooms, objects and activities within a home.
- Centuries old, it still shapes housing decisions, renovations and emotional comfort in contemporary Indian households.
- But most Vastu guidance is abstract, textual and idealised, while real homes are constrained, already built, and complex to interpret.
Research
Reading across housing studies, architecture, anthropology and HCI.
[Cultural context]
A spatial interpretation gap: Vastu is direction-based, but people struggle to read directions accurately indoors.
[The core problem]
Where do I measure from?
People often do not know where to measure direction from inside a home.
Precision is invisible
Degrees and orientation precision matter, but are hard to visualise.
Homes are not ideal
Already-built homes rarely align with ideal Vastu prescriptions.
Charts assume open land
Existing charts assume open plots and ideal layouts.
[Research gaps]
- Contextual gap
Ideal layouts only
Existing Vastu studies focus on ideal layouts and do not address interpretation inside already-built homes.
- Cognitive gap
Assumed translation
Research assumes people can mentally translate direction-based rules indoors, without examining how that happens.
- Technological gap
Rarely studied together
Vastu principles and AR systems are rarely studied together to support real-time spatial understanding.
Where design can help
[Design opportunities]
- 01
Interpreting cultural rules in real homes
Vastu operates at an abstract, directional level, while homes are experienced as situated, constrained environments.
OpportunityBridge the gap by making cultural spatial logic interpretable in context, rather than as idealised rules.
- 02
Reducing cognitive load in spatial reasoning
People have to mentally rotate, map and imagine spatial relationships to apply direction-based guidance indoors.
OpportunityOffload that work through perceptual, spatial representations that make interpretation clearer and less uncertain.
- 03
Decision support without expert dependence
Applying cultural spatial systems usually relies on experts, because the rules are complex and rigid.
OpportunityEnable adaptive, context-sensitive support so people can reason confidently within real constraints.
[Why AR]
- 01
Situated spatial representation
Information is perceived directly in the physical environment, not abstracted into diagrams, charts or text.
- 02
Externalising spatial cognition
Direction-based rules need mental rotation and translation. AR takes that effort out of the head and into the room.
- 03
Context-aware interpretation
Unlike static guides, AR can adapt to room layout, orientation and fixed elements.
What comes next
This is a thesis in progress, so there is no final design yet. This is the plan.
[Way forward]
- Cultural spatial logic: understanding the direction-based principles that inform how space is understood and used.
- Spatial interpretation through AR: exploring SLAM (simultaneous localisation and mapping) and IMU (inertial measurement unit) to scan and map spaces in real time.
- Situated user understanding: integrating this into a solution that helps people work through Vastu efficiently.
[Contributions]
- Conceptual framing
A system, not a belief
Reframes Vastu Shastra as a structured spatial decision-making system rather than a belief-based practice.
- Interpretive mediation
AR as a mediating layer
Positions AR as a layer between cultural spatial rules and lived residential environments.
- Design-research insight
Interpretation over correctness
Identifies spatial interpretation, not rule correctness, as the key design challenge.