Friday November 30th, 12 noon - 1.00 pm, at the Maharishi School Woodley Park Centre for Sports & Arts, Skelmersdale, Lancashire
Contacts: John Renwick 01695 555559
David Hughes 01695 735579
photographs available
* Centre to be opened by Colin Pickthall, MP
Other speakers include:
Dr Geoffrey Clements, chairman of Maharishi Foundation
John Renwick, Partnership for Natural Building Design; project director
Derek Cassells, headteacher of the Maharishi School, Skelmersdale
* Special guest Glyn Pritchard (Christy Murray from 'Brookside') will welcome members of the public to the Centre
Skelmersdale, 28 November
On Friday 30th November, Britain's first public building designed according to Maharishi Sthapatya Veda, the ancient Vedic system of building according to natural law, will be opened in Skelmersdale by the Member of Parliament for West Lancashire, Colin Pickthall.
Because the principles of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda offer an approach that can deliver fully healthy buildings to enhance the success and well-being of their occupants, the opening of the Maharishi School Woodley Park Centre for Sports and Arts marks a significant step forward for successful urban development and regeneration in Britain.
Construction of the new Centre has been partly funded by a generous 'Sportsmatch' grant from the Institute for Sports Sponsorship. This grant matched donations from local and national companies, including slab-lifting specialists Uretek. The project has also received donations from over 150 individuals, supplemented by discounted fees and voluntary work by many building and other professionals. (A list of commercial sponsors follows on third page)
Building the Woodley Park Centre was the inspiration of local parents who sought sports facilities for their children, including those attending the Maharishi School. This school incorporates into the national GCSE curriculum the principles of Maharishi's Vedic Science, utilising systematic and scientific knowledge to unfold the full potential of students. Pupils from the school have consistently achieved GCSE results which place them at the top of county league tables, and amongst the most successful in Britain as a whole.
During school hours, the Centre will provide sports and arts facilities for children at the Maharishi School. After school hours, other local groups and individuals will use the Centre for cultural activities and sports including martial arts, table tennis, badminton, and five-a-side football.
Maharishi Sthapatya Veda (MSV) is a precise and complete science for the design and construction of buildings so as to create a completely healthy, nourishing and positive effect: people around the world who are living and working in Maharishi Sthapatya Veda buildings - buildings that are in 'perfect Vastu' -- report greater energy and alertness, increased business success, better health, and more enjoyable family life.
MSV includes precise requirements of direction, placement and proportion; and advocates the maximum use of sunlight and natural building materials so that being inside, one feels connected with the environment outside. The Woodley Park Centre features the use of natural materials, including a roof of laminated timber beams and pine boarding, and a sprung floor of maple. The infill walls of the main hall are rammed earth, a traditional 'breathing wall' technology, and are rendered on the inside with clay plaster.
The Woodley Park Centre is a collaborative project between Maharishi School and Maharishi Foundation, who provided the land and car park. In 1980, the Maharishi Foundation set up an integrated community project in Skelmersdale which grew to include quality housing, the Maharishi Golden Dome for group practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programme, the Maharishi School, and a Maharishi Ayurveda Health Centre. Last year, the Maharishi Foundation in Skelmersdale received a prestigious Best Practice Award from the British Urban Regeneration Association, in recognition of the Foundation's 20-year success in improving the quality of life in the area through 'a different and unconventional joined-up approach which addresses education, health, housing, employment and crime in a positive and unusual way.' Of the approach to housing, the awards committee recommended that 'the architectural principles of Sthapatya Veda should be more widely disseminated.'
Civil engineer John Renwick of Partnership for Natural Building Design, who has designed the Centre and supervised its construction, is confident that interest in the principles of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda will increase with the opening of the Woodley Park Centre.
'These principles can be applied to the planning of towns, regions, even countries as a whole,' he says. 'They offer a reliable way to improve public health, reduce crime, boost the economy, and create a better quality of life.'
Maharishi Sthapatya Veda design and planning is being used worldwide for private homes, corporate headquarters, and even whole communities. This summer, Maharishi Vedic City - the USA's newest city - was incorporated in Iowa and is using this system for town planning and construction throughout.
Web page: www.maharishi-european-sidhaland.org.uk/pro_stha.html