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Feng Shui
From Building for a Future Autumn 2003

The art of Feng Shui has found a lot of dedicateds followers over the past few years. We asked Simon Bradbury to investigate the subject and try to analyse why Feng Shui has found such popularity among the middle classes in Britian and the western world.

Feng shui possibly originated as a tool/mechinism for determining the best place for ancient nomadic tribes to settle and make home. The art has been practised intrinsically along side other methods of observing the world such as astronomy, astrology, geology, physics, mathematics, philosophy, psychology and intuition. It takes a small amount of research to realise that feng shui is a mightily complex subject - almost mythological in proportion and feel.

That it was developed over a long period of time has led to feng shui having splintered into various schools addressing different aspects of life. The Compass School is based on using a complex compass to access the best placements. Form School uses the shapes of 4 symbolic animals to describe the surrounding landscape to find best placement. Eight Mansion feng shui finds a person's individual number to find beneficial directions, Nine Star Key uses astrology to define best dates etc and to determine character types. Black Hat Sect is another style of compass feng shui. Flying Star and four Pillars are other astrological/ numerological predictive styles of feng shui and are common in Asia.
From this complexity it is possible to see why it was said that misfortune was due to bad feng shui interpretation rather than that it did not work.

It all began thousands of years ago in china and has migrated from millennia and continents and cultures. This is therefore testimony to the fact that there must be something in it.

If you can speak Mandarin or Cantonese the clue is in the name. 'Feng', literally means wind and 'shui', water - hinting at the flowing force that feng shui is built around.
The fundamental precept of this ancient art is the acceptance of the energy concept of chi and that by analysing our environment (including buildings) and humans, we can maximise the beneficial flow of chi.

The Chinese distinguish between cosmic chi, human chi and earth chi and seemed to have done this with great depth of understanding and insight. Chi is the universal energy that permeates and flows through and around everything and everyone. It is an oriental term that describes the same thing that in the west dowsers and geomancers look for. The aborigines made use of the same concept in their songlines. Just about all cultures across the world have tried to understand and utilise certain aspects of "place energy". The ancient Greeks spoke of the "genus loci," or spirit of a place.

It has become an accepted idea in the practises of martial arts, meditation and yoga where the life force is known as Prana. Star Wars, one of the most successful films of modern times has, at the centre of its story line, "The Force" in a conflict between good and evil. It's the same thing.

So is feng shui a science, art or philosophy. Probably best described as all of these, we are now turning in droves to this discipline to help improve our quality of life.
Through a deep survey of environmental topography, habitation and occupants a feng shui practitioner observes the likely flow of chi and suggests alterations to maximise the beneficial effects of this flow.

So why is it that we in modern times are turning to such a complex "psuedo" science view of our surroundings. Surely a building can be a nice home regardless of how we orient it? Not so, in a common sense application, advice would be to orient your new build home to the south so that the sweeping arc of the life giving sun brightens, warms and enlivens our home.

In a world where we are all piled up on one another, making space for yourself is very important. The space we have around us for our own personal sanctity is precious.
When we use our houses as dumping grounds for the relief of the pressure of a hard day at work or school etc. we are keeping them as just houses and not developing them into homes that nurture and support us.

It is in the feeling of place where this oriental belief system holds its own. Feng shui successfully marries the inner and outer worlds and helps to harmonise both. In the architectural and design world there is a lot being said about the notion of "a sense of place", a lofty term used to inject a sense of wonder back into the places we inhabit.
The green building movement addresses this not only in the type of materials used. In "treading lightly on the earth" we are making intimations about our desire to live and work in places and spaces that nurture our beings. There is a growing reverence about how we are approaching our responsibilities in building and there is no reason why feng shui shouldn't be part of the process of developing homes and other buildings that mean more to us than just shelter.

"You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don't know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don't know who your friends are, you don't know what you owe anybody, you don't know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred space and use it, something eventually will happen." The Power Of Myth. P.115 Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers, Anchor Books, 1991

"A chi-centred world changes how we design and use places. It first of all requires that we give primary importance to designing the chi of a place. It means that the functions we design for will be different. It demands integrity of materials, design and uses. It stresses the importance of paying attention to our tummies - how we feel about a place, the psychology of place, the role of our minds and our fears and dreams. It requires we design relative to the needs and aspirations of all Creation, not just us. Our attitudes and values, what we want in a place, change dramatically." Building with Nature, Tom Bender 1998

The above words of wisdom are directed towards culturing a real sense of place and if we approach the subject with a healthy reverence and a dose of common sense feng shui can be an effective tool for leading us in the direction of healthy space.
Another aspect to consider in a feng shui appraisal is the balance of YIN and YANG.
These attributes are symbols used to describe life's opposites and balancing these is fundamental to any practise of feng shui.
To illustrate this by including aspects of a feng shui appraisal I designed a garden space for a design studio whilst studying at Falmouth Art College. The Yin and Yang energies of the space were very imbalanced and biased towards yang (fluorescent lighting electricity everywhere, straight, hard regimented layout etc.). The heady intellectual (yang) pursuit was mixed with the surroundings of a commercial (yang) business park.
People felt sick and tired in the space. There was simply an over abundance of Yang and so my proposal was to introduce elements of a more feminine and receptive mode of being (curving softness, water, seclusion and slowing down). Stillness and introspection became a design driver in a garden space that was "contemporary" Japanese in style, the final design felt womb-like, and seemed to balance what was there before. The areas that can be affected by such observation are varied.
Feng shui can typically address modern issues such as relationships, work success and health, creativity, status, marriage, wealth, learning, meditation and introspection.
It does this by getting us to be aware of our surroundings through a thorough examination of our environment in such a way that makes a link between inner and outer worlds. Could it really be that by the placement of objects and colours and numbers etc. in certain places that we can effect change in our lives? Feng shui is a tool to heighten our awareness of the subtleties of our surroundings, the placement of specific objects in specific places serve to remind us of the subtle energies of our lives. If you follow the rules of feng shui with a little intuition and common sense then why not?

"Modern man will never find peace until he comes into harmony with the place where he lives." Carl Jung (Pantheon, l964)

As I settled to write this article, I could not help myself from rearranging certain things in my surroundings, even do a little cleaning. I always thought that this was a certain type of avoidance of work but this behaviour strikes me as being part of what feng shui is about. Valuing our intuition in this way is the first step in thinking outside the box , a trick demanded by those who wish to effect change in their own and broader world.
If feng shui contains the wisdom of ages of how to live in harmony with our surroundings then surely it must be worth a look.

News from the world of feng shui design
German autobahn rest stops have been designed using feng shui principles to help calm and rejuvenate motorists.

The architect of Taiwan's Taipei 101 tower, the tallest skyscraper in the world, uses feng shui, he says "The project was based on the philosophy of integrating with nature ...it's like a plant growing to reach the sky"

Beirut gas station utilizes feng shui to harness cosmic energy. Feng shui principles are to be added at all Medco's new gas stations.

California Assemblyman proposes building standards that promote feng shui. Leland Y. Yee recently proposed a resolution urging the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) to adopt building standards that promote feng shui.

In 2001 feng shui appraisal of the World Trade Centre site revealed that by being offset from each other (corners pointing at the heart of the other) the old towers attacked each other with "shar" energy or "poison arrows". The next tower should be bigger and better than the last in order to raise the chi energy of the site.

Author: Simon Bradbury

Sources:
Caroline Hetherton, Feng shui Consultant, York, 01759 372811
“It gets stranger from here on in”, “Building with Nature”, Tom Bender 1998
“The Power Of Myth.”, P.115, Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers, Anchor Books, 1991.
“The Not So Big House”, Sarah Susanka, Taunton Press, 1998.
“Everyday Chi Kung”, Master Lam Kam Chuen, Thorsons, 2004.
“Feng Shui, The traditional way to enhance your life”, Stephen Skinner, paragon 1997
“The natural house book, creating a healthy, harmonious and ecologically sound home”, David Pearson, Gaia books ltd, 1989.
“Research and analysis for proposed garden area at design annex, Falmouth business park” Simon Bradbury, 2002.
“Designers advocate rebuilding Chi at ground zero site”, Michael Y. park. Fox News 2002.
www.fengshui2000.com
www.fengshui.about.com
www.goodorient.com/articles/Feng_Shui
www.iml.jou.ufl.edu
www.fengshuiacademy.co.uk
www.fengshuisociety.org.uk
www.religiousmovements.lib.viginia.ed