Feng Shui In Architecture
August 13, 2008
Commonly, most people tend think that feng shui is to be associated with interior design. An ancient Chinese practice, according to the principles of feng shui, your home’s architecture can either interrupt or assist the flow of Chi in a building. While, it is not feasible to drastically alter your architecture, however, one can use these principles when house hunting or renovating.
Feng Shui practitioners stress the importance of Chi energy as it is essential for good health, prosperity and relationships. They believe a building’s features can have a major impact in these areas. Which is why, according to Feng shui, just because building is beautiful, it doesn’t mean that it will be the most comfortable or healthy place to live in.
Most home designs concentrate on symmetry, with some architects centralising front doorways and balancing them with symmetrical windows. Others use exterior items, such as, columns and pathways to create a straight line that leads to the front door. Ask any feng shui practitioner and he will tell you that this symmetry is neither harmonious nor balanced.
As you learn more about feng shui, you will find that good feng shui is quite different from what architects design as a rule. Windows or doors placed precisely opposite of each other add to the symmetry of the building, however, they also allow chi to move far too quickly out of the room, thus weakening or lowering its vitality.
High ceilings are a valued feature in architecture as they not only add drama, but space as well. However, feng shui does not always consider it a beneficial feature. Depending on what the room is being used for, sometimes people may feel good in a rooms with high ceilings, or they may not find it easy to concentrate or sleep, at others. Therefore, it is advisable not to have high ceilings in bedrooms. Rooms with low ceilings retain good energy, whereas small rooms with high ceilings dissipate the energy.
While, exposed beams may be valued architectural feature in period homes or barn conversions, feng shui warns exposed beams located within a bedroom could cause health and relationship problems.
Knowing that having a great view of the garden from the entrance hall is a major selling point, architects build halls that lead through all the way to the back of the house. It may be visually appealing, but according to feng shui practitioners, energy coming into the house is channelled straight to the back of the house and out of the door or window. This makes it difficult for the home occupants to save money.
Odd-shaped rooms for design interest causes chi energy to be bounced around the room, leading to lack of focus, ill health and arguments. However, dramatic spiralling staircases are good conduits for energy. Architects may design them for visual appeal, but feng shui believes they encourage chi energy to swirl around and activating anything near them.
Concerned with aesthetics, while all visual features may be in total sync with good feng shui principles, feng shui also believes that the compass direction a structure faces and the time it was built could unravel all the other positive elements of the architecture. Certain locations, such as a home built on a sheltered south-facing hillside with a slow flowing river nearby, is lucky. But, what does feng shui or good Chi have anything to do with that, as who wouldn’t feel happy living in such a perfect location!































