Feng Shui for urban designers
What is Feng Shui or wind-water principal?
Knowledge of Feng Shui can skilfully determine positive principals in choosing or designing your surroundings to best influence your happiness, health and prosperity.
History of building great ancient cities was based on some kind of preconceived wisdom of elders. Depending on geographic location and local beliefs similar conclusions have been made from different sources. In this case I will describe Feng Shui principals or as it is also describes as ‘invisible biology’.
For the lack of a better word all ancient urbanists, or emperor’s grand designers knew through spoken word, tradition and common sense to apply similar principals nowadays ‘lost in translation’.
“Feng Shui is art of placing dwellings in a most favourable way and location to best serve the owners and users of the dwelling, family home, business building, public square, sacral buildings, so it is in harmony with nature and everything that is surrounding it. Such desired location for it needs to have a good potential. Further, on the micro scale, we develop principals on how to arrange house and different rooms throughout “1.
Energy or Ch’i is traveling through space, through nature as well as through house. Earth, on the other hand, has its own energy grid or flow. Such energy that was in Feng Shui described in the spiritual sense is since discovered and described by earth’s magnetic field 2.
Now, that we have described Earth Ch’i sometimes also called Host chi because earth receives Heaven Ch’i whose light descends on earth. Earth Ch’i is very important to Feng Shui since it affects our dwellings and us.
Ch’i as we now know has the tendency to move through space and also to get stuck. The nature of healthy Ch’i is to meander. To digress a bit according to share trading charts it follows the same healthy pattern a trend of growth and fall in meandering fashion.
If we are talking about nature and assume Ch’i is a fresh wind breeze going through the forest, over the hill it is then traveling across and collecting particles of oxygenised fresh air and taking it down through the valley. Where there is a crevasse or a cave it gets stuck and is not so fresh after a while. In the same way manmade structures propels or stop passing of fresh Ch’i.
Poorly designed endless strait freeways are creating destructive Ch’i as it moves along strait lines and gathers speed unlike life affirming fresh breeze.
Inside large building hallways and long corridors we are creating damaging Ch’i. All land development urban design activities can create in harmony with Feng Shui.
Summary of terms
There are five main Feng Shui considerations:
- Ch’i energy, alignment, the Earth’s magnetism, the eight compass directions, and the five elements, in particular water.
- Ch’i energy is described by its state as sheng, sha, or ssu Ch’i .
- Geography and Feng Shui interact in the form of heaven, earth and water Ch’i .
- Ch’i is as much a part of the physical universe as the spiritual universe.
- Alignments direct the course of Ch’i flow. Forcing it to move in a straight line can change from sheng Ch’i to sha Ch’i .
Term knife edge describes land or a building that is being positioned so that the edge of a curved flyover is aimed like a knife-edge at a home or office. In such a situation it is better to be on the inside of such a curve rather than on the outside and along the knife edge.
Modern cities are full of strait lines and therefore generate lots of sha Ch’i . These include repetitive roof alignments, particularly along lines of suburban terrace houses. Row of powerline poles along the road are not much of a problem, but for the house at the end of such row, sha Ch’i creates negative influence.
A gently meandering river generates just the right flow of Ch’i , in fact, many thriving cities and towns have been built on the inside of such curves. Meandering river banks are not the same, inner curve land is a prime prosperity location, when the river is almost hugging the land and outer curve river bank are less prosperous.
Along the knife edge and having a bad influence is also considered incoming traffic towards the city centre along the long strait line, where outgoing traffic and prosperity of shops are a little bit better.
Term poison arrows is the name given to long alignments, which enable Ch’i flow to speed up to a point where it impacts upon a person or building, like arrow. They are also called ‘secret arrows’ because they cannot be seen. Secret arrows can be blocked off with walls, trees or embankments.
For the improvement, Ch’i needs to accumulate to be beneficial. This is best achieved when there are suitably sheltered places for the Ch’i to gather.
Interesting parallel can be drawn from this principal to the heritage preservation process where near the buildings with exceptional beauty presenting intricate facades and detailed features, building made out of glass with great reflection capacity is placed to reflect and multiply preserved building’s beauty. Similarly at the end of poison arrow effect reflective façade can be positioned to return the arrow back where it comes from.
Spike shaped features
Spike shaped features can create vertical poison arrows. Church spires were a favourite target for destruction in Catholic settlements in China in the 19th century, because their very aggressive points are supposed to be not just affront to Heaven, but also very bad Feng Shui for their long suffering neighbours.
Orthodox churched on the other hand have their strict building canonicum5 where by central dome and side domes are as big as possible round and sheltering, hugging and protecting all its patrons and therefore having good Ch’i .
On a smaller scale, today’s satellite dishes are very feng shui unfriendly items to point in the direction of your neighbours. Conversely, if a neighbour has done this to you, screen off the offending site. Alternatively, send the poison arrows back to where they come from with reflective surface or a mirror.
‘Closer to home’ vertical poison arrow is a disproportionately large building, particularly one close enough to overpower your own home or office. Here the sheer size is the problem. A building that overwhelms your building also overwhelms your Feng Shui. This is particularly aggravated if a corner of the building points directly at your home. And it is totally disastrous if this corner points at your front door. The alignment or line of sight along a wall of such a building is even more damaging than simply being pointed at by blunt corner.
“Where two walls meet at the corner, the Ch’i flow is doubled and becomes turbulent. Concentrated Ch’i over-runs, and continues moving rapidly in the same direction. Any close building in line with this over-run will be affected”.
The access point of Ch’i needs to be specially protected. The front door is most vulnerable and it represents the mouth through which Ch’i can enter the home or office. Back door and windows are to lesser effect vulnerable to such poison arrows. Houses, offices and public buildings are also affected internally which will not be covered by this review.
Internal room alignments and furniture placement assessment for happiness, health and prosperity have great many aspects required thorough Feng Shui calculations including Pa kua eight triagrams, Lo shu map, compass and other parameters.
“Building biology geological effects
Stretched across the whole of the earth is so called ‘global net’ consisting of stationary waves, thought to be induced by sun. However, its regularity, according to Hartmann, is such that it suggests an earthly radiation which emanates from inside the earth and is effected by crystalline structure in the earth’s crust which orders it in such network. The network is oriented magnetically, in strips of about 200mm width, from the magnetic north to south poles. In the central Europe area these appear at a spacing of about 2.5m grid. Grid running east west is about 2m.
Feng Shui in Modern Urban Planning
When it comes to urban planning, for those who are trying to achieve a higher state of mind and peace, Feng Shui might have a more significant influence than we can imagine. The popularity of Feng Shui is increasing among people worldwide. Nowadays, this traditional decorating method has become one of the favorite guidelines among interior design lovers.
However, to achieve the highest level of balance, Feng Shui enthusiasts are often restrained by inadequate urban planning.
With that in mind, here are some significant guides that will help urbanists, as well as architects and other experts in this field to achieve the best Feng Shui results, including the most influential segment which further determines interior and exterior design – urban planning.
Symbolism in Feng Shui
If we interpret traditional Feng Shui symbols into architectural elements, we can build modern houses, settlements, and even cities, following the principal elements of this ancient art.
Each Feng Shui settlement should include the following elements:
- Northern and southern boundaries – in the north, the boundary should be a landform to shape Chi’s direction, while a hill represents the mountain in the south.
- “Three islands“ – the balance between three objects, often described as the ideal living condition, in modern urbanism can be the balance between the three central, highest buildings.
- “Nodes“- In traditional Feng Shui, nodes can collect some sort of positive energy. In modern urbanism, nodes can be interpreted as plazas, amphitheaters, squares, intersections, and parks. For example, the central node stores Chi, some nodes can represent the combination of “Heaven“ and “Earth“. Another significant node is the auspicious site. Wealth Trigram or Reputation Trigram of Eight Trigrams should face the auspicious site.
- Axis of Chi’s delivery – following the site of the central node which stores Chi, modern Feng Shui settlements should contain the main axis of Chi’s delivery, often represented through the long, rectangular public green spaces or pathways.
The Grid
Introduced by the antique Romans, the grid, formed from cardum and decumanum, appeared as a favorite urban pattern worldwide. However, this simple and pure way of planning was also very popular among ancient Japanese and East Chinese contractors.
As we previously found out, everything in Feng Shui makes sense, so the situation with the grid in urban planning isn’t any different. Anyway, the grid symbolizes celestial order on earth, which further simplifies the entire process of creating a Feng-Shui-friendly environment.
The Front Door
Although the orthogonal grid simplifies the process of positioning the house, you should also consider where you’ll place some of the house’s main elements.
The front door in Feng Shui represents one of the most important architectural elements, since it receives the main Feng Shui energy from the house.
Traditionally, and in order to provide a good flow of Qi through the house, the front door should be placed facing the south. Although the south-facing main entrance provides the best way of getting the essence of nature, the front door oriented towards the east will also serve as the portal of energy.
The Bottom Line
If you are honestly interested in Feng Shui, you can find symbolism in your surroundings, and achieve the needed balance. This ancient, traditional art of mind is involved in almost all stages of modern society around the globe. Consciously, and sometimes unconsciously, urban planners, architects, and horticulturists are including Feng Shui in our cities, settlements, and even backyards.