What Is Feng Shui Architecture?

Feng shui is an ancient Chinese practice for allowing positive energy to flow through a building, land, or the environment. When designing a building, feng shui architecture ensures that the energy flow through the structure is positive and does not contain irregular shapes or problem-causing architecture that affects the standard of life of those living or working in the building. The building design should have the shell of the building as a regular shape, with rooms and doors that are in proportion with the rest of the structure. Architecture in all forms attempts to create buildings and interiors that are pleasing on the eye and that fit in with the surrounding environment.

Chinese academics, such as astronomers and alchemists, developed and kept the secrets of feng shui for thousands of years when the practice was used only in China. The position, size, and shape of each room in a building is designed to fit into feng shui principles determining that the flow of positive energy remains constant and is not interrupted by irregularly-shaped areas. House design can use these principles easily, as the building can be placed and built to the architect's specifications regarding feng shui.

During the design of a building using feng shui, the shape of the structure should remain regular with square and rectangular shapes allowing the best energy flow. Irregular shapes including L- and U-shaped buildings can cause blockages in the flow of energy within structures. Money and marital issues can result from irregular-shaped buildings or those without a completely regular shape.

The placement of rooms within a structure is an important part of feng shui architecture. These principles insist that rooms within a building should be of similar sizes without different shapes to interrupt energy passing through the house. Room positioning is also important when feng shui architecture is employed, with kitchens placed adjacent to dining rooms to avoid problems with arguments within a family between children and parents.

Openings into buildings are another important factor in architectural design using feng shui principles. Doors should be solid and of a regular shape that open inward to allow good fortune to flow into the building and should not be significantly out of proportion with the size of the building. Placing a front and back door directly in line with each other allows good fortune to flow in the front door and directly out of the back door without attaching it to the building occupants. Windows are another important factor in feng shui architecture that should be regularly shaped and open outwards to aid energy flow through the structure.