There are many different types of Feng Shui but their tradition was found through the idea of solar gain, much like passive solar design except that the Chinese philosophy concentrated on Astronomy with the placement of stars whereas the work we do is based to give the solar gain focused only on the sun.

There are two different types of Feng Shui that I have worked with and they are the Bagua and Eight Mansions Principles. Because China is based in the Northern Hemisphere their sun rises and falls to the South whereas in the Southern Hemisphere the sun rises and falls to the North.

Feng Shui is the study of human interaction in buildings over a period of about 4000 years or more. It is amazing how accurate it is and how much at first glance it looks like a superstition but it is a natural occurrence in peoples’ lives that we tend to follow and make us feel good about ourselves.

Architecture is about making us feel welcome and relaxed. Feng Shui can create a peaceful atmosphere within homes even using colour as well as other techniques. You could take Feng Shui and write standards from it and in fact, some of the Feng Shui principles have ended up quite by accident in the standards that have been written to make life easier for us for access within buildings.

Traditional Feng Shui takes the Polar Compass into account when considering the design and the experts actually complete a chart around your date and time of birth to determine the best outcome for you. The trouble with some of that is that there are many people living in the home and it could become uncomfortable for new life born into that household and husband and wife might not be compatible but they still have to live together.

With the Bagua, it traditionally places designated areas in certain quadrants within the home providing an element of peace and selectiveness for lifestyle for the inhabitants. It is not an exact science but we have worked with it before and in fact, a Feng Shui Chinese girl once looked at my old plans and said they all worked well except for 1 where the carport was on the wrong side but that was because it couldn’t go anywhere else with very poor access to the site.