Feng shui: Value-based designs in the 21st century

Written by Siti Fatimah Ayuningdyah | Read in Indonesian

We are now well into the age of Industry 4.0, but how often do we still see the ‘3A’ instead of the ‘4’ button in an elevator? Or how t-junction houses (or ‘tusuk sate’ in Indonesian) are so much harder to sell?

As modern as we may have become, values and beliefs still play a major role in how we build and design our houses.

Feng shui is usually the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about value-based designs. Feng shui is an ancient Chinese art of arranging buildings, objects and space in an environment to achieve harmony and balance in a way that will bring peace and prosperity.

China may be where it originated, but the application has spread beyond the country, or even the continent. For example, the world famous Louvre Museum in Paris was designed with feng shui basic principles in mind by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei.

The essential principles of feng shui include the commanding position, the bagua, and the five elements. The commanding position is the spot in a room that is the furthest from the door and not in direct line with it – or diagonal to the door. It is where we want to spend most of our time when we are in that room.

Once the dominant position is established, we can place the bed, work desk, or stove in diagonal alignment if possible. Each of the three represents an essential part of your life; the bed symbolises us as a person, the desk is an extension of our career and the stove represents wealth and nourishment.

Next, we have the bagua map. The Chinese word ‘bagua’ means ‘eight areas’; these eight areas relate to different aspects of one’s life, such as family, wealth, health, helpful people, children, knowledge, partnerships, fame and career. Each of these areas has corresponding shapes, colours, seasons, numbers and earthly elements. There are several feng shui schools of thought, and while all of them use bagua, they use it in different ways.

Lastly, we have the five elements: earth, metal, water, wood and fire. The elements are five interrelated phases in life that work together to create a complete system. Typically, the practice of feng shui works to balance these five facets in one’s home and each of one’s life areas or bagua.

Before incorporating these elements, one must choose the aspect of life one wants to improve. Then, we can strengthen our energy and the home's energy by adding the suggested colours or shapes in that room.

Now back to the Louvre Museum. The building boasts a pyramidal structure, which is regarded as a classic fire structure in feng shui, while its base is flat and square, representing the element of earth. The combination encourages passion through the fire element to fuel the need for art to continuously evolve, while the earth element helps ground the place.

TFR interviewed Maryati Gunawan, a feng shui consultant, and she explained the benefits of feng shui in our daily lives. “Feng shui balances the energy of a house, which makes the lives of the people living in the house harmonious. For example, they are able to obtain good jobs, maintain good health, good family relationships and others,” she said.

She then explained what one must consider when designing or building a house, “Everyone falls into one of these two groups: east or west. The house that fits each individual depends on which group they belong to. We also need to observe the energy surrounding the house. Negative energy that surrounds a house may affect one’s life tremendously.”

TFR also spoke to Ayu Ageng Annisaa, principal designer of Estetik Galeri, a contractor and interior design firm, who finds that values are still relevant to the projects she has worked on, be it feng shui or other beliefs, as her clients often have values that influence their design requests. She shared that some principles of feng shui actually align with what is considered to be good design principles.

“Some feng shui principles have been scientifically proven to be applicable to design. For example, based on feng shui, the front and back doors should not be in a direct line of sight of each other, because it may signify that the good fortune that comes to you can easily leave you. Hence, the doors should be placed diagonally. Theoretically, diagonal placement of doors is, indeed, good for air circulation.”

Feng shui is not the only value-based guiding principle in architecture and design, and Indonesia in particular has several of them due to the ethnic diversity our nation boasts. For example, the traditional Balinese house showcases a unique design with parts of the house that are built separately from each other, and each part has a significant function and philosophical meaning of its own.

A traditional Balinese house must have walls or fences as a separator, and this is because the people of Bali believe that fences can protect them from evil spirits. The fences are not built too tall, so as not to obstruct view, but enough to offer privacy.

As Indonesia has the biggest Muslim population in the world, the teachings of Islam also influences the way the people approach architecture and design. For example, it is considered forbidden to face the qibla – the direction of the Kaaba – to which Muslims turn at prayer, while defecating or urinating in an open space.

Although the widely accepted belief is that it is allowed if there is a wall or a shield between oneself and qibla, many Muslims still choose to be careful and avoid building toilets that are facing the qibla when designing their houses.

Then there are popular beliefs in Indonesia with unknown origins, for example the belief that a bottle shaped plot of land with a bigger front area that gets smaller at the back will bring misfortunes to the residents. Conversely, if the shape is narrower in front but bigger at the back, it attracts good fortune to the residents.

It appears that value-based designs still have a place in the modern world, and the industry is happy to comply. “As professionals, we respect people’s values, as long as they match the theories we learned. We will adapt. Again, clients own the money, and they are the users, so everything we do should accommodate them,” Ayu Ageng concluded.