When looking at our homes, I think it is important to look at the space available to us; how furniture interacts with its surroundings and in turn how we interact with it. People often have their own sense of style when it comes to ‘what looks good’ within their homes, as well as taking into consideration practicality and usability when it comes to the layout of furniture within interior design.
Architects Ong&Ong have taken this idea of spatial interaction further buy incorporating elements of feng shui into their designs, completing project JKC1, a family residence design. Based in Singapore, the home is a rectangular shape built over two floors and overlooks a tranquil pool at the front; this adheres to the beliefs surrounding energy and the balance of the built environment and the natural. Feng shui is the “Chinese art of determining the most propitious design and placement of a structure or site to achieve maximum harmony between the flow of energy between the place and its inhabitant.”
After reading further on the ancient Chinese tradition of feng shui I can see how the use of space has been considered within JKC1, everything is very minimal with clean accessibility. The combination of wood and brick acts as part of this harmonious balance and the central courtyard area brings nature into the home with plants and rocks. The spiral staircase that leads up from the courtyard to the rooftop terrace also invites positive energy in and throughout the home due to its shape, as well as the clear ventilation of the courtyard feature and added natural light.
For me feng shui is very similar to the idea of minimalism, creating a clean, spacious and airy room to affect ones mood. Now of course the concept of feng shui does probe into deeper values than that of minimalism but the basic idea is very comparable. The main focus is to provide a space that promotes positive energy, this can supposedly be achieve by having less furniture in the room that is spaced apart from each other. The use of plants within the home as well as natural light and ventilation can also help enhance positive energy. This is supposed to help promote wisdom and clear thinking, which does make sense to me, as I know from my personal experience that I can’t work amongst mess.
Popular belief suggest that the correct use of feng shui is supposed to bring fame and fortune, however research suggests that this is only one element of it. Ba Gua (or bagua) is an important element to consider within feng shui, it is a map or chart relating to your living space and the eight areas of your life; fame, wealth, family, knowledge/spirituality, career, helpful people, children, relationships and a ninth center area is also sometimes included. The belief suggests that if any one of these areas within your life is being affected you would use the ba gua map to determine which part of the home this life area is related to and correct any unbalances that may be attributing to the issue.
I personally am a big fan of the minimalist approach and the layout of the JKC1 is very appealing, particularly the courtyard area as well as the clever use of sliding doors which create a greater feeling of space, I imagine there is also some feng shui thinking behind this as well, keeping the energy flowing throughout the house without any ‘blockages’. I have to say I am not a believer in every aspect of feng shui or the use of ba gua but some elements do make sense to me and I am actually considering redesigning my living space, just a little bit.
Kirsty Curnow Bayley
February 24, 2012
I stumbled accross your blog post whilst looking for links to our company (Living Space Architects) I hadn’t really considered feng shui in relation to our projects but it might be fun to look at them in that context. Apparently when you move into a new house or appartment you should paint all the walls white, open the windows and put flowers in every room to rid it of bad spirits!