A Foyer with fine architectural materials and color creates a great transition space while also provides connection to other private spaces in the house.

The above living room takes full advantage of the ocean view while feels more balanced by the use of neutral colors and positioning of furniture and art works to prevent direct out flowing of energy.

A well defined and balanced living room is achieved with neutral color scheme and nature artworks as focal points to keep the vibrant yet positive energy in the room. Note the rear openings or doors are buffered by a series of arches and columns.

Feng Shui: an Overview

According to Chinese Philosophy, the purpose of Feng Shui is to find the perfect balance of chi. Chi is the constantly fluctuating life force of positive and negative energies of which any imbalances will create consequences according to such imbalanced forces. Finding the balance to the polarity of chi can be accomplished by Yin and Yang Theory. Yin and Yang is like a double pole of constantly pushing and pulling, or exerting and receiving forces. These forces fluctuating are water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. These elements in the precise and balanced polarity or yin and yang will help create harmony in the code of feng shui.

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Feng Shui Arts, Science and Myths… A Design Series

by Huy Nguyen

Perhaps this is no surprise to you, but it is no exaggeration to say that we are living in the new age of the Great Consequences. We are constantly bombarded with the political, economic, social, and environmental stresses of the day by the multi-media channels of the new great information age. Physically and mentally, we are all suffering more than we know from our own twenty first century’s man made successes and failures. Maybe it’s time for all of us to sit back and look at what is going on around us, and then individually, each of us can find a way to overcome all this negativity that seems to surround us. Maybe it’s time to take a look at an ancient art, philosophy, code of lifestyles, code of building, code of Aesthetic and most of important of all, a Code of Balance. We may not be able to change the world, but we can definitely change our lifestyle and make the best of it for ourselves. It’s time to understand and apply a little Feng Shui.

Part One: The Foyer & Living Room

It should not be directly attached to the main entranceway or doorway. Technically, when people first enter the house, they should enter a foyer with finely decorated furniture and water or plant feature to invite the fresh and natural energy into the house. The living room should be directly off the foyer with different connecting halls or vestibules to buffer from other public and private spaces. This is to create a balance or neutral space or “chi” to prevent negative forces from other private spaces.

The living room should have plenty of natural light, and depending on the direct exterior wall orientation, the interior colors should either brighten or diffuse the nature light to create a true “home living” space. An example of this is if the exterior is facing west which has a lot of warm sun light, the walls should be off white to gray tones to diffuse the hot yellow lights while the furniture should be darker to dark but natural colors to counter balance the otherwise bright space. An important factor in window and door design which may seem contrary to most modern living room designs today is the large glass doors on direct axis with the front doors. Feng shui concept would say that this will cause the homeowner to lose his fortune overtime since his money or positive energy has such a large and direct opening to escape. This Feng shui concept may be better explained by using practical design approach. A large sliding glass door or French doors on direct axis with the main entry doors will create an immediate distraction as one is about to enter the living room or the house in general. The owner has yet to focus and relax his energy from the busy world out there, yet the rear door directly in front of him would suggest to pull him out of his home again thru the back door! Even more practical is the fact that the doors off the living are rarely used which mean the waste of unused circulation space in front of the doors. One way to counter this while keeping the modern approach to design is placing non operable windows or put plants or water feature in front of the rear doors to stop the unwanted energy flow. A beautiful piece of furniture with plants, ceramic, sculptures will create a great buffering shield as well. For a small house, to create the feel of openness, one can place transparent or reflective materials to create more depth. A large framed mirror or water tank will help.

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