Urbani izziv Volume 30, No. 2, December 2019
: 124-134
(Articles)
UDK: 303.833.5:159.9:502.2:11(510)
doi: 10.5379/urbani-izziv-en-2019-30-02-006
Author
Špela Kryžanowski
Fakulteta za dizajn, samostojni visokošolski zavod, pridružena clanica Univerze na Primorskem, Trzin, Slovenija
spela.kry@gmail.com
Title
A comparative analysis of selected recommendations of the feng shui school of form, Alexander et al.’s pattern language, and findings of environmental psychology
Abstract
Feng shui is a traditional Chinese art of creating a supportive
living environment. Despite many research contributions
on feng shui, very few verify (comparatively
or experimentally) the actual effectiveness of feng shui
recommendations. Even the architectural profession has
never clearly denied its opinion on feng shui. This comparative
analysis seeks to determine whether 118 selected
feng shui school of form recommendations are consistent
with the recommendations of Alexander et al.’s pattern
language and with selected findings in environmental
psychology. The results support this, showing that 34%
of the recommendations (or forty recommendations out
of 118 in total) are consistent with pattern language and
that 45% (or fifty-three recommendations) are fully or
partially consistent with the findings of environmental
psychology. Altogether, more than half of the recommendations
(57%, or sixty-seven recommendations) are
consistent (indirectly confirmed) by one or the other
knowledge system, which means that it is very likely that
these recommendations will actually have the promised
impact on users of physical space. Twenty-seven feng shui
recommendations (or 23% out of the 118) are doubly
consistent, of which most are related to the five-animals
feng shui model, the importance of the presence of water
and natural light in the living environment, and the
importance of the main entrance. The bulk of the recommendations, which remain unaddressed, relate to the
Chinese concept of living energy, or qi.
Key Words
Feng shui, Alexander’s pattern language, environmental psychology, comparative analysis