The trouble with apartments

> Feng shui practitioners often disagree on the facing direction for this type of building

systems of feng shui, as it is often used to determine the auspicious and inauspicious sectors within the apartment building, and by extension, the apartment units.

Getting the facing or sitting wrong can totally skew the luck of the occupants! Here is my take on this. Let’s look at an apartment building with four units per floor, with each unit located at the cardinal directions, and served by a set of lifts and stairs located in the centre. (In practice, the lifts could be at the sides of the building.)

Access to the units above is usually through the lobby at the ground level.

In the tropics, it is critical that the units are properly ventilated. It is also a best practice that the internal common spaces of the building receive a lot of natural sunlight.

To meet these objectives, most apartment buildings here incorporate courtyards or air wells into the design, as shown in diagram 1.

So should all the units follow the facing direction of the main building, or should each unit have its own facing?

Now, let’s consider a hypothetical example of two blocks of three-storey townhouses serviced by a common walkway, and accessed via stairs at both end.

Each unit on each floor is owned by different owners. Let’s assume that the townhouses are facing North and South. (See diagram 2)

Now imagine that the two blocks of townhouses are brought closely together and connected at both ends, with a courtyard or air well in between.

Instead of two stairs at each corner, one set of stairs is replaced with a lift. The walkway to each of the units remain unchanged.

Does this now functionally resemble the apartment mentioned earlier? Should the townhouses now have a single facing because they are together, or should they have their own facing direction? (See diagram 3)

This is not an easy question to answer, which explains the wide difference in opinions between practitioners.

Which brings us to another question. Assuming that you now agree that the units should have different facings, which side should you take? The unit’s door side, or the balcony?

The facing side is often defined as the side that allows in most of the environmental qi.

For me, I will treat each unit as a standalone house, and assess which side of the house (that is, the unit door or balcony side) brings in most of the qi. That becomes the facing side.

This is a controversial topic, and many practitioners will not agree with me. I really look forward to the day when feng shui researchers do a more extensive study, and put this issue to rest.

Henry Fong is an electronic engineer by qualification and he approaches feng shui with the same analytical and investigative approach he uses in his training. Readers can write to him at lifestyle.henryfong@thesundaily. com.