Architect's Guide to Feng Shui: Exploding the Myth

217 Pages·2003·9.65 MB·English

by  Cate Bramble

ARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO
Feng Shui
EXPLODING THE MYTH
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ARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO
Feng Shui
EXPLODING THE MYTH
BY
CATE BRAMBLE
AMSTERDAM BOSTON HEIDELBERG LONDON
NEW YORK OXFORD PARIS SAN DIEGO
SAN FRANCISCO SINGAPORE SYDNEY TOKYO
Architectural Press
An imprint of Elsevier
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP
200 Wheeler Road, Burlington, MA 01803
First published 2003
Copyright © 2003, Cate Bramble.All rights reserved
The right of Cate Bramble to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form
(including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means
and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this
publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except
in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright
Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1T
4LP.Applications for the copyright holder's written permission to
reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed
to the publisher
Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science and
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also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 0 7506 56069
For information on all Architectural Press publications
visit our website at www.architecturalpress.com
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems (P)Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Foreword ix
Chapter 1
Introduction:global perspective 3
Chapter 2
Expert rules 17
Chapter 3
Protoscientific and pseudoscientific
conventions 35
Chapter 4
4 9
Calculations 57 3 5
8 1
Chapter 5
Planning 67
Chapter 6
Environmental assessment 85
vi Contents
Chapter 7
Human factors 111
Chapter 8
Crime and its relation to the
environment 127
Chapter 9
Structures 133
Chapter 10
An overview of the theory of
time and space 141
Chapter 11
Form and shape theory in
time and space theory 147
Chapter 12
Services 151
Chapter 13
Overlooked and overblown issues of drainage,
water supply and storage, ventilation, electrical
supply and installation, lighting, and sound 157
Chapter 14
Building elements 165
Chapter 15
Resources 173
Bibliography 177
Index 193
Acknowledgements
I have always relied on the kindness of strangers.This book would
be about parrots had I not had the good luck to study with Master
Larry Sang and to meet Master Joseph Yu, Joey Yap and
Grandmaster Yap Cheng Hai (whose generosity widened my world
to include Master Eva Wong, Master Raymond Lo, and many other
notables in this global community).I may never be able to thank all
of you enough but I will keep trying.
I am also deeply grateful to my friends, most notably Danny Thorn,
Elizabeth Moran, Nani Shaked, and Nancy Chen, who supplied
endless hours of advice, suggestions, enlightenment, encourage-
ment, and humour. Joey Yap and Grandmaster Yap provided
much-needed wisdom.Architects Simona Mainini and David Wong
were kind enough to read the manuscript and provide a much-
needed reality check.Loraine Scott, I cannot thank you enough for
the Mac that I entrusted with my thoughts.It never failed and for
that I am glad.
Without the staff at Architectural Press (Katherine, Alison, and
Elizabeth) none of this would be.Thank you all.
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Foreword
When I first got onto the internet 5 years ago and searched about
Feng Shui, I was surprised it appeared that this ancient Chinese
practice was quite well received by westerners. However, when I
examined the websites and went to the book stores to find out what
were available, to my dismay, it was not what Feng Shui was meant
to be. I was happy when Cate Bramble’s website ‘Feng Shui for
Dummies’caught my eyes.The articles not only showed that Cate
was sincere about learning Feng Shui, she was brave enough to
declare war on what was not.She continues to make an effort to
fulfill her mission and her website grows to become ‘Feng Shui
Ultimate Resource’today.
A lot of Feng-Shui practices can be explained in terms of science.
A lot of Feng Shui theories will be proved using scientific approach
in the future. Although it may take another 1000 years or even
longer before scientists can explain why and how Feng Shui works,
it should be our target.Therefore, the way to study Feng Shui and
other ancient metaphysics is to use a logical system.I am glad that
Cate is following this line.
Cate’s book is timely as there are people who claim to be practising
traditional Feng Shui but they are actually promoting superstition.
This gives a bad name to Feng Shui and gives a bad impression to
scientists, architects, and interior designers.It is true that there are
phenomena that cannot be explained using science. We cannot
use this as an excuse to practise something that insults our com-
mon sense and logical reasoning. Cate’s standpoint is very firm.