A comparative analysis of selected recommendations of the feng shui school of form, Alexander et al.’s pattern language, and findings of environmental psychology

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.

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 e ectiveness of feng shui recommendations. Even the architectural profession has never clearly de ned its opinion on feng shui. is 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 ndings in environmental psychology. e 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 y-three recommendations) are fully or partially consistent with the ndings of environmental psychology. Altogether, more than half of the recom-mendations (57%, or sixty-seven recommendations) are consistent (indirectly con rmed) 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 ve-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. e bulk of the recommendations, which remain unaddressed, relate to the Chinese concept of living energy, or qi.
Keywords: Feng shui, Alexander's pattern language, environmental psychology, comparative analysis

Introduction
Feng shui is a traditional Chinese art of environmental design that is supposed to support the user as much as possible. It is rooted in traditional Chinese philosophy and tightly embedded in the Chinese cultural and historical framework. It has been present in China and other Asian countries for millennia, but it has been known in the West only since the late nineteenth century. At the turn of the millennium, it experienced its rst major peak of Western popularity, but the architectural profession never clearly de ned its opinion on the phenomenon of feng shui. One reason for this is certainly the feng shui research barriers that Western researchers are particularly exposed to: the diversity of feng shui schools, methods, and techniques, a lack of knowledge of the language and cultural background, the subjectivity of interpreting recommendations, and, above all, the problem of isolating feng shui e ects and, consequently, their scienti c validation. Feng shui was rst the subject of anthropological research in the West (e.g., De Groot, 1897;Needham, 1956;Freedman, 1968;March, 1968;Feuchtwang, 1974) as one of many traditional Chinese divination techniques that have been an important social phenomenon throughout Chinese history (Kubny, 2008). e techniques have evolved throughout history, from a privileged practice reserved for high society to a practice intended for everyday use and the common man (Bruun, 2003(Bruun, , 2008. At the same time, they evolved from a rather passive technique, the primary purpose of which is accident prevention, to an active practice, the primary purpose of which is to ensure happiness. Feng shui is closely linked to traditional Chinese philosophy and Chinese popular religion, representing an extensive collection of ideas, practices, rituals, and ceremonies connected with life cycles that connect the ordinary Chinese farmer with the local environment and society. At the same time, popular religion also extends beyond the concrete material world into the world of spirits, ancestors, and local gods, where feng shui is largely de ned through the cult of ancestor worship and the cult of worshipping nature as a living being. In addition to contemporary anthropological research (e.g., Hwangbo, 1999;Bruun, 2003Bruun, , 2008Paton, 2013), the most interesting areas of contemporary study of feng shui are the comparison between feng shui and sustainable construction (e.g., Yoon, 1980;Dan, 1994;Han, 2001;Xu, 2003;Chen & Nakama, 2004) and the study of traditional buildings and urban arrangements (built in accordance with feng shui recommendations; e.g., Nemeth, 1987;Xu, 1998;Kalland, 1999;ongkamsamut & Buranakarn, 2007;Chiang, 2009;Mak, 2014;Gray, 2017). Feng shui-related contributions in contemporary architecture and urbanism are fewer than one would expect, given the active use of feng shui in the Asian world. ere are signi cantly more professional manuals (e.g., Bramble, 2003;Mak & So, 2009, 2011, in which architects seek to explain to fellow architects the basic principles of feng shui. At the same time, the content in research articles under various headings is very repetitive. Nonetheless, in the Asian world, feng shui is an important cultural moment whose inuence can be traced through contributions in economics and real estate (e.g., Choy et al., 2007;Chang, 2009;So, 2009;Chang & Lii, 2010;Wu et al., 2012;Yau, 2012;Chen et al., 2015), tourism (e.g., Hobson, 1994;Poulston, 2009;Poulston & Bennett, 2012), and traditional and o cial medicine (e.g., Whedon, 2000;Schumm, 2004;Sit, 2004;. ere are very few contributions that focus on evaluating feng shui recommendations and exploring whether these recommendations actually work, or whether they are merely part of anthropological cultural heritage. Only sixteen were identi ed in a literature review. ey can be divided into comparative studies and eld experiment studies. In the comparative studies, the e ectiveness of feng shui recommendations (especially those of the feng shui school of form) is not directly tested in eld research, but it is compared with ndings in other elds, notably environmental psychology and contemporary architectural practice. Even in experimental studies, the main focus is on exploring the e ectiveness of the school of form, and only in two cases also on parts of the school of compass (Bazley et al., 2016;Charles et al., 2017). As many as half of the eld studies deal with the position of the building in the wider environment (e.g., Han & Amita, 1996;Lynch, 2003;Han, 2004;Mak et al., 2005;Um, 2009), and half focus on the design of the building or its interior (e.g., So & Lu, 2001;Mak et al., 2005;Poulston & Bennett, 2012;Octavia & Gunawan, 2014;Bazley et al., 2016;Charles et al., 2017;Hong et al., 2017;Mak, 2017). Some studies seek to prove the credibility of feng shui recommendations through existing evaluation systems (see, e.g., Chang et al., 2009;Pheng et al., 2012). However, the comparative studies by Bonaiuto et al. (2010) and Xu (2004) are of particular interest for the comparative analysis performed, and in both cases the feng shui school of form is at the forefront.
In a comparative study of selected elements of environmental psychology and feng shui, Bonaiuto et al. (2010) rst introduced the two disciplines in terms of their core characteristics and elds of activity. What follows is a rough comparative analysis between the two, determining that many ndings of environmental psychology are embedded in feng shui design recommendations. Two properties of the physical space are analysed in detail: the restorative element and the control element. Restorative elements of the environment reduce mental fatigue and stress (e.g., a view of water or nature). Control re ects the level of power over the environment, and its lack is o en associated with stress. Both elements are recognized as very important environmental features that support wellbeing in both disciplines. e study concludes that there are points of contact between environmental psychology and feng shui. e disadvantage of the study is that, when presenting feng shui, it focuses solely on the concepts of the school of form and does not even mention the compass school. Xu (2004) analyses the theoretical foundations of feng shui and compares them to the basic human needs of behavioural psychology: survival, safety, sexuality, and development. e author notes that architects should incorporate key ndings of feng shui theory in creating architectural solutions. e basis for the comparative analysis between the selected recommendations of the school of form, environmental psychology, and Alexander et al.'s pattern language, which is presented below, was made in the framework of the master's thesis Feng shui: primerjalna študija izbranih tradicionalnih priporočil in sodobnih dognanj (Feng Shui: A Comparative Study of Selected Traditional Recommendations and Contemporary Findings; Kryžanowski, 2012) at the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Architecture. Based on the results, the following research question should be answered: "Are the selected recommendations of the feng shui school of form consistent with the ndings of the selected chapters of environmental psychology and pattern language in the sense that their spatial (or design) or psychological impact on the user is the same?"

Methods
A comparative analysis is performed using the descriptive scienti c method (Kališnik & Lah, 1998), in which the researchers do not in uence the phenomena or information studied, but only analyse this. First, a database of feng shui recommendations was created, and a erward two separate comparisons were made: rst, between the feng shui database and Alexander et al.'s pattern language, and then with the ndings of environmental psychology.

Creation of the feng shui school of form recommendations database
e feng shui school of form was taken as the starting point for the creation of the feng shui recommendations database.
ere are two major schools of feng shui: the school of form and the compass school. e school of form is more intuitive, and the compass school is more mathematical. e basic starting point of the school of form is the presence of the life force qi in the landscape and the corresponding ideal positioning of new buildings or cities. It is very important to take into account the ve-animals model (also known as four emblems) or the ve feng shui geographical secrets (e.g., Mak, 2014). In contemporary Western interpretations of feng shui, the focus of the school of form recommendations has shi ed from the placement of the building in the landscape to the recommendations regarding interior design, but the basic logic remains the same. e compass school is more repetitive and mathematically modelled then the school of form. As the name implies, the main instrument used by the compass school is the compass. e Chinese already knew in the rst century AD that the magnetic eld has an e ect on living beings (Kubny, 2008: 251). Further logical reasoning was that the magnetic eld also a ects humans. e magnet's needle, following the principle of "equal attracts equal", is supposed to be capable of showing the ow of Earth's qi because it was magnetized directly with Earth's qi. e feng shui compass school developed di erent techniques for calculating what the quality of qi should be in speci c areas of physical space relative to the compass directions based on the magnetism of the Earth (the impact of the Earth) and at speci c time intervals based on the in uence of celestial bodies (the impact of the sky).
From the above outline of the two schools and an in-depth analysis of their recommendations, it is clear that only the school of form could be chosen for comparative analysis with contemporary ndings. Its recommendations are similar in structure (but not necessarily in content) to those of environmental psychology and pattern language. All three systems describe spatial situations and evaluate whether people feel comfortable or less comfortable when faced with them. On the other hand, it is not clear what could be used for a comparison of the recommendations of the compass school. In contemporary architecture and urbanism (or other elds of science), there is no system that works in the same or at least roughly the same way -in the sense that the degree of comfort in a room or spatial arrangement would be judged primarily according to the compass orientation, the year of the completion of the building, or the user's birthday. e compass school could be scienti cally evaluated only by using the experimental method. e rst step, therefore, was to create a database of feng shui school of form recommendations (2011) based on the study of relevant feng shui manuals, information received through education (training for a feng shui consultant), and the author's own (then een years') practical experience in feng shui consulting. Neither then nor today was there a consensus among feng shui researchers on which of the many methods and techniques actually belong to traditional feng shui. One cannot say that there is a uni ed database of traditional feng shui knowledge because over history many variations of individual techniques developed, which are not always harmonized. An additional problem is that the recommendations form part of traditional knowledge and are stated in the texts without any speci c scienti c justi cation regarding their e ectiveness. erefore, the creation of the database of the school of form recommendations is based on an in-depth study of the literature, on the works of authors that identify themselves as teachers of traditional feng shui (as opposed to the new age commercial feng shui of "life stations"), and whose recommendations are the same or at least very similar. Selected authors include Joseph Yu (Moran et al., 2005), Ewa Wong (1996Wong ( , 2001, Derek Walters (Volters, 1998), and Evelin Lip (1979Lip ( , 1986Lip ( , 1994. e recommendations of Jes Tyng-Yee Lim (1997Lim ( , 2000 are also partially incorporated, but without the recommendations for commercial feng shui techniques. e database excludes all recommendations related solely to the Chinese cultural and historical framework (e.g., the use of Chinese symbols, decorations, or mirrors), recommendations that do not have a direct design impact, and recommendations that cannot be linked to the philosophical background in which feng shui is grounded. e selected authors have only a few or no such recommendations. For the purpose of constructing the feng shui database, the recommendations are rst summarized in the form of a text (manual) and divided into several chapters (e.g., the concept of qi in a landscape; the ve-animals model; and recommendations for the bedroom, kitchen, o ce space, and so on). For the sake of the comparative analysis, the recommendations of the school of form are next summarized in a database of 118 simple claims and divided into two sections: the landscape with the building's surroundings and the building itself with interior design (part of the recommendations are presented in Tables 1 and 2).

Creation of Alexander et al.'s pattern language database
In the second step, recommendations from pattern language were analysed (Alexander et al., 1977). Alexander et al. claim that certain spatial situations support life, whereas others do not. With each of the patterns, they identify one of the problems in the environment and propose an appropriate solution. e patterns move from the level of the region, through the level of the settlement, to the level of the surrounding area of the building, the building itself, the individual rooms in the building, and at the end the construction details. Each pattern has a comprehensive description of the problem and possible comparisons with ndings in other elds of science. Each pattern ends with instructions on how to design the physical space to eliminate the problem identi ed in the introduction. All 253 patterns work together as a whole (one organism), which is a crucial point for Alexander et al. Some patterns are very similar and appear only on di erent scales (e.g., a square, yard, or living room).
For the purposes of the comparative analyses, all patterns identi ed by Alexander et al. and all feng shui recommendations were compared. e comparison was based on a list of 118 feng shui school of form recommendations. e basic starting point of the comparison was whether the recommendations have the same or a very similar e ect: in terms of urban design (e.g., desirable presence of natural landscape near or in close proximity to buildings), in terms of the design of individual elements of a building (e.g., windows in all rooms of the structure), or in terms of the psychological e ect on the user (e.g., proximity to water has a positive e ect on human wellbeing).
If the e ect was identi ed as being the same or similar, in a way that it could be described through one statement compliant with the basic message of both recommendations, it was marked Yes. In doing so, the level of compliance described by Yes was classi ed into three levels. If the recommendations were the same in the sense that they used the same words for the same concepts (e.g., main entrance) and were describing the same number of parameters (e.g., clearly visible or illuminated), the mark Yes was used. If the essence of the two recommendations was the same but the vocabulary used was di erent, it was marked (Yes). e same marking (Yes) was also applied when the recommendations used the same vocabulary, but one recommendation included several parameters and the other recommendation included only some of these parameters. If the vocabulary used was di erent and the consistency of the meaning can be ascertained only through logical derivation using induction or deduction and, at the same time, one recommendation may include several parameters and the other one only part of them, the mark ((Yes)) was used. In short, Yes indicates a high degree of compliance, (Yes) partial compliance, and ((Yes)) indirect compliance. If none of Alexander et al.'s patterns could be identi ed for the school of form recommendation, a pattern that is comparable either in e ect or in essence, the eld denoting the degree of compliance remained blank. In some cases, the pattern from pattern language has a directly opposite recommendation from the school of form.
ere were not many of these cases, but they are marked No in Table 1. Table 1 shows all four levels of compliance described above, together with a substantive essence statement that is common to both recommendations.

Creation of the database according to environmental psychology recommendations
For the purpose of comparative analysis, the ndings of environmental psychology have been summarized according to content; for example, recommendations for home design, the work environment, retail, and so on. Two works have been taken as a basis. Place Advantage (Augustin, 2009) o ers current research ndings in environmental psychology, and En ironmental Psychology (Bell et al., 2001) on its general character- 185. (part) The seating area should be protected, without crossing paths, and in an approximately semi--circular shape.
193. Every space should have a balance between openness ( owing space) and closedness (cell space).
38. Through the windows and doors, the vital energy qi enters the object.
107. People are more positive in buildings with windows than in buildings without windows. Light plays a key role in maintaining circadian body rhythms. The presence of windows in the room has a positive e ect on living conditions.
(Yes) 128. The main living quarters should face south. Sunshine in the living room is of utmost importance for living quality.
192. Rooms without a view (without windows) adversely a ect living quality.
62. Narrow corridors with blind ends are uncomfortable.
132. The corridors should be short, spacious, and preferably illuminated.
The corridors should be wide enough. ((Yes)) 132. The corridors should be spacious so that furniture can also be tted, creating a sense of living.
2. Place the building in an ideal location with respect to the ow of life energy qi in the landscape.
104. Buildings must be placed in the worst locations in the landscape, not the best. No 14. A road or river should always be in the front of the building, not in the back, because the dynamic energy ow weakens the back.
Note: Yes = high compliance; (Yes) = partial compliance; ((Yes)) = indirect compliance; No = reverse e ect of recommendation; blank = no compliance. Source: author. In the workplace (when working) people want to have a protected back (Augustin, 2009: 198), while also controlling the access to the room (Augustin, 2009: 29).

Š. KRYŽANOWSKI
The best seating areas are places with a protected back, with the possibility of looking at a larger open space, and with access control.

Yes
People want to have something solid (a wall or partition) behind their back while sitting (Augustin, 2009: 72).
Due to "prehistoric memory", we like to sit with a protected back facing open space (Augustin, 2009: 10, 85).
We like to sit in rooms that give a sense of shelter with lower ceilings and a view of the larger open space (Hildebrandt, 1999, cited in Augustin, 2009. Children and adults are more relaxed and learn more easily when they are in a room that is protected and has preferably a slightly lower ceiling (Augustin, 2009: 228).
We love rooms that allow us to control access (Augustin, 2009: 29).

From natural landscapes, the life energy qi enters the building
The presence and possibility of a view of the natural landscape next to the building has a positive impact on living quality. It promotes psychological and physical health (Augustin, 2009: 234).
The proximity of natural green areas (or the possibility of a view of green areas) has a bene cial e ect on wellbeing in buildings.
28. A building near hospitals, cemeteries, slaughterhouses, and other places related to disease, torture, or death is unfavourable.
People are attracted to places that promise comfort, safety, and a sense of appreciation (Augustin, 2009: 14).
People are not attracted to places associated with illness, torture, or death.
((Yes)) 25. When on a slope, the entrance to the building should be on the lower side.
A comparative analysis of selected recommendations of the feng shui school of form istics. Based on the same methodology used in comparative analyses with Alexander et al.'s pattern language, each of the 118 feng shui recommendations were attributed a degree of compliance: Yes high, (Yes) partial, ((Yes)) indirect, or blank, which means there was no consistency between the recommendations of the feng shui school of form and the ndings of environmental psychology. Table 2 shows all four of these levels of compliance together with the substantive essence statement common to both recommendations.

Comparison of selected feng shui recommendations and Alexander et al.'s pattern language
Analysis of the comparison between 118 of the feng shui school of form recommendations and Alexander et al.'s pattern language shows that for twenty-one feng shui recommendations it is possible to nd a pattern demonstrating high compliance with the feng shui recommendation (marked Yes), fourteen feng shui recommendations are partially compliant with Alexander et al.'s pattern language (marked (Yes)), and ve recommendations are linked via indirect compliance (marked ((Yes))). Altogether, at least a minimum level of compliance can be detected in forty recommendations, representing 34% of all feng shui recommendations. In this, recommendations with contrary e ect, although dealing with the same or similar content, are not taken into account (e.g., see Recommendation 2 in Table 1). Taken together, such recommendations number ve (4% of all recommendations). Two of them are conditionally inconsistent with pattern 116, which speaks of the need for cascading roofs. Namely, feng shui has reservations against sharp edges of roofs that can point into living quarters, and the number of these, in the case of a highly structured roof with several levels, is higher. In the structure of the levels of compliance, it stands out that the most recommendations are linked through a high degree of compliance, where the same vocabulary is used in addition to the same spatial impact. e second highest is the share of indirect compliance with the same substantive essence and spatial e ects, but di erent vocabulary. is was expected. e feng shui recommendations as well as Alexander et al.'s patterns cover spatial situations in the urban environment or in buildings and therefore use the same terminology (e.g., both discuss the importance of the presence of water in the open spaces or the importance of a well-designed main entrance).
Looking more precisely at the feng shui recommendations that are indirectly, partially, or very compliant, it turns out (see Table 3) that they are by far most associated with the ve-animals model (twelve recommendations, or 30%), followed by the importance of natural lighting and the presence of windows (four recommendations, or 10%) and nally the importance of water and the main entrance (each has three recommendations, or 7.5%). Five per cent of the samples (or two patterns per recommendation) are linked to green areas, roads and crossings, sharp edges and corners, and the importance of the bed. All remaining patterns can be associated with only one feng shui recommendation, which represents an individual residual of 2.5%.
I also wondered what portion of all 253 of Alexander et al.'s patterns is covered by the selected 118 feng shui school of form recommendations. Forty feng shui recommendations, which are compliant in various degrees, represent 16% (of a total of 253) of all patterns. An additional ve recommendations (2%) are compliant with Alexander et al.'s patterns, but the e ect of these is exactly reversed. Depending on the total number of patterns, the overlap rate is low. One of the reasons for this is that Alexander et al.'s patterns have an exceptionally wide spectrum that goes from the level of the region (40% of patterns), through the level of the building (40%), to the construction level (20%). In the case of selected feng shui recommendations, most (77%) deal with the building and its interior design, and only 33% are le for the region, construction, and building details. In terms of the research question examined, based on the rst part of the comparative analysis, among 118 feng shui school of form recommendations, forty (34%) are indirectly, partially, or highly compliant with the recommendations of Alexander et al.'s pattern language.

Comparison of selected feng shui recommendations and the ndings of environmental psychology
Analysis of the comparison between 118 feng shui school of form recommendations and the ndings of environmental psychology reveals that twelve feng shui recommendations are highly compliant with environmental psychology ndings (marked Yes), eighteen of the feng shui recommendations are partially compliant with environmental psychology (marked (Yes)), and as many as twenty-three recommendations are indirectly compliant (marked ((Yes))). Taken together, at least a minimum level of compliance can be de ned for y-three recommendations, accounting for 45% of all 118 feng shui recommendations. In contrast to Alexander et al.'s pattern language, the highest share of compliance is that of indirect and partial compliance. is can be explained by the fact that, contrary to pattern language, the ndings of environmental psychology (in the sources considered) are presented primarily through general rules explaining people's responses to selected spatial elements or arrangements. rough examples, responses to particular situations are also explained, but in less detail than in Alexander et al.'s pattern language or feng shui.
dations show indirect compliance (nine out of thirteen). Next are the in uences of form, patterns, and colours (19%), where the negative impact of sharp and aggressive forms, emphasized in feng shui, is predominant. is is also con rmed by the ndings of environmental psychology, but it is not specically stressed. e remaining feng shui recommendations are linked to the impact of natural elements (light, water, nature, and wind) and together comprise the remaining quarter of all recommendations. A more detailed overview of the shares associated with the environmental psychology themes is provided in Table 4.
In terms of the research question, the comparative analysis of the feng shui school of form and environmental psychology showed that, out of 118 feng shui school of form recommendations, y-three (45%) are indirectly, partially, or highly compliant with the ndings of environmental psychology.
is means that, based on the ndings of environmental psychology, one could conclude that a good 45% of the feng shui school of form recommendations presented in this article have actual positive e ects on wellbeing in the physical space. To analyse the e ectiveness of the remaining 55%, the same strictly controlled studies should be carried out as outlined in the research protocols of environmental psychology. It would also be interesting to examine what portion of the ndings of environmental psychology as a whole is actually covered by the selected feng shui recommendations. e in uential area of environmental psychology is signi cantly broader than the segment focusing on wellbeing, and the method used is not appropriate for this purpose. In any case, it can be concluded that the school of form as a whole covers only a small fraction of the area otherwise studied by environmental psychology, even though the school of form recommendations can be applied from the level of urbanism down to the level of interior design.

Conclusion
Based on the results of the comparative analyses, the answer to the research question is a rmative in both cases. e combined comparison of the compliant recommendations (of all three types) according to one or the other of the two analyses further shows that Alexander et al.'s patterns and the ndings of environmental psychology do not cover the same feng shui recommendations. As a whole, sixty-seven feng shui recommendations are compliant, which is just over half (57%) of all 118 feng shui recommendations. Of these, twenty-seven recommendations have double compliance (or 40% out of sixty-seven), taking into account all three levels of compliance.
is means that all three systems (feng shui, pattern language, and environmental psychology) result in the same ndings or spatial recommendations. e remaining forty recommendations (or 60% out of sixty-seven) are single-compliant, which means that these feng shui recommendations are either compliant with pattern language or with the ndings of environmental psychology. For just over half of the selected 118 feng shui recommendations, it can therefore indirectly be concluded that there is a high likelihood that these recommendations actually have the impact on the users that they promise.
Of the double-compliant feng shui recommendations, just under half (twelve) can be linked to the feng shui ve-animals model. Apparently, this traditional Chinese model has managed to identify one of the driving factors for human wellbeing in physical space. e ve-animals model can also be connected to the ideal state of things in the sky because the model basically comes from cosmology (Field, 2006) and symbolizes the constellations in the sky. In feng shui the abstract astrological diagram is transformed into a practical spatial model useful in urbanism and architecture as well as in interior design. As for the natural elements, the presence of natural landscapes, natural light, and water is very important for wellbeing. According to feng shui, water is supposed to accumulate qi. It is important for human wellbeing in physical space, and it is also highlighted in the recommendations of environmental psychology and Alexander et al.'s theory. In terms of architectural elements, the building's main entrance is de nitely an important issue. It represents the point of transition between the outside and the inside, and as a rule it is the main point of orientation on the façade and the rst thing people come into direct contact with when facing the building. Its signi cance for the subjective experience of the building is therefore highlighted in all three strands of knowledge. It can be summarized that, when talking about compliant feng shui recommendations, this is rst and foremost a discussion about the basic rules of design and of behaviour in physical space, conditioned by basic psychological reactions to spatial arrangements, which are (and were repeatedly) discovered by all cultures and traditions, and are introduced into urban and architectural design in accordance with the current state of the art and needs.
Feng shui recommendations that remain unreferenced can be classi ed into two categories. e rst refers to the living energy qi and its behaviour in physical space, and the second is a conglomerate of various recommendations that cannot be uni ed under a single label. e concept of the life force qi, as expected, is not a topic that one or the other set of contemporary knowledge would consider, and so compliance was not even expected. It is important to emphasize the need for more intensive research into the e ectiveness of feng shui recommendations and for the development of models that allow for an objective evaluation of both the school of form and the compass school (e.g., Kryžanowski, in press). From this kind of scienti c exploration of feng shui, both modern science and feng shui can only bene t. In this way, this fascinating traditional system of knowledge can be re ned and begin to move from the eld of pseudoscience into the eld of science. At the same time, veri ed feng shui recommendations can be integrated into the concepts of modern design practice in a controlled manner. A er all, comparative analysis shows that a good half of the feng shui recommendations under consideration either claim or recommend the same thing as environmental psychology or Alexander et al.'s pattern language. If models were developed to e ectively validate the part of feng shui that addresses concepts that modern design practices know nothing about, it would be possible to replace the mere search for similarities between the two with constructive complementation.

Špela Kryžanowski
Faculty of Design, Independent Higher Education Institution, associate member of the University of Primorska, Trzin, Slovenia E-mail: spela.kry@gmail.com