The relationship between multi-storey building floor number and the 5 elements of Feng Shui

Nowadays, multi-storey or high rise building is everywhere in urban areas.

You might live in multi-storey building, and you might also work in multi-storey building.

Do you want to know the relationship between multi-storey building floor number and the 5 elements of Feng Shui? With that, you can find out how compatible is the floor you are staying with your own element.

Note that in Chinese floor naming convention, the 1st Floor is the floor that is same level with the ground, which might be known as Ground Floor in certain places. The 2nd Floor is the floor above 1st Floor, which might be known as 1st Floor in buildings that start with Ground Floor.

Before we proceed, please keep in mind that we are using the Chinese floor naming convention here, so do your own adjustment if your building's naming convention is different.

To determine the element of the floor, we look at its last digit. Therefore, 1st Floor, 11th Floor, 21st Floor, 31st Floor, 41st Floor, ... all have the same element. The same concept applies to 2nd Floor, 12th Floor, 32nd Floor, ... and so on. (Remember: use the Chinese floor naming convention!)

And here is the associated elements:

• Water: 1, 6
• Fire: 2, 7
• Wood: 3, 8
• Metal: 4, 9
• Earth: 5, 10

There is also a mapping between the 5 elements and your Chinese Zodiac animal. Your Chinese Zodiac animal is determined based on your year of birth. The mapping is as follow:

• Water: Rat, Boar
• Fire: Snake, Horse
• Wood: Tiger, Rabbit
• Metal: Monkey, Roaster
• Earth: Cow, Dragon, Goat, Dog

It is a basic Feng Shui concept that:

• Water produces Wood
• Wood produces Fire
• Fire produces Earth
• Earth produces Metal
• Metal produces Water

and that:

• Water destroys Fire
• Fire destroys Metal
• Metal destroys Wood
• Wood destroys Earth
• Earth destroys Water

Now, you have enough information to evaluate whether the floor your are staying in has positive or negative impact to you.

For example, if you are born in the year of Rabbit (Wood element), and you are staying/working in 5th Floor (in Chinese convention) (Earth element), Wood destroys Earth and therefore Earth suppresses Wood, it seems to be not a good matching. In Feng Shui, this situation is considered Neutral and not as Bad. However, if the floor is Metal (destroys Wood) or Fire (burns up the Wood), that is considered as Bad. If the floor is Water (produces Wood) or Wood (enriches Wood), that is considered as Good.

Originally posted in the blog of The 8th Voyager.

The Feng Shui of kitchen

It is said that the Feng Shui of kitchen has big impact to our wealth. As a place of food preparation, no doubt it has big impact to our health too.

Some Feng Shui considerations:

• It is inauspicious to renovate a balcony to become a kitchen.
• Dividing the house into 3x3 boxes, the kitchen should not be located at the center box.
• It is inauspicious to have any mirror in the kitchen, especially if the mirror reflects the fire on the stove or the food in the cooking utensils.
• It is inauspicious for the stove directly facing any door.
• It is inauspicious for the stove to be in line with WC in the toilet, even though there could be a wall in between.
• It is inauspicious to hang knifes onto the wall. The best place to keep knifes is inside the drawer.
• It is inauspicious to hang around onion, garlic, chilli, etc.
• It is not a good idea to have toilet located inside the kitchen, even if there are walls to separate it from the kitchen.
• The floor of the kitchen should be slightly lower. It is inauspicious if the kitchen floor is higher than the floor of any other room located on the same level of the house.
• For multi-storey house, there should be no toilet located on top of the kitchen stove.
• There should be a distance of 2 meter or above between the stove and the kitchen door. It is inauspicious for them to be too near.
• It is inauspicious for the stove to locate at the side of the kitchen sink, sharing the same surface.
• It is inauspicious for the stove to locate too far away from the kitchen sink.
• It is inauspicious for refrigerator to be placed beside the stove.
• It is inauspicious for refrigerator to be placed right in front of the stove.
• It is inauspicious for any water pipe to face directly with the stove.
• It is inauspicious to have the stove or kitchen sink located at a corner. There should be at least 40cm space between the stove or kitchen sink from the side wall.
• It is inauspicious to have a window behind the stove.
• It is auspicious to have a window behind the kitchen sink showing outside scenery. It is auspicious to place the refrigerator close to the kitchen door.
• It is auspicious to have the dining area as close to the kitchen as possible.

The Feng Shui of toilet

Toilet is an essential part of modern home. It is a place of privacy.

Some Feng Shui considerations:

• Dividing the house into 3x3 boxes, there should be no toilet located at the center box.
• The toilet need to have well ventilated window with some exposure to sunlight.
• The toilet is better to be located far from the front of the house, and far from the main door. However, it is inauspicious to be located right at the South of the house.
• The toilet should not be located at the end of a long corridor.
• It is inauspicious if the toilet is located under a staircase.
• It is inauspicious if the entrance foyer, kitchen, living room or any bedroom is located underneath a toilet.
• It is inauspicious for the toilet door directly facing door of sleeping room.
• It is inauspicious for the toilet door directly facing the main door.
• It is inauspicious for the WC directly facing the toilet door, which makes it become the first object you will see when you open the toilet door.
• The WC should not facing the same direction as the house. When you are sitting on the WC, you are facing the front of the house.
• The WC should not facing the stove in kitchen, even if divided by wall.
• It is not a good idea to have toilet located inside the kitchen, even if there are walls to separate it from the kitchen.
• It is not a good idea to have the toilet seen from outside, such as using transparent glasses as the material for its walls.

The Feng Shui of windows

Windows are either opened on the wall or on the roof. Their function is for ventilation and natural lighting. Therefore, in Feng Shui, their importance is just second to the main door, also act as the passage of "qi" (气),  and viewed as the "eyes" (眼) of the house.

Some Feng Shui considerations:

• It is inauspicious if you can see from your window any building of worship (temple, church, mosque, ...), hospital/clinic, police station, fire department, prison, funeral place, graveyard, or garbage dump.
• It is inauspicious if you can see from your window any sharp corner or sharp edge or sharp object that is pointing towards your direction.
• It is inauspicious for a window to face with wire pole, water tower, chimney, or similar structure. That will affect the wealth, health and career to the person who stay in the room with such window(s).
• It is inauspicious for a window to direct face with another window or door at a close distance.
• It is inauspicious if a window view is blocked by building, wall or mountain right in front of it.
• The best window type is open outwards from side. It is discouraged to have window that open inwards.
• It is discouraged to have top hung or bottom hung window, especially if the window is large. Top hung window is only suitable for toilet ventilation.
• Having too much windows will disturb the "qi" inside the room.
• Having too little windows will not be able to collect "qi" for the house.
• Avoid having triangular or trapezoidal shape windows.

The Feng Shui of doors

Doors, especially the main door, play a very important role in Feng Shui. They are the passage of "qi" (气), and viewed as the "mouth" (口) of the room.

If there is a large empty compound in front of the house, such as a car park, it is best to have the main door located at the center in front of the house. Main door at the center is called the door of Vermilion Bird (朱雀门).

If there is no large empty space in front of the house, and it is located along a street or corridor, if the path at the right is longer than the left, the main door is best located at the left. If the house is located at a slope, and the land on the right is higher than the left, the main door is also best located at the left. This is because water flows from higher place to lower. Main door at the left is called the door of Green Dragon (青龙门).

If the path in front of the house at the left is longer than the right, the main door is best located at the right. If the house is located at a slope, and the land on the left is higher than the right, the main door is also best located at the right. This is because water flows from higher place to lower. Main door at the right is called the door of White Tiger (白虎门).

Some Feng Shui considerations:

• It is very inauspicious for a door facing the beginning/end of a road or a long corridor. This kind of situation is like a long sword piercing your heart.
• It is inauspicious for any door to directly face another door, especially at a close distance. In this situation, the smaller door will get more harm.
• It is inauspicious for kitchen door to face with sleeping room door, regardless which door is larger/smaller.
• It is inauspicious for store room's door to face with sleeping room door, even if the sleeping room door is larger.
• It is inauspicious for sleeping room door to face with main door, and will affect the health of the people who stay in the room.
• It is inauspicious for kitchen door to face with main door. This will affect your wealth.
• It is inauspicious for stove to be facing the door. This will affect your wealth.
• It is inauspicious to see yourself in a mirror when you open any door.
• It is inauspicious for any bed to face with the door of the bedroom.
• It is inauspicious to see toilet or bathroom right in front of you when you open any door (other than the toilet's own door). Many house has this kind of problem, and it is advisible to always close your toilet/bathroom door so that it is not so visible when you enter the door that facing it.
• It is inauspicious to have the main door and the back door line up in a straight line, especially when you are able to see the back door in front of you when you enter the main door.
• It is inauspicious for main door or back door to face a tree, particularly a big tree, or near facing to a wall.
• If there is a tree in front of the house, and the tree is at the left hand side to the main door (at your right hand side if you are outside the door), it is call the tree of Green Dragon (青龙树) and is auspicious to the man of the house and also auspicious to all the residents in the house.
• If there is a tree in front of the house, and the tree is at the right hand side to the main door (at your left hand side if you are outside the door), it is call the tree of White Tiger (白虎树), showing the hostess is more powerful in the family, and/or she is lustful. This is normally viewed as inauspicious.
• It is inauspicious for your house to directly face a building of worship (temple, church, mosque, ...), hospital/clinic, police station, fire department, prison, funeral place, graveyard, or garbage dump.
• It is inauspicious for a door to face any sharp corner or sharp edge or sharp object that is pointing towards your direction.
• It is inauspicious for a door to face with the end of a staircase, regardless going up or down.
• For high-rise unit, it is inauspicious for your main door to face the lift door of the building.

Feng Shui and the size of rooms

In Feng Shui, the size of one room relative to the others matters.

Here are the rules:

• Living room should be larger than dining room
• Dining room should be larger than kitchen
• Bedroom should be larger than washroom
• Bedroom should be larger than store room
• Master bedroom should be the largest among all the bedrooms
• Master bedroom should be smaller than living room
• Study room should be smaller than living room
• Entrance foyer should be smaller than master bedroom

In fact, the above rules are pretty make sense and ought to be obeyed.

Feng Shui and the number of rooms

In Feng Shui point of view, the amount of rooms in a residence will affect the health and prosperity of its residents, particularly the homeowner.

A "room" is defined as a space inside the house which is partitioned by walls and accessed through door(s). It could be a bedroom, living room, study room, entrance foyer, kitchen, bathroom, toilet, store room, dressing room, entertainment room, and so on.

Note that in certain floor plans, there is no wall to separate out the living room and dining area. That will count as 1 room instead of 2.

Below is the auspicious and inauspicious number of rooms:

• 1 - auspicious
• 2 - neutral
• 3 - inauspicious
• 4 - inauspicious
• 5 - auspicious
• 6 - auspicious
• 7 - auspicious
• 8 - inauspicious
• 9 - auspicious
• 10 - auspicious
• 11 - auspicious
• 12 - inauspicious

What can you do if your number of rooms is inauspicious? You can either knock down the wall to reduce the number, or add wall to partition another room.

About this blog - Floor Plan Feng Shui

Feng Shui or Geomancy can be seen as a kind of Chinese environmental studies for the suitability, compatibility and harmony of our living place to us. In other words, it is the Chinese philosophical system of harmonizing the human existence with the surrounding environment.

There are 2 main types of geomancy studies in Feng Shui. One is the study of graveyard (阴宅) and the other is the study of residence (阳宅). Here, we only focus on the Feng Shui for residence.

There are many factors that affect the Feng Shui of a residence, including the mountains and water flows that can be seen from the location. The surrounding buildings, structures, plants, neighbour, etc. also forms influences to Feng Shui. Then we have the direction, facing, color, magnetic field, calendaring, owner, resident, etc. as next factors.

The above factors can only be studied when we visit the actual place, therefore they are out of our topic here.

Here, I would like to discuss about the generic Feng Shui factors that caused by the layout and architectural design of the building, which can be determined by viewing the floor plan. Of course, floor plan Feng Shui only forms a small part of the complete study to the residence, and by itself is insufficient to conclude whether it is auspicious or inauspicious to live in. Anyhow, I think the discussion here can serve as preliminary screening to the residence.

If you intend to buy the residence, it will provide you some basic info from Feng Shui perspective for your purchase decision. If you are already the owner, it will also provide you some idea on renovation to improve its auspicious status.

If you are an architect, perhaps you can get some idea on how to design a Feng Shui compatible building/unit that will be auspicious to its owner.

I describe myself as a Feng Shui enthusiast and not a practitioner. My comment on the floor plans to be posted here are solely for discussion purpose only. You are encouraged to engage a genuine Feng Shui practitioner if you are serious in getting Feng Shui advise to the actual site.