Comparative study of courtyard housing using feng shui

Abstract

Cosmology is of essence for the life of traditional man not only to live in a meaningful universe, but to bound himself with the universe to achieve well-being as well. Architecture is a way of creating spaces through generic forms and symbols to attain this unity of man and the universe. This article interprets the courtyard house which is a well known archetype of spiritual and celestial qualities and has symbolic generic forms through the perspective of theory and practice of feng shui which is an ancient Chinese philosophy, based on the understanding of physical configuration of geographical settings and application of its principles to the built environment. The courtyard houses represented for this article are chosen on a linear axis starting from Cyprus, passing through Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and ending at China. In this article, principles of feng shui are selected and formulated to create an evaluation model showing entrance-courtyard relation, building shape, water element, room arrangement, and door alignment and circulation. Based on this evaluation model, the essential aspects of well-being have been revealed through the elements of architecture. In that sense, this article presents the opportunities and possibilies of an ideal plan layout by bringing an awareness to the cosmology and feng shui to achieve well-being.