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Maybe it’s just because I live on the West Coast, but the majority of the offices I’ve worked in here have been run by people–men and women–who’ve used feng shui in their offices–and if not the entire office, then definitely at least the desk. Full disclosure: I also feng shui my desk. Partly to avoid Irritable Desk Syndrome. And partly because yes, sometimes I have a sinking feeling that one of my baguas is deficient. Thanks to Mangesh, we know about websites designed in accordance with feng shui, and there’s another rather major office place that incorporated feng shui right into its blueprints: the Hong Kong Disneyland! Here’s how it played out (seemingly, with an emphasis on numerology, too):
- The main ballroom at the Disneyland Hotel at the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort is 888 square meters, because 888 is a “wealthy” number.
- Large rocks are placed throughout Hong Kong Disneyland park because they represent stability in feng shui. Two boulders have been placed within the park, and each Disney hotel in the resort has a feng shui rock in its entrance and courtyard or pool areas. The boulders also prevent good fortune from flowing away from the theme park or hotels.
- The elevators at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort do not have the number four, and no building (including the Hong Kong Disneyland hotels) has a fourth floor. The number four is considered unlucky in Chinese culture because it sounds like the Chinese word for death.
- No clocks are sold at the stores in Hong Kong Disneyland because in Chinese the phrase “giving clock” sounds like “going to a funeral.
Do you use feng shui in your work place (or theme park)?
Comments (7)
Comment
If a Feng Shui consultant came to my house they would probably get dizzy, turn and run out of the house, and throw-up in the yard.
posted by Tdave on 7-21-2007 at 1:37 am
I do temp work and one of my repeat clients is an international architectural firm that specialises in buildings for education and health care. From some of the things I notice laying around the office they use an Indian version of Feng Shui- Vaastu-Shasta I think. Now, I don’t know if they used it in their office, but I love working there because I feel instant calm. The light is perfect, the temperature is exactly right. I find things easily and NEVER feel stressed. Now, I have a tendency toward heart racing anxiety, and I never feel it there. Some days I don’t want to leave.
posted by Allison on 7-21-2007 at 8:14 am
You have got to be kidding me. If feng shui is anything more than an ancient superstition, I’ve never seen the evidence for it.
posted by Mark on 7-21-2007 at 8:56 am
I’m thinking that maybe the truth behind Feng Shui is that a good Feng Shui consultant is someone with a natural talent for organizing, decorating, and furniture arranging and they use the Chinese spiritual stuff as a gimmick.
posted by Tdave on 7-22-2007 at 11:56 pm
You have to see Penn & Tellers B.S. Episode on This and bottled Water(2 in 1). Its one of my favorites.
Also next year will be really big for china, as in it will have the date 8/8/8 and advertisers there already have stuff planed for every month but 1, (since they almost all will have 1 lucky date number except the 4th)
posted by Eric on 7-23-2007 at 7:30 am
My company uses Office Space Feng Shui. Plenty of fabric wall cubicles in nice neat rows where you can hear the conversations of everyone. Great for voyeurs.
What I am struck by is the file photo used in the Irritable Desk Syndrome link. The article was written in 2004 and if that photo was current then, it is amazing how far monitor technology has come in 3 years.
I was watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off yesterday and in the scene where his dad gets up to dance during “Twist and Shout”, I remembered what desks used to look like without computers.
posted by Dusty on 7-23-2007 at 9:18 am
What a lot of pagan foolishness.
posted by Sid Morrison on 7-24-2007 at 6:47 am