Why Architects Hate Fengshui

Some architects have seen the value of feng shui, and would like to include a feng shui consultant on their team. But they hesitate because of the experiences of their colleagues. Willing architects have many questions and concerns that need to be addressed.

Feng shui consultants have everything to gain from working with architects.

• Larger projects. Consultants no longer worry about decorating apartments, they apply feng shui to redevelopment projects, shopping malls, apartment complexes, and resorts.
• Respectability. Rather than being relegated to the fringe with the psychic hotlines and dowsers, feng shui consultants can step forward as professionals.
• Collaboration. Share ideas, concepts, and techniques with building professionals.
• Save the planet? Institute the use of feng shui techniques to combat global warming and promote biodiversity. (And use carbon offsets to cover the damage caused by all that air travel.)

Why do so many feng shui consultants not work well with architects?

• Many deny the importance of architects — and resent their respect in the community. Many feng shui consultants seem to believe that feng shui practitioners should supplant, not complement, architects. They resent the education, and have scant respect for the science behind architecture. Most frightening for customers is how little feng shui practitioners understand the profession of architecture, especially due diligence and legal liability.
• Many feng shui consultants prefer being frauds. Architects have years of stringent education; they also have licenses and certifications from their governments. The profession has a strong code of ethics. Most feng shui consultants have very few hours of instruction and advertise as "experts." They are famous for inventing histories, philosophies, types, techniques, and trinkets to sell as "feng shui." They are experts at rationalizing chicanery. Most feng shui people prefer the fringe where there is little scrutiny, a silent acceptance of fraud, and cheerful encouragement of the most outrageous lies and quackery.
• Visibility means accountability. Working on a team with other professionals means that feng shui consultants have to follow the rules and regulations like other businesses. If they perform their usual histrionics and frauds they will be out of work, and possibly party to lawsuits.