EFFECTS ON FACILITIES OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE (FOM) ARISING FROM IMPLEMENTATION OF CHINESE GEOMANCY (FENG SHUI) PRINCIPLES IN BUILDING DESIGN

Abstract

Recently, there have been an increasing number of scientific studies exploring the effectiveness of Feng Shui implementations in the built environemnt, but these have been rather generic, mainly focusing on urban planning, architecture, and interior design. The impetus to this research stems from the lack of literature relating Feng Shui to Facilities Management (FM). Drawing interest and inspiration from these two disciplines, this study strives to be a trailblazer in examining the relevance and relationship between Feng Shui and FM principles. This research aims to determine if the implementation of Feng Shui principles in building design will affect the ease of conduct of FM activities at the Facilities Operations and Maintenance (FOM) stage. The principles of Feng Shui and FM were studied and the validity of relationships between fifteen Feng Shui principles and three FM activities, specifically “Building Fabric Cleaning”, “Routine External Site/Lot Cleaning” and “Road and Paving Cleaning” were examined. A survey questionnaire was conducted and the results affirm the validity of these assimilated relationships between the two disciplines. Interviews with three groups of experts; Feng Shui practitioners, Facilities Managers and Feng Shui practitioner cum Building Professional were also conducted to gather responses for affirmation of the assimilation of the two disciplines established in this research, and to prompt new perspectives. New potential assimilations were also recommended for further research. This research provides a broad perspective regarding the relevance of Feng Shui principles to FM principles and revealed challenges and limitations in the study between the two disciplines.