Feng-shui models structured traditional Beijing courtyard houses

This paper explains the influence of feng-shui models on the design of traditional Beijing courtyard houses from a historic-cultural perspective. Feng-shui principles, used to harmonize people with their environment and believed by traditional Chinese to ensure prosperity, structured the Beijing courtyard dwelling. Imitating the landforms of an ideal feng-shui site in nature, the spatial form of the Beijing courtyard dwelling embodied the ideal feng-shui habitat. Emphasizing orientations and positions, the plan arrangement of the Beijing courtyard dwelling manifested the ideal feng-shui model of arranging Qi, which was derived from the I Ching diagrams expressing Chinese cosmological beliefs such as the Luo Book, the Nine Chamber Diagram, and the Later Heaven Sequence. Through architectural symbolism, these feng-shui principles were applied in a manner that reflected and reinforced the strict stratification of traditional Chinese society and the Chinese family. Demonstrating the physical integration and manifestation of feng-shui models and principles in the design of Beijing courtyard houses, this study shows that traditional beliefs and popular rules hold great significance and power in the design of vernacular houses because they reflect cultural character, fit the house into its social and historical background, and provide symbolism shared by its dwellers.