Compatibility of house design with Fung Shui and its relationship to housewife's life quality

Abstract

Residents is a foundation for sustainable development and planning. Quality of life is a multi-dimensional issue that includes physical health, mental health, social relationships, economic and environmental prosperity, which is one of the goals of interior design. It is believed that a house designed according to the principles of Feng Shui can bring prosperity and wealth and avoid some problems for residents such as economic stress, poor health, and frequent accidents and household disturbances. Therefore, the aim of the current research is to study the relationship between housing design according to Feng Shui principles and housewife's life quality. The research tools were the general family data form, the questionnaire of housing design according to the principles of Feng Shui with its following aspects (house location and its architecture, house furnishing, and house decorating), and a questionnaire of housewife's life quality in its dimensions (residential - psychological - health - social - economic). The research sample consisted of 200 married females, have two or more children, belonging to different socio-economic levels. The research followed the descriptive and analytical approach, and the most important results : there was a positive correlation between the design of the housing design according to the principles of Feng Shui and the housewife's life quality in its dimensions (residential - psychological - health - social - total quality of life), and the results showed no differences in the total of housing design according to the principles of Feng Shui depending on the education level of the housewife, which explains the lack of knowledge of these principles at the different educational levels. It also cleared that there are no statistically significant differences in the housing design according to these principles according to the level of the family’s income. This confirms the possibility of following these principles when designing houses for low and medium families income, especially in the developing countries, without stressful financial costs. As Feng Shui aims to make it sustainable in harmony with nature and stimulate the success, health, wealth and happiness of its inhabitants, to create an effective building with prosperous activity that shows its material, social and economic impact on society. The results also showed that there is a statistically significant discrepancy between the housewife's life quality according to the education level of the housewife, in favor of the higher educational level, as well as according to the level of financial income of the family in favor of higher income. We recommend those in charge of developing educational curricula in Arab countries to include the science of Feng Shui and its principles in the academic curricula to confront the knowledge deficiency in those countries, because of its positive effects on the quality of life of individuals in its dimensions.