Click on the floor each plan on the left to see Feng Shui version of the plan enlarge.
Feng Shui for Sutter Heights
By Seann Xenja

Feng Shui
Long ago in ancient China, the study, discovery, and use of universal design and arrangement principles became an intuitive art called Feng Shui. For thousands of years it has been the most aesthetically pleasing, practical, and functional system for creating optimum living and working environments.

I first heard about Feng Shui in the late 1980’s, and immediately began studying the few books available to learn all I could. At the time, I was a very busy and successful design-build contractor, and began to apply Feng Shui principles in my projects with great results. Soon I was getting requests to provide Feng Shui evaluations for homes and businesses, and became a student of Grand Master Lin Yun, who opened up a new level of understanding, techniques, and methods.

By 1992, Feng Shui consulting, teaching, and practitioner training was my full time profession. It’s been a fascinating, rewarding, and always life-affirming experience that’s taken me all over the world. During this time I’ve been blessed with many wonderful clients, and have been able to help them achieve their personal and professional goals through the power, insight, and practical application of Feng Shui.

When real estate developer Robert Blumenfeld first approached me about being part of the design team for Sutter Heights, it was appealing on several levels. Typically, even when a project claims to include Feng Shui as part of the design process, the consultant’s role is limited to a cursory review of the plans to make sure that there are no glaring mistakes. Usually this is after construction is well underway, with few options for making improvements to fundamental design problems.

With my extensive background in design, construction, and practical Feng Shui, this can be very frustrating, as it’s always easiest to “do things right” at the planning stage. It was so refreshing, rewarding, and productive to be included as a key member of the design team right from the start!

Feng Shui was used throughout the design process for Sutter Heights to create smart floor plans for today’s lifestyles that support harmony, prosperity and healthy living. All the conditions and best use of the site, the building shape, the unit floor plans, colors, lighting, room arrangement, furnishings and fixtures, corridors, stairways, — virtually all of the essential factors and elements that could affect the quality, sensory experience, and overall livability — were given careful consideration throughout the design process.

Here are some of the Feng Shui components and features of Sutter Heights:

Location and Address
Located at the crest of Sutter Street, the site’s elevation and position gives a natural strength and power. When added together, the first three numbers of its address (1, 5, and 2) give the sum of eight, the Feng Shui number for prosperity and abundant living. When combined with the final digit, one, the grand total is nine, a number that symbolizes maximum development, energy, and expression.

Building Shape and Courtyards
Sutter Heights is larger than the buildings on either side in a balanced proportion, which strengthens its ch’i”(vital energy) without being overbearing or ostentatious. Its design brings harmony to the neighboring structures. The building shapes, sections, and courtyards provide a blend of privacy and cohesive connection, enhanced by the landscaping.

Daily Activity Path
One of the most important Feng Shui factors is called the Daily Activity Path. In our modern lives, most people access their living spaces through a garage or auxiliary door, rather than the official front entry. Sutter Heights uses generous ceiling elevations throughout the garage, corridors and stairways, to provide an expanded sense of space. Hallways and pathways are laid out in an intuitive, direct way, without the long twisting corridors or unusual angles so typical of modern construction. This gives a natural ease and flow of movement, and the feeling that you can reach your home quickly and smoothly.

Unit Design and Room Arrangement
People feel most comfortable and secure in simple, whole shapes. The unit designs of Sutter Heights make maximum use of all available space, in a way that’s easy to arrange and decorate. The skillful application of Feng Shui principles for room arrangement, along with seamless transitions between interior spaces, insures maximum balance, harmony, and livability They are places that just makes sense, where you can feel at home right away.

The Ba-Gua
The Feng Shui Ba-Gua (“Ba” means eight, and “Gua” means image,) is an Advanced Feng Shui technique that locates areas within a property, home, or individual room that correspond to eight aspects of life experience.

Grand Master Lin Yun’s universal method for applying the Ba-Gua uses the dynamic relationship established by the entry or “mouth” of ch'i for any given location. The Helpful People, Career, and Knowledge areas always align with the wall containing the front door, independent of the compass direction, and are followed in clockwise order by Family, Wealth, Fame, Marriage, and Children. The Center defines a ninth area, very important for health.

In this system, sectors of the Ba-Gua may be missing or enhanced, based on proportion and dimension. All of the units at Sutter Heights were designed to provide maximum support for a fulfilling modern life, with full expression for each area of life experience. Individual unit plans that show expanded space for one or more sections, indicate bonus areas, which provide extra good fortune.

To access the Ba-Gua’s location for a specific plan, please click on each unit number to see the floor plan with the Ba-Gua colors.

For more information on the Ba-Gua, and Feng Shui in general, please visit www.seannxenja.net.