Recently I have read a few entertaining articles regarding feng shui analysis and prediction for the Apple's Campus 2 in Cupertino, California. If my readers are interested in these materials, listed below are the links to the articles:
http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.ca/2011/06/steve-jobs-new-campus-is-it-good-for.html
http://fengshuibyfishgirl.com/tag/circular-buildings/
http://proshatlehmann.com/is-apples-future-headquarter-feng-shui-proved/
One thing I want to remind my readers is we need to read the above articles with some reserve because one of the authors wrongly identified a circle building (metal element) is a yin chi building! In order to straighten things out, I want to offer a few cents of my personal observations regarding the feng shui of this new Campus 2 complex accordingly.
First of all, my initial impression of this so-called "spaceship" design is that without the doubt this is quite an innovative and sleek design. It has been praised by many critics in the architectural profession. On the other hand, it also received unfavorable comments from some skeptical minds: " bloggers and some readers of the newspaper like the Wall Street Journal, wonder if this spaceship campus spells the beginning of the end of the Apple empire."
Personally, I believe when a building is designed as an artistic, architectural landmark, or a headquarter for an ambitious corporation; no matter what are the conceptions or "grand" structural design theories that justified the architect's design of the building, he/she shall consider the real life (feng shui) effects imposed on the occupants or end users of the building. I have read that the architect was inspired by the idea of a London square, where houses surround a park; which is much lesser in scale and contrasting in usage/function to the new Campus 2 complex.
So, let us now discuss whether the "spaceship" design of the new Apple's Campus 2 complex is auspicious under the feng shui theories:
1. To someone who follows the authentic Chinese feng shui (not the so-called Western feng shui) shall know that one of its main objectives is how to contain the wind and gather the chi (藏風聚氣) for a building. However, I really can not see how can this "spaceship" design accomplish this goal. One special design feature that stood out is a massive open landscape area at the center which surely has difficulties retaining the chi; because we all know that chi will be scattered by the wind in an open field (氣乘風則散). Furthermore, the shallow depth of the building and full glass design on both ends will allow the positive chi or sheng chi (生氣) to escape directly out from the building before it has the chance of meandering through the building complex. In addition to the fact that under feng shui logic, the chi will be dispersed by a circular building.
2. Under the Xuan Kong Flying Star feng shui, round-shape structures are associated with the number 6 metal star (六白武曲星) which represent yang energy. It is continuously in motion. Accordingly, it will create a dynamic moving chi pattern inside the Campus 2 complex. In some respects, this might well suit Apple's ambitious business goal of continually delivering new models of iPhone to beat the competitions and pleased the shareholders (who many are not happy about the ballooned construction cost of the new Campus 2 from less than $3 billion to almost $5 billion). Unfortunately, this is probably not desirable for the intensive design and research activities in developing new iPhone and operating software because this process requires a yin energy or quiet and controllable working environment.
This imbalanced state of yin/yang chi field fit perfectly into the inauspicious scenario stipulated in one of the classical Chinese feng shui texts, xue xin fu (雪心賦): "things will not bear in yang only conditions, and it will not grow in yin only conditions" (孤陽不生,獨陰不長)! So, just maybe we will start to see some set back from Apple in launching new products and services?
3. In addition to the above captioned, I have noticed that there are more than seven (7) entry points or mouth of chi (氣口) in the "spaceship" design. In essence, this will further enhance the fluctuation of the chi pattern inside the new Campus 2 complex. This phenomenon causes an "impure interaction" of the five elements because the element of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth are being mixed up in a dynamic chi environment and will render an unsettled chi field (氣雜). This is not suitable for those employees with weak mind and body(身弱); as they will feel confused or even get sick in these kinds of working conditions.
One can also imagine the operating challenges of 13,000 employees, various departments and special project teams of the company working together in one confined office complex! In short, the new Campus 2 is probably not a "fun" place to work as envisioned by Steve Jobs in his presentation to the city officials during the planning stage of the project. On the other hand, this might be what Apple intends to do all along, i.e., to keep everything in-house as top secrets, who knows?
4. The round-shape design represents the luan tao which is referred as reversed hand sha (反手砂) in feng shui. This will likely cause an outflow of skilled workers, internal personnel issues or layoff, and loss of business opportunities.
5. The "spaceship" design is also missing the center palace (中宮) because this is occupied by the extensive open landscape area at the center of the site. In feng shui, the center palace of the ba gua is occupied by the dominant number 5 earth star ( 五黃廉貞星); which is the ruler/leader who controls the other eight ba gua sectors. Simply put, this implies that Apple will miss having a masterful leader like Steve Jobs to lead the corporation after moving into the new Campus 2 complex.
6. There is a provision of extensive underground parking facilities underneath the complex which is not auspicious in feng shui as this is referred as "ground moving building" (地動屋) which might cause health problems and misfortune. I have encountered many first-hand experiences that when a living/working place is sitting on top of the underground parking, the magnetic field at the area tends to fluctuate wildly and become not stable, possibly caused by the movement of the vehicles and the mechanical equipment in the parking facilities.
7. From the artist's picture, we can see that the massive scale (3.1 million square feet) and modern design of the new Campus 2 are entirely not in line or blend into the neighboring landscape which Steve Jobs hopes to reflect the California landscapes from his childhood! In feng shui terms, this means it can not fit in harmoniously with the surrounding environment, resulting in conflicts and possibly lawsuits from others. As a matter of fact, it was reported that the building contractor, Skanska, and DPR were fired from the Campus 2 project in early 2015. Furthermore, people are still not sure about Panasonic's reaction to Apple's new headquarters as their building is located across from the Campus 2' site.
Interestingly enough, there was a report saying that Apple is again facing a potential class-action lawsuit claiming that the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S is made unusable- accompanied by an "Error 53" message- after having them fixed by a third-party repair service provider. This is coupled with another recent class-action lawsuit claiming that Apple engages in planned obsolescence because the company knew of potential compatibility issues when it forced its latest iOS9 software on iPhone 4S owner.
In light of the above, I do not think this is a coincidence but rather a steady rising trend of lawsuits ever since Apple started the construction work of the new Campus 2 complex. Go figure!
Updated note (Feb 2016):
It is reported that Apple is fighting another legal battle with the Justice Department (FBI) over helping with the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorism investigation; regarding Apple’s defying U.S. Magistrate Judge Sherri Pym’s order recently to help FBI open Syed Rizwan Farook’s encrypted iPhone.
8. Lastly, another important observation is that the round-shape design of the new Campus 2 complex resembles a sickle knife, this is referred as sickle knife sha (鐮刀煞) in luan tao feng shui, which will have adverse effects like health problems and accidents to the occupants of the surrounding buildings and houses. For example, if it is facing at the homes with SE exposure, the occupants of those houses will likely suffer from liver's problems, because metal chops wood and SE ba gua (wood element) is associated with the liver in human body; most likely affecting the eldest daughter or female members in the family between 31 to 45 years old.
Since we are on this topic, I also want to point out that the extensive construction works of the Campus 2 complex will also cause adverse effects to the surrounding buildings and houses. In feng shui theories, a construction site is referred as the inauspicious earth element sha chi (土形煞), and its ill effects will be enhanced by the activities, and heavy construction works from the new Campus 2's site; which will likely cause intestinal, stomach, muscle and bone problems. If this holds true, I predict that we will start to see complaints of health issues from the people living in the surrounding houses pretty soon!
So, after reading the above feng shui issues regarding the Campus 2 complex, one will ask are there any feng shui remedies to rectify these problems? The answer is "yes," as I already have some ideas in mind, but certainly not the kinds of feng shui cure like moving furniture around; making changes to the interior decor or hanging ba gua mirrors here and there that you will find in many websites!
With joking aside, I can say that this is a far more intricate and complicated endeavor than performing feng shui analysis of a regular house. It will require an in-depth feng shui study of the floor plans and its functions, i.e., feng shui analysis of the li chi (理氣) or chi pattern inside the building in a relationship with the luan tao (巒頭) factors we have discussed above. In retrospect, if feng shui wisdom were being considered at the beginning of the planning stage of the project, Campus 2 complex may well become an innovative and feng shui enhanced HD for Apple.
To conclude, unless the above feng shui problems and its effects are making a serious impact and have caught the attention of some interested parties, this will most likely be treated as another "interesting" feng shui read for many people. Therefore, I am not going to discuss the solutions here.
Note: I will assist those people who believed the feng shui of their house are being affected by the construction of the new Apple Campus 2 complex by sending the request to the following email address; xuaankongfengshui123@gmail.com.
In the meantime, I will advise any of my readers who owned Apple's stocks need to start monitoring its performance just in case!
Updated note: (April 2016)
As per the Associated Press, Apple shares fell Tuesday (April 26) after the company reported second-quarter earnings that missed both revenue and profit expectations on the first-ever drop in iPhone sales.
September 2016 - The European Union’s antitrust body has slapped a fine on Apple worth up to €13 billion ($14.5 billion), plus interest, following a three-year investigation into the corporation’s sweetheart tax pact with the Irish government.
