Orchard Road is where the best stores, most upmarket brands, the trendy boutiques and prestigious labels have taken residence. Here we find the latest in everything from cuisine to fashion to concept stores and architectural designs. Here too is found a veritable goldmine of feng shui at its most glamorous.
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| Ion Mall Orchard Road |
Every shop, mall, office and showroom here has benefited in some way or other from feng shui advice so that shoppers flock here by the thousands - from around the island and around the region. Orchard Road's hinterland stretches all the way to Indonesia and Australia in the South, Malaysia, Thailand and China in the North and from all around the world as well. People come to Singapore to shop and no one gives Orchard Road a miss. There are so many shopping malls along Orchard Road housing so many shops that one is spoilt for choice.
Those who have an eye for Feng Shui will also certainly notice that very many of these mega shopping malls have fabulous Feng Shui features that have been discreetly blended in with the design, layout, entrances, levels and features subtly but effectively blended in with the overall look of the structures. Use of feng shui is always subtle and seldom obvious. To the trained feng shui eye however, many of the feng shui applications are immediately obvious.
So it is actually a lot more interesting keeping an eye out for all the feng shui features on display here at Orchard Road. On a hot sunny weekend then I decided to visit one of Singapore's latest malls ION Orchard located next to Wisma Atria to check out their feng shui. It is obvious even to the first time visitor that this latest mall along Orchard Road has become a "center of gravity" for retail shoppers. 300 retail shops (many housing top designer labels), entertainment stores and gourmet food outlets do a roaring business.
The designers of the place faced challenges when designing ION ORCHARD. The Project owners wanted a "contemporary look" that would appeal equally to locals and visitors. All round directly hitting at the location were secret poison arrows which somehow had to be deflected. Tall order indeed.
So they dreamt up the faceted design aimed at "refracting" the poison arrows caused by the facing road junction, the sharp building structure of Wheelock Place and the direct confrontation with Tangs shopping mall across the road.
The pillars in external and internal elevations were rounded to ensure no jarring lines could hurt specific stores within. This meant that even the external exit of the MRT station at the front of the mall had to be made round. Then benches meant for sitting placed outside the mall were designed to symbolize the water element so these were made wavy. To add yang to the yin of water, they colored these seats a bright red - making them excellent for deflecting disharmonious energy. Very subtle but also quite clever actually.
A popular attraction near the entrance of the mall are the six effervescent multi-coloured figurines that represent lively shoppers coming in to the mall. The number 6 was recommended as this is a very auspicious number signifying luck from heaven in a feng shui context. The multiple colours reflect the five elements and purple was used in place of blue for the water element. Purple is the colour of"money" to the Chinese.
I was also told that the dimensions of the figurines are in accordance with auspicious measurements. Very propitious indeed to attract yang energy, and so good for business in the mall. These figurines have since become a popular hot spot for tourists to capture the vibrant energy of Singapore.
Those coming to this mall can also look out for the gigantic metal nutmeg sculpture at the front of the mall, at the corner of Orchard Road and Paterson Road. The Nutmeg sculpture honors the fact that this place used to be a nutmeg plantation during the 1830s. But there is also an excellent feng shui reason. Since this part of the mall is afflicted by numerous tangible and obvious "poison arrows" it is extremely auspicious to install this big metal nutmeg symbol here; the nutmeg fruit is commonly acknowledged for its healing powers and feng shui curatives. The nutmeg wan also a symbol of Trade Prosperity in ancient times. Similar to the 6 yang figurines, the nutmeg too has auspicious measurements, including an auspicious weight of an amazing 1.88 tonnes!
The "Shoppers" Figurines and Nutmeg sculpture were installed at a very auspicious hour i.e. that of the Dragon, during the morning between 7am to 9am, so these are powerful and prosperous indeed for business!
The entrance into the mall is slightly "recessed" and mildly tilted. In this manner, the main entrances do not directly face the harsh energies coming from the road junctions of Orchard Road, Scotts Road and Paterson Road. In addition, these entrances also avoid being in direct "confrontation" with Tangs shopping mall entrance and the pair of fierce Fu Dogs flanking their entrance. It is never wise to directly confront the Fu Dogs or lions of buildings across the road from yours!
Visitors will also notice that the mall is elevated on higher ground with several steps leading up to the entrance. This is beneficial as symbolically this means that a lot of wealth, prosperity and good business are constantly increasing/climbing up for the mall. Similarly, the unique water features installed at the front entrance are auspicious; these water jets "sprout" water inwards towards the building, bringing an abundance of wealth to the residents within the mall.
ION Mall also benefits from the tall residence apartment tower at the back. The apartment tower provides the much needed symbolic "support" of the all-important "tortoise". In this context, the mall will always have solid support and resource. This is a subtle but very important observation which all feng shui enthusiasts will notice.
With so much thought given to the design of its feng shui, it is no wonder that ION Orchard bustles with business. The mall is rarely empty of shoppers, and visitors come, see and spend daily, seven days a week all year round. To find out more, you can check out Ion Mall Orchard Road.