Written and Designed by: Jeff “Dgephri” Kaiser

Edited by: Skyler “Sky” Salmasi

When I was first approached to do a complete Article, I was conflicted about how to approach covering 9 months of intense contemplation, Sketchup design, compromise, and physical fabrication variations.

In fact, that list provides the structure right there, and I think it will achieve my goal of highlighting the Concepts behind Lubic Zen-Feng, the Challenges in Design, and finally the results yielded in the Construction section.

So, there you have it:
Concepts
Challenges in Design & Construction

Wow, a table of contents already. Glad that's over. Are we done? You still here? OK, I guess I better get on with it. :)

Waaay back in Feb of '04 (say "aught four"), I posted a single message proposing the idea of a Feng Shui (pronounced Fung Schwaey, or something close) case Theme, it met with a roaring response of 0 replies. In hindsight, the “ground floor” concept was pretty loose, so it’s not surprising if a lot of people read it and thought “what the hell is he talking about?”

Over the coming months I contacted a Feng Shui newsgroup, read some books, and researched the history of the Concept. I also figured the Zen idea could be integrated fairly easily.

Feng Shui (often called Geomancy) generally has to do with the idea of how the Environment affects your Personal Chi, or Energy. There is much more to it of course, but I personally held more weight in the Forms School rather than Flying Stars or some of the newer Schools of thought. Overall, your date of birth denotes some particulars of your Chi, and your Environment should be designed to best harness your positive Chi and offset your negative Chi to achieve a good balance.

What I got from the Newsgroup members was more or less "Feng Shui applies to your home's location, orientation, and floor plan. A particular piece of furniture does not itself comprise much affect." They merely said if a PC were to have a place in Feng Shui, it should be quiet and simple. Big help there. lol

So, taking my somewhat limited Feng Shui research, and focusing on what elements I thought could present a dramatic impact in a Case Mod Design, I pressed on.

The most important elements overall were my Personal Chi and its forces (along with opposing forces) which are known as Earth, Fire, Water, Metal, and Wood. This is quite different from the Alchemical 4 elements. In higher level planes we also have the Heavenly Chi, looking over the Human Chi, standing on the Earth Chi. Some schools differ in this, but to me it was something that held meaning.

I finalized on the concept that I wanted to visualize the Stars for Heavenly Chi, representing my Place and Date of Birth, the MX5 representing my Human Chi via my control over the various systems, and something should represent the Earth Chi.

A short time later, I became aware of the Sketchup program, which proved a boon in weighing visual and spatial elements in the 3D space I’m working with.

This is one of my early mock ups; I figured out how to do joint alignment and tried my best to recreate the water feature’s complex curves.

Thereafter I settled on some more particular elements of the visual design. I had a Lubic kit that I assembled into a cube using the longest bars available which defined the space I had to work with. What should it look like? I wanted to convey something of traditional Chinese and Japanese minimalism yet maintain enough discrete parts to make it interesting.

Earth

Most Asian Decor is black, often black and red, and lacquered. I am no carpenter. I didn't feel compelled to learn the ancient art of Lacquer as they had done it. Gloss black acrylic served well in that regard. I connected this to the Earth element. Sound weird? Where does Plastic come from? NO, really come from? Oil right? Where does Oil come from? Not the Chevron. Deep, deep, within the Earth right? That is how I figured it anyway. :)

Fire

The Fire element is most easily presented as the color Red. I wasn't about to actually put Fire in the Concept, and Fire in Feng Shui can easily make Earth too powerful a force. So a simple Red component would suffice.

Water

Another common feature of Asian decor is the water fountain. Indoor or outdoor, water is a very powerful Chi in Feng Shui. The sound of moving water also held a certain appeal; the availability of desktop fountains made this possible.

Metal

The case material is clearly Metal, and lots of it.

Wood

The Shoji paper screen is also a common element, and I know a store in Beaverton, OR that carries rolls of several different styles of paper that could work. It was used in a loose connection with the Wood element, though most Feng Shui holds it should be a live plant.

Heavenly Chi

I wanted to bring the element of the Stars back in for Heavenly Chi; .

Human Chi was fulfilled with my control through the Matrix MX5.

Earth Chi was provided by the surrounding Plastic that would cover this beast.

Not as simple a methodology as you thought eh? Others may have done differently, but this was really starting to sound like what I originally conceived of. I went back to Sketchup and started to work.