In what ways might architecture/design encourage Productive Thinking?

[Garth]

Often, in creativity thinking circles, areas of interest are categorized according to the 4 P's framework articulated by Mel Rhodes around 1961. People, Process, Product and Press.

Press, rarely understood initially, is used to convey the interaction of various external/situational factors with individual and/or group elements having an effect on how or when people will act in creative ways.

Traditionally external factor research has focused on attitudes, feelings and behavior patterns characterizing life within an organization. Focus has also been placed on understanding and developing effective systems, policies, leadership, and operating structure. One area with less research momentum has been around productive physical environment.

A recent article in Scientific American Mind titled: How Room Designs Affect Your Work ... discusses some recent research on architectural design and creative thinking. Approaches to corporate, residential and classroom architecture and interior design and its potential to benefit thinking, problem-solving and health are discussed.

If you were a specialized architect or interior designer what physical and visual elements would you include to benefit productive thinking?


If you have or come across information and insight relating to physical design and productive thinking I would very much enjoy and appreciate learning more.

[Garth]

The THINKlab found at the University of Salford in Manchester, UK is a state of the art facility.

Designed for "Interaction and Collaboration" with development foundations originating from the Academy of Neuroscience in Architecture, THINKlab incorporates a variety of technologies. Examples include virtual displays, video conferencing, debating and voting facilities, smart boards and optical tracking.

Powerwall

VICON motion tracking

Barco Trace

Smart Interactive Boards

Kevin, are you aware of this space? Have you visited? Perhaps they could provide expertise in collaborative thinking technology.

[Kevin Byron]

Hi Garth,

That's my Alma Mater ! - but haven't had much contact since the 90's, I know a few folk in the physics department - will look further - very interesting.

A friend of mine from Leeds University - Cathy Burke - did an interesting thing a few years ago. She put an ad in the national press inviting schools kids to design their own school. I first visited her during the middle of this project and her office was full of the most amazing designs that had been sent in. She gathered all the ideas and published a book called 'The School I'd like'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/School-Id-Like-Reflections-Education/dp/041...

You may wish to chase down a guy called Bruce Jilk who designs schools with the needs of the students in mind:

http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~michaelc/LETArep.htm

Cheers,

Kevin

[Kevin Byron]

In a University that Jilk designed in France he arranged all the walkways from the different departments to cross each other at various places. The idea was that students might meet people from different disciplines and combine thoughts, ideas etc.

In some ways this is the 'Forced Connections' or 'Crossing Boundaries' tool turned into a physical space. Indeed all tools have a physical spatial equivalent..........

Kevin

[Tim Hurson]

A great idea!

[Garth]

Kevin,

Thanks for the information connections. I will check them out. I too like the notion of flipping thinking tools and interpreting them directly to concepts for physical design. I wonder what types of physical design might encourage deferred judgments?

[Kevin Byron]

Hi Garth,

I guess any space that inhibits talk and chatter: A Library, A meditation hall, A maze, A mime space, A long, very steep hill, A breathtaking view, A musical recital, An art gallery, hearing stories etc. If it's for brainstorming such spaces are entered with a notepad and ideas recorded as they arrive. Let's get brainstorming out of the training room..... and into spaces that teach us.

Kevin

[Garth]

Yes, and let's also bring spaces that teach us to us.

[Peter Lloyd]

Garth,

I've given this some thought and have written about it: Creative Space. Not an exciting article but comprehensive, I think. It's also never finished. I keep updating it. So I'm looking forward to what this discussion generates.

Peter

[Tim Hurson]

Garth, as it happens I'm talking to an architect who's an adjunct prof at a major US U. He's interested in building a course around Think Better. He believes productive thinking is very much what architects need. And he's put me in touch with the head of the department at another U who he thinks probably shares his views. Very exciting. Will keep you posted.

Tim

[Garth]

Tim,

That is very exciting. My cousin in the UK is an architect and also believes the foundations of productive thinking are needed in architecture and design. I look forward to hearing more and wish you success in Think Better as an base element for the course.

Garth

[Garth]

Healthy Spaces

Modern-day gyms have become the authority for nutritional information. The drugstore pharmacy is an immediate resource for health care consultation. Spas provide restorative therapies for mind and body. These examples indicate a phase shift in service models. IDEO Healthy Spaces seek to optimize this evolution and integration of wellness by creating spaces to promote health-centric experiences, moments, and practices.

We think about how to embed and operationalize wellness within new spaces, and how to make everyday spatial experiences additive and holistic. We strive to make users’ health paramount, creating hospitals that cater to patients and care givers, retail spaces that are informative and inspirational, and communities that embody healthy living.

[Garth]

Here's a book of interest titled "The Organization and Architecture of Innovation" by Thomas Allen and Gunter Henn and is, to quote a review, "a deeply insightful book on how the social, organizational, and physical worlds interact to create the conditions for communication across boundaries".

Among others, Gunter Henn designed the Technical University in Munich and a Volkswagen plant in Germany to deliberately increase the chance of different disciplines bumping into one another and have the chance to share potentially valuable unrelated information.

On his website HENNARCHITEKTEN there is reference to the design methodolgy and one element in particular stood out. Has anyone heard of or had experience with NETGRAPHING in design? (Once at the website mouse over "Profile" and then click on "Method". At the bottom of the Method page there's a link to NETGRAPHING).

Also, for anyone interested in learning more you can download course materials for a Massachusetts Institute of Technology course: Organizing for Innovative Product Development from the MITOpenCourseWare site