SITUATING AN ENVIRONMENT TO PROMOTE DESIGN CREATIVITY BY EXPANDING STRUCTURE HOLES

Transcription

1 SITUATING AN ENVIRONMENT TO PROMOTE DESIGN CREATIVITY BY EXPANDING STRUCTURE HOLES Public Places in Campus Buildings HOU YUEMIN Beijing Information Science & Technology University, and Tsinghua University, China and 1. Introduction JI LINHONG Tsinghua University, China Design is a function-target task under limited resources including technology, manufacture, knowledge, experience, cost and time. No laws link a system or structure to certain functions. Each design is an expedition to unknown artifact. A designer develops a design description, generally represented graphically, numerically, and/or textually, to achieve specified functions with tools available at hand within limited time and cost. The designer may be rich in knowledge and experience or not, but the specified function must be achieved through a physical object or virtual object. One approach of design is to design a novel device or equipment automatically by a computer design system. Unfortunately, in most cases, no such system is available. Hence, the designer must do it by himself. What the designer would generally do is to link some systems, devices, knowledge and experience that relates to the function, then he would try to combine these elements into a whole system in a cooperative manner. This process is a process of concept construction, generally called conceptual design. Creative design emerges when previously unrelated concepts, principles, functions, behaviors and structural elements are brought together and combined. No one, even a team, has completed knowledge. Therefore, design creativity is limited by knowledge limitation. On the other hand, the design is situated. According to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, we cannot actually indicate the position of the electron exactly; the best we can say is that the electron is mostly here and

2 2 HOU YUEMIN, AND JI LINHONG partially somewhere else. Quantum mechanics also tells us that radioactive decay occurs entirely by chance and is unpredictable except in a statistical sense. Indeterminacy is ingrained in nature. It may be safe to say that novel ideas in design occur by chance and are unpredictable and immeasurable. One way to promote creativity is to extend knowledge space of the designers, which leads to extend design space. The other way is to situate an environment that may foster novel ideas and direct novel ideas towards creativity. Our claim is that proper public places can situate an environment that promotes design creativity in a sense to extend knowledge space and to increase the probability of creative design. The concept of structural hole (Gellynck, Vermeire, and Viaene 2007) is extended into domain, thinking and working structural holes, and these structural holes are used to explain the impact of public places on creative design. Examples of public places are discussed. We will start the discussion with an analysis on environment support to creativity based on review of current research. 2. Environment Support to Creativity A huge volume of literature has been published on creativity, but much less on creativity environment. We spent an awful lot of money on how to analyse, but we do not spend much money on creating an environment for creativity (of aircraft design) (Rutan 1996). The workplace environment can have a dramatic impact on mood, motivation, creativity and productivity of staff positively or negatively (Lee et al 2010). (1) Creativity needs quiet individual reflection Creativity results from bringing together and combining previously unrelated ideas, which usually happens only when a person has been thoroughly involved in a problem or situation for a long time (SonicRim 2010). (2) Creativity needs relaxation Creativity often take places in a natural context, e.g. at home or in the working place (SonicRim 2010). Someone s best ideas may come while walking on a beach (Young 2007), while someone s best ideas may be inspired by a chat with other persons. The creative process is iterative and punctuated by periods of incubation. The thoughts and ideas are incubated unconsciously or semiconsciously. Then they re-emerge as a new idea or concept. These periods of incubation happen best when we are engaged in relaxing, reflective or playful activity, when the mind has switched off from the problem at hand. (Lee et al 2010). (3) Creativity needs both formal and informal interaction. Creative ideas may occur at conscious, semiconscious, and subconscious mental sorting, grouping, and matching (Leonard anm Sensiper 1998). The interactions

3 SITUATING AN ENVIRONMENT TO PROMOTE DESIGN CREATIVITY 3 between an individual and other human beings stimulate and enhance creative activities (Johnson and Carruthers 2006). (4) Creativity likely occurs as collective creativity Creativity likely occur when distant analogies are discovered, which likely emerges from within social interactions, called collective creativity. Creativity happens in the interaction between a person s thoughts and a socio-cultural context (Csikszentmihalyi 1996). Collective creativity can promote creativity by (1) help seeking assistance of others; (2) help giving willing devotion of time and attention to assisting with the work of others; (3) reflective reframing the comments and actions of others; (4) reinforcing activities that support individuals engaging (SonicRim 2001). (5) Creativity needs knowledge sharing Creativity most typically happens when people share their knowledge and opinions. Knowledge becomes meaningful in interactions with others and in combination with others' knowledge in order to create new knowledge (Lee et al 2010). To sum up, an environment that supports reflection, relaxation, formal and informal interaction, and knowledge sharing will foster and promote creativity, especially design creativity considering the complexity of design. 3. Situating an Environment to Promote Creativity by Expanding Structure Holes We use a concept of structural hole as the key to situate an environment that promotes design creativity. The term structural hole is coined to refer to the social gap between two groups. Structural holes often are the weak connections between clusters of densely connected individuals (Granovetter 2005). An abundance of structural holes create opportunities for the new combination and recombination of ideas (Gellynck, Vermeire, and Viaene 2007). We extend the structure hole into three classes: domain, thinking and working structural holes. The domain structural hole refers to the disciplines gap between two groups; the thinking structural hole refers to the thinking pattern gap between two groups; and the working structural hole refers to the space gap between the working state and non-working state. The domain structural hole creates opportunities for knowledge sharing and integration across traditional borders, which will leads to extend knowledge space. The thinking structural hole creates opportunities for distant analogies and new interpretations to promote collective creativity. The working structural hole creates opportunities for unpredictable fresh ideas through formal and informal interaction, quiet individual reflection at conscious, semiconscious, and subconscious levels, as well as relaxation.

4 4 HOU YUEMIN, AND JI LINHONG An environment that creates an abundance of structural holes can be situated by proper public places. Public places refers to an area or place that is open and accessible to community members and that is not owned or controlled by private interests ( We focus on public places in campus building. Proper public places in campus building may be a entrance hall, staff restraurant, activity center, or corridor space. Public places in campus building create domain, thinking and working structural holes. (1) Entrance hall Entrance halls provide thinking and working structural holes. Figure 1 is the entrance hall of the aerospace building of TU Delft. The entrance hall is also used as reception, meeting, lecture, exhibition, information board, dinner party, concert, talk, and rest break. Figure 2 is the entrance hall of the architecture building of the Technische Universität Berlin. The entrance hall is also used as reception, dinner party, lecture, information broad, talk and rest. Figure 1. a. The entrance hall of the aerospace building of TU Delft, b. the back entrance of the building, c. The recruitment poster of an e-dragonfly design team in the entrance hall of the aerospace building of TU Delft. The entrance hall is also used as reception, meeting, lecture, exhibition, information board, dinner party, concert, talk, and rest. Figure 2. a. The entrance hall of the architecture building of the Technische Universität Berlin; b. the back door of the entrance hall of the architecture building. The entrance hall is also used as reception, dinner party, lecture, information broad, talk and rest. (2) Staff restaurant

5 SITUATING AN ENVIRONMENT TO PROMOTE DESIGN CREATIVITY 5 Staff restaurants provide thinking and working structural holes. Figure 3a is the staff restaurant of the aerospace building of TU Delft. It is also used as talk and small meeting, as well as exhibition in open day. Figure 3b is the staff restaurant of George Mason University. It is also used as university and student activities. Figure 3. a. The staff restaurant of the aerospace building of TU Delft. It is also used as talk and small meeting, as well as exhibition in open day; b. The staff restaurant of George Mason University. It is also used as university and student activities. (3) Activity centres Activity centres provide domain, thinking and working structural holes. Figure 4 is the Johnson Centre used as various university and student activities at the George Mason University. It is also the staff restaurant, commercial centre, bank, and news centre, the library, meeting rooms, computer rooms and multimedia rooms. Figure 4. a. The commercial centre, bank, and news centre in the first floor and meeting rooms, computer rooms and multimedia rooms in the second and third floor of the Johnson Centre at the George Mason University; b. the news centre in the first floor of the Johnson Centre at GMU; c. the library in the second floor of the Johnson Centre at GMU. The Johnson Centre is also used as various university activities and student activities. (4) Corridor space The corridor space provides working structural hole. Figure 5 is the corridor of the engineering building of the Università Politecnica delle Marche. The corridor is also used as study space, discussion space and information board. Figure 6 is the discussion and rest space in the corridor of the aerospace building of TU Delft. Several aircraft models are exhibited and some office facilities are placed in the corridor of the building.

6 6 HOU YUEMIN, AND JI LINHONG Figure 5. a. The corridor of the engineering building of the Università Politecnica delle Marche; b. one of the entrance of the building. The corridor is also used as study space, discussion space and information board. Figure 6. a. The discussion and rest space in the corridor of the aerospace building of TU Delft; b. the aircraft models and facilities in the corridor of the building. 2. Summary An environment that supports reflection, relaxation, formal and informal interaction, and knowledge sharing will foster and promote design creativity. The concept of structure hole are detailed into three classes: domain, thinking and working structural holes. The domain structural hole refers to the disciplines gap between two groups; the thinking structural hole refers to the thinking pattern gap between two groups; and the working structural hole refers to the space gap between the working state and non-working state. The domain structural hole creates opportunities for knowledge sharing and integration across traditional borders so that the knowledge space can be expended. The thinking structural hole creates opportunities for distant analogies and new interpretations to promote collective creativity. The working structural hole creates opportunities for unpredictable fresh ideas through formal and informal interaction, individual reflection as well as relaxation. An environment with abundance of structural holes can be situated by proper public places. Public places in campus buildings create domain, thinking and working structural holes. Proper public places in campus building may be a entrance hall, staff restraurant, activity center, or corridor space. The next step of this research is to establish a qualitative model of these three structure holes in order to build an evaluation model for design.

7 SITUATING AN ENVIRONMENT TO PROMOTE DESIGN CREATIVITY 7 Acknowledgements This research is partially supported by a grant from Beijing Information Science and Technology University References Bernus, JS and Chase, MA: 1990, Decision making in a networked environment, in H Eschenauer, J Koski and A Osyczka (eds), Technology and Communication, Springer- Verlag, Berlin, pp Minsk, ML: 1990, Process models for cultural integration, Journal of Culture 11(4): Smythe, JS (ed.): 1990, Applications of Artificial Intelligence to Communication, CMP and Springer-Verlag, Berlin. Gellynck, X, Vermeire, B, and Viaene, J: 2007, Innovation in food firms: Contribution of regional networks within the international business context. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 19, pp Rutan, B: 1996, Scaled composites, in a documentary interview. Lee, S et al: 2010, The impact of environment, SonicRim, LS: 2001, Collective Creativity, AIGA Journal of Interaction Design Education, 3, pp Young, TM: 2007, Aircraft design innovation: creating an environment for creativity, Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering, pp Leonard, D and Sensiper, S: 1998, The role of tacit knowledge in group innovation, California Management Review, 40(3), pp Johnson, H and Carruthers, L: 2006, Supporting creative and reflective processes, Int. J. Human-Computer Studies, 64, pp Csikzentmihalyi, M: 1996, Creativity. Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: HarperCollins. Granovetter, M: 2005, The impact of social structure on economic outcomes, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(1), pp