Creating Creativity; A study into architectural means to stimulate the creative mind and enhance innovation

Abstract

Over time everything will be a coffee house People are found everywhere working on their laptops; in parks and public buildings, but mostly in coffee houses. It is a place which many prefer above a regular office. Not only to become more productive, but also to become creative. Surroundings are not seen as a distraction, but used as inspiration. Even when full focus is needed, light sound and movement of others is not seen as an annoying, the brain filters and uses everything to a satisfying amount. Scientists show that people can enter a state of mind, in which everything is subordinated to one specific goal. A personal fascination that enables them to work twenty hours a day, without any problem while experiencing great pleasure. It is about tasks that lie so close to personal interests, that urge and energy are infinite. The brain functions in a happy and non-restraint way, something children experience much more often than adults. Research shows that the skill of creativity is directly linked to the ability of acting like a child. It is about disabling the personal ‘inner critic’, the part in our brain that stops us from acting out of the ordinary. Over the past years, many buildings have been design to bring creativity into the office. Colors, homely furniture and natural elements, to make us more relaxed. Sports fields, unusual art and even slides, to stimulate us to act more like a child. And large open spaces, daylight and flexible diverse work spaces, to make us feel more free. But where these are common tools used within building designs towards creativity, they all look very dissimilar. The most obvious difference between the coffee house and the ‘creative office’, is the presence of facilities. Meeting- and conference rooms, machinery and tools, copy- and print service, fablabs and so on, are sections found in actual work environments. ICT-help, finance- and legal support, and a large network of professionals are other important qualities, which are missing at a coffee house. Where the surrounding of the location is used by many as a ‘hidden office’ full of creative minds, a large coffee house in urban setting, the design is based on adding the missing facilities becoming part of the existing. Many qualities named and visualized by scientists and architects are already present at the location. The actual design is based on the user and consists of a rather simple design in which architecture is made to a mean, creating a place where something can happen. It is about challenging to do something with the given space, using the broad range of facilities. The endless potential to make use of the openness provokes. A building which will get its identity from the user, an always changing identity representing creativity.