Building for Creativity
Chris Berthelsen (http://a-small-lab.com)
for http://www.vanderarchitects.com/

The TOOL HOUSE (thank you mr Echanove)
Organic connection through individual, family, community, neighbourhood, extended
family, organisations and the government.
A SPECTRUM OF FUNCTIONAL(2)
OPTIMISATION, from storage to productive
commercial space, to integration into the global economy.
stigmergy
A connection with LIVELIHOODS – social cultural as well as economic imperatives.
SOCIAL STRUCTURES and TRUST play an important role in income generation and
the configuration of space (community ties permeate personal and professional space)
Not informal, but(3)
in-formation.
The tool house accretes through creative use.
Not just dense, but simultaneously diverse
Personal
(1) components of
creativity

Building for Creativity
(1) Personal Components of Creativity in the Built Environment

Creativity is a PRODUCT of a PROCESS that occurs within a PERSON in a PLACE.
HUMAN(E) use of buildings is messy and spontaneous, but it is also a creative
response to the built environment, a reflection of personality, livelihoods, society,
culture and traditions.
The most powerful way of improving our environments is to put it in control of those
PEOPLE that have the STAKE and KNOWLEDGE to make it function well.
PEOPLE feel JOY rather than mere PLEASURE.
PEOPLE

PEOPLE
use buildings
and we are building for creativity

PEOPLE
use buildings
and we are building for creativity
Personal Components of Creativity

PEOPLE
use buildings
and we are building for creativity
Personal Components of Creativity
Knowledge and
Skills
“act directly on tasks within
the relevant domain in
question, but also indirectly
affect creativity in other
domains
through
the
broadening of individual
perspectives..”

PEOPLE
use buildings
and we are building for creativity
Personal Components of Creativity
Creativity
Relevant Skills
Knowledge and
Skills
“cognitive and personality
traits, work style (e.g. high
energy and concentration),
and knowledge/ability to use
creativity
generating
techniques..”
“act directly on tasks within
the relevant domain in
question, but also indirectly
affect creativity in other
domains
through
the
broadening of individual
perspectives..”

PEOPLE
use buildings
and we are building for creativity
Personal Components of Creativity
Intrinsic
Motivation
Creativity
Relevant Skills
Knowledge and
Skills
“the motivation to work on
something primarily for its
own sake, because it is
enjoyable,
satisfying,
challenging or otherwise
captivating...”
“cognitive and personality
traits, work style (e.g. high
energy and concentration),
and knowledge/ability to use
creativity
generating
techniques..”
“act directly on tasks within
the relevant domain in
question, but also indirectly
affect creativity in other
domains
through
the
broadening of individual
perspectives..”

PEOPLE
use buildings
and we are building for creativity
Personal Components of Creativity
Intrinsic
Motivation
Creativity
Relevant Skills
Knowledge and
Skills
“the motivation to work on
something primarily for its
own sake, because it is
enjoyable,
satisfying,
challenging or otherwise
captivating...”
“cognitive and personality
traits, work style (e.g. high
energy and concentration),
and knowledge/ability to use
creativity
generating
techniques..”
“act directly on tasks within
the relevant domain in
question, but also indirectly
affect creativity in other
domains
through
the
broadening of individual
perspectives..”
How can we understand these in terms of the built environment?

Buildings
are used by people
what parts are we interested in?
(elements of the building: e.g.)
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Site
Built Form
Components
Structure
Skin
Services
Space
Circulation
Space Syntax
Legibility
Regulations/Restrictions
Furniture
And?
(e.g.)
Transport/Access
Location
Storey Height
Materials, Fixtures
Botanics
Connections
Interchangeability
Durability
Loading
Walls
Grid Spacing
Cladding
Glazing
Access
Redundancy
Lighting, Waste, Power
Standardisation
Flow
Cores
Access/Egress

Buildings
are used by people
[ stakeholders include: passers-by, local families, community, workers, innovators in residence, start-ups, sponsors etc...... ]
(elements of the building)
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Site
Built Form
Components
Structure
Skin
Services
Space
Circulation
Space Syntax
Legibility
Regulations/Restrictions
Furniture
And?

Buildings
are used by people
in many ways and levels
[ stakeholders include: passers-by, local families, community, workers, innovators in residence, start-ups, sponsors etc...... ]
(elements of the building)
●
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Site
Built Form
Components
Structure
Skin
Services
Space
Circulation
Space Syntax
Legibility
Regulations/Restrictions
Furniture
And?
(action spectrum)
●
Spontaneous, ad-hoc
movement
↓
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Everyday Behaviour
↓
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Routines
↓
●
Livelihoods
↓
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Occasions/Events
Rituals
Myths
And?

With the above in mind,
How does the building enable informal knowledge
acquisition, transfer and transformation?
Personal Components of Creativity
Intrinsic
Motivation
Creativity
Relevant Skills
Knowledge and
Skills

See Nonaka (link)
Knowledge
taxonomy (link)
See
Hedlund
(link)

With the above in mind,
In what ways does the building influence
● Implicit or explicit heuristics for generating novel ideas?
● Work style conducive to creativity?
● Creative cognitive frames of mind?
Personal Components of Creativity
Intrinsic
Motivation
Creativity
Relevant Skills
Knowledge and
Skills

With the above in mind,
How does the building enhance intrinsic motivation and
minimize external constraints on motivation?
Personal Components of Creativity
Intrinsic
Motivation
“the motivation to work on
something primarily for its
own sake, because it is
enjoyable,
satisfying,
challenging or otherwise
captivating”
Creativity
Relevant Skills
Knowledge and
Skills

Source: Derived from discussion in Amabile (1996) and Stafford (1998).
Amabile, T.M. (1996). Creativity in context. Boulder: Westview Press.
Stafford, S.P. (1998). Capitalizing on careabouts to facilitate creativity. Creativity and
Innovation Management , 7(3), 159-167.

With the above in mind,
How does the building enhance intrinsic motivation and
minimize external constraints on motivation?
‘extrinsics in the service of intrinsics’
(i) Possibility of sparking latent creativity + (ii) Motivational synergy
(when intrinsic motivation is low)
Intrinsic
Motivation
“the motivation to work on
something primarily for its
own sake, because it is
enjoyable,
satisfying,
challenging or otherwise
captivating”
Creativity
Relevant Skills
(when intrinsic motivation is high)
Knowledge and
Skills

‘extrinsics in the service of intrinsics’
Creative Climate
+ve and -ve influences on intrinsic motivation

‘extrinsics in the service of intrinsics’
Creative Climate
+ve and -ve influences on intrinsic motivation
(positive dimensions)
●
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Freedom
Trust/Openness
Resources
Time
Playfulness/Humour
Idea Support
Debate
Risk Tolerance
(negative dimensions)
●
Conflict/Violence

‘extrinsics in the service of intrinsics’
Creative Climate
How does the building influence the social psychological dimensions that are
important for intrinsic motivation?
(positive dimensions)
●
●
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●
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Freedom
Trust/Openness
Resources
Time
Playfulness/Humour
Idea Support
Debate
Risk Tolerance
(elements of the building)
●
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●
(negative dimensions)
●
Conflict/Violence
●
●
●
●
Site
Built Form
Components
Structure
Skin
Services
Space
Circulation
Space Syntax
Legibility
Regulations/Restrictions
Furniture
And?

‘extrinsics in the service of intrinsics’
Creative Climate
How does the building influence the social psychological dimensions that are
important for intrinsic motivation?
(over a spectrum of action, from the momentary to the mythical, for relevant stakeholders)
[ stakeholders include: passers-by, local families, community, workers, innovators in residence, start-ups, sponsors etc...... ]
(positive dimensions)
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Freedom
Trust/Openness
Resources
Time
Playfulness/Humour
Idea Support
Debate
Risk Tolerance
(elements of the building)
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
(negative dimensions)
●
Conflict/Violence
●
●
●
●
Site
Built Form
Components
Structure
Skin
Services
Space
Circulation
Space Syntax
Legibility
Regulations/Restrictions
Furniture
And?
(action spectrum)
●
Spontaneous, ad-hoc
movement
↓
●
Everyday Behaviour
↓
●
Routines
↓
●
Livelihoods
↓
●
●
●
●
Occasions/Events
Rituals
Myths
And?

Building for Creativity
(2) Stigmergy and Scattered Oases

Creative use of the built environment leaves traces and fragments; remnants that layer
up and decay over time.
These traces are fine-grained evidence of life.
Human-scale attachment, action and care.
Affection, love, pride. Ordinary magic. Resilience.
Scattered oases. Tacitly accepted or actively protected.
Individuals adjust their use (indirect collaboration) to fit with that of other users of the
space through the medium of a
slow and steady work in progress.
stigmergy

stigmergy
Actor/Action
Actor/Action
Imprint of
information
via cues
and/or
stimuli
Environment
Actor/Action
Information flow
via the
environment
Use
(Coordination/
Construction)

stigmergy
Actor/Action
Who?
What?
Actor/Action
Information flow
via the
environment
What?
How?
Where?
What?
How?
Where?
Imprint of
information
via cues
and/or
stimuli
Use
(Coordination/
Construction)
Environment
What?
How?
Where?
Actor/Action

stigmergy
Actor/Action
Who?
What?
Information flow
via the
environment
What?
How?
Where?
What?
How?
Where?
What does the stigmergy of the
building mean for knowledge Use
Environment
Actor/Action
(Coordination/
transformation processes? Construction)
Imprint of
information
via cues
and/or
stimuli
See previous diagrams
What?
How?
Where?
Actor/Action

stigmergy
Actor/Action
Who?
What?
Information flow
via the
environment
What?
How?
Where?
What?
How?
Where?
What is a stigmergy of the built
environment? What elements Use
Environment
Actor/Action
(Coordination/
Construction)
of the building are important?
Imprint of
information
via cues
and/or
stimuli
What?
How?
Where?
Actor/Action

Building for Creativity
(3) Tool House (CEP)

The TOOL HOUSE (thank you mr Echanove)
Organic connection through individual, family, community, neighbourhood, extended
family, organisations and the government.
A SPECTRUM OF FUNCTIONAL OPTIMISATION, from storage to productive
commercial space, to integration into the global economy.
A connection with LIVELIHOODS – social cultural as well as economic imperatives.
SOCIAL STRUCTURES and TRUST play an important role in income generation and
the configuration of space (community ties permeate personal and professional space)

The TOOL HOUSE (thank you mr Echanove)
Organic connection through individual, family, community, neighbourhood, extended
family, organisations and the government.
A SPECTRUM OF FUNCTIONAL OPTIMISATION, from storage to productive
commercial space, to integration into the global economy.
A connection with LIVELIHOODS – social cultural as well as economic imperatives.
SOCIAL STRUCTURES and TRUST play an important role in income generation and
the configuration of space (community ties permeate personal and professional space)
Not informal, but in-formation.
The tool house accretes through creative use.
Not just dense, but simultaneously diverse

The TOOL HOUSE (thank you mr Echanove)
Organic connection through individual, family, community, neighbourhood, extended
family, organisations and the government.
A SPECTRUM OF FUNCTIONAL OPTIMISATION, from storage to productive
commercial space, to integration into the global economy.
stigmergy
A connection with LIVELIHOODS – social cultural as well as economic imperatives.
SOCIAL STRUCTURES and TRUST play an important role in income generation and
the configuration of space (community ties permeate personal and professional space)
Not informal, but in-formation.
The tool house accretes through creative use.
Not just dense, but simultaneously diverse
Personal
components of
creativity

Moving toward a
built environment
as an elegant
tool.
platform

Moving toward a
built environment
as an elegant
tool.
platform
elegance
convenience