The Creative Room: SB2 Presentation

The Creative Room

- something unique about the arts university is that it is a collective of creative minds

- how can we stimulate the creativity in the building whilst concurrently building internal connections

- collaborations have the ability to produce incredible outcomes 

- specialists in different areas - if you don't know how to do something get someone who knows how

- builds productivity

- builds community 

How do you stimulate creativity?

Research

https://www.inc.com/jason-surfrapp/6-ways-to-boost-your-creative-thinking.html

https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/9-ways-to-dramatically-improve-your-creativity.html

https://greatist.com/happiness/ways-to-boost-creativity

• get outside your comfort zone
• learn through collaboration
• unplug (relax / do nothing) - destressing is key - stress kills creativity
• walk
• Set the right mood (steve jobs used music)
• music - stimulates the part of our brain that controls motor actions, creativity and emotions
• meditation - promotes divergent thinking
• write by hand
• Blue & green enhance our performance on cognitive tasks
• sitting outside the box (make it tangible)
• lie down - improves our ability to solve anagrams
• rethink a label
• laughter (de-stresses - According to some studies, a positive mood can facilitate creativity because it boosts activity in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex (areas of the brain associated with complex cognition, decision-making, and emotion)
• play video games - energising (wii)
• Think about something far away - our ability to solve problems improves when we think about events far off in the past or future or in another location (e.g. picture New Year’s Eve 2022)

Book: 12 Rules of Creativity

- Touches on ideas of altering persons like the Beatles did with Sgt Pepper to get out of comfort zones and normal generalisations

- Ways of gathering inspiration

- motivational quotations / food for thought

- "If you take one thing away from the reading of this book, it should be that creativity, as it manifests within you, is always possible. Go ahead: do it."

12 Rules //

1. Open Your Eyes
2. Prepare The Space
3. Play
4. Use Images
5. Do The Opposite
6. Develop Failure
7. Check-In
8. Use Colour
9. Conserve With Blocks
10. Randomise
11. Copy Nature
12. Lose The Ego

Episode 8 of Abstract: Interior Design

British designer Ilse Crawford who designs spaces ranging from high-end hotels to Ikea furniture which engage the senses and promote well-being.

Her ideology:  INTERROGATION and EMPATHY 

Ideas for creating a space - how to incorporate these aspects into practical living

- when she first approaches a project they hold off on OPINION

- ask QUESTIONS

- watch and listen

- two eye two ears and one mouth; use them in that proportion

- process of interrogation and empathy allows us to understand what we're looking at 

- a building can have such an impact on the way people feel and interact

human values are non-negotiable 

Idea Generation & Design Development 

Main focuses:

1. Music
2. Comfortability (space to lie down/ relax/ calm) / furniture 
3. Interactive games
4. Physical games

Visualising:

 

 

Production:

Research was gathered from the Internet, Documentaries and Books in order to gain a wide spectrum of opinions and applications in practicality. Interior designer Ilse Crawford is incredible at simplifying everything down to a simple process that is attentive and highly effective. Her focus on how people react within a space allows the functionality of the room on its main purpose to be highly successful.
Atavar's book touches on how a  specialised creative can deal with creative block.
and the online research is the broadest information, touching on everyone and not just specialists - the broad variety of research enables a considered, concise and flowing outcome.

When the colours blue and green come to mind in a harmonious and creative setting I think to the film 'Shallow Graves' and their retro and quirky apartment where the film is mainly set. The interior design definitely fuels the production of the film, aesthetically and within the story itself. A lot of the film itself deals with them problem solving, to some extent, and thus mirrors this colour psychology. 

Continuing with the theme then of blue and green it was important to adhere to the research and empathy of comfortability. Finding the right chair that is multi-purposeful was the solution as to not decide for the subject their state, but rather they can chose for themselves. For example they can lie down or sit depending on their mood. In addition one of the stimulants of creativity was to literally sit outside of a box. The incorporation of the foot stall of cubic seat allows the subject to look into the book, by sitting outside of it. These simple solutions can enable a calm environment with cognitive stimulation 

Having a wall that is entirely a whiteboard or chalkboard of some kind can completely change and enhance the space. Not only is it completely sustainable as it allows for an ever changing setting, but it also pushes people (especially within an arts institute) to play. The board can be used for games, notices (e.g. if someone needs to collaborate they can leave their details). It was also noted from research that using ones hands and physically writing and acting can stimulate creativity. Simple games like noughts and crosses can facilitate just that. Also their could be a story board section where concepts of scenes/ settings could be left for someone else to depict.

The fold and pass game is another thing that would be great for building creativity. A piece of paper is passed around with different people drawing a section of a character and folding it over after (e.g. head / neck / legs / feet etc). These characters could then be left for people to evolve as they wish.

The final idea for the game stimuli is for iPads to be left around with the game DrawSomething on. It is essentially Pictionary, where drawings are left for people to guess and once done correctly they can leave a drawing for the next person to come along. 

The digital can be used to connect, rather than distance us, from each other. The idea of having a Wii is an easy addition to a room and very cheap now days. It is an active video game that has been proven to enhance brain activity and accordingly creativity. It is also highly sociable and adds a new colloquial dimension to the space.

Having a TV or projector on a constant reel would be a great space for showcasing work. People in the room can simply upload what they want to play to an account that puts on a slide show. Another thing could be TED talks or interesting videos / cool animations that they with to share with whoever is in the room. Laughter is a big part of enhancing creative thinking and so this sort of all-sharing community space is a solid environment for humour and entertainment, within a productive and meaningful setting.