Creativity has been one of my theoretical obsessions for decades. But it was a very lonely topic 30 years ago. I had trouble finding any sources to support my topic. But today, creativity is popping up everywhere. I'm seeing it in business, manufacturing, psychology, industrial design, public education, and even the Op-Ed pages of major newspapers. The world is abuzz on the topic of creativity.
And since I published my book, there have been a lot of interesting comments coming in from readers (thank you for those). But something happened that I was not expecting. I wrote my book specifically for architects. It's what one would call a niche publication. But I have been surprised by how many non-architects are reading it, and not only reading it, but understanding it very clearly. It seems this topic is of far more universal interest than I had originally anticipated.
These days, I'm finding myself interacting with a lot more groups outside of our profession, particularly in music, psychology and industrial design. And I have to say, interacting with these other groups is very different than what normally occurs with architects. Two things jump out at me right off that bat when it comes to sharing theoretical insights with other trades:
First, let's look at the psychology group. This is by far the most lively group of theoreticians I have ever met. Their entire world revolves around words, thoughts, and behaviors. Most of them have PhD's. So needless to say, they love talking and thinking. And they are very interested in drilling down to what makes creativity tick. I get far more questions and insights and from this group than any other. They are far more theoretically driven than architects in general.
Second, a group that surprised me was the industrial design group. I'm finding they are far more sophisticated, and far more specific about theoretical application in design than architects are. I have been very impressed with how hard they work to spell out specifics of creativity in their design process, and they seem to have far greater understanding of how art impacts design communication. And I think the reason is clear. Architects design really big objects that are very complex, and we only design a few of these things every year or two. It's not like we design a new building every week or every month. Industrial designers get to design countless products for mass production, where the impact of what they do gets measured quickly. So they get many more shots at it than we do.
Conclusion, I think architects can benefit greatly from studying other creators who work at smaller scales, and therefore, have more creating experience. Their knowledge is very transferable to what we do, and very helpful to see. And thinking is equally important to our creative skills. I used to rely on philosophy to learn how to think. But there are other great thinking niches out there to tap in to. There's more than one way to skin that cat.
May the Renaissance man in us all live to create another day.
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Rich Farris, AIA
Author of "Principles of Creativity, Architecture's Insight to Invention" (Amazon)
Dallas, Texas
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