Work Thus Far...

For my final submission in this class I would like to produce:


1. A 3 Dimensional model that I can use to reorganize programmed spaces
2. Pictures of the rearrangements of these models
3. Diagrams of programmed spaces in past educational facilities
4. Collaged pictures showing possible and impossible spatial environments
5. New definitions of spaces and poems that describe the different experiences of these spaces

In the end, I believe I will have a deep understanding of the spaces needed in a learning environment and a better understanding of the spatial possibilities that can increase experiential learning and reconceiving space. Hopefully, by sharing this list it will force me to do all of these things I wish to do.

I would also like to cover my progress to date from my last submission. I am now looking to restate my title and the term “spatial creativity”. When describing spatial creativity I bring up three important subjects, movement, physical engagement and perception. My goal has always been to help people be more aware of their surrounds and I believe through their movement, physical engagement with architecture and their increased perception of space they will become more aware of objects and even other people. I am now looking to refer to this phenomenon as “Reconceiving Space”. This means that people are looking at spaces and creating new connections and looking past preconceived notions about what they are supposed to do in an environment, and then they do what they want to do.

This also relates to my goal of reconceiving a school, or redefining it. I hope to first look at redefining a school and other terms associated with it, such as classroom. These definitions will be based off of positive educational examples, the work of John Dewey, and some of my own feelings about what a school should be. These new terms will be redefined and will influence the layout of my thesis project.

Here are some conclusions I have been drawing based on my research thus far:

John Dewey: Pedagogy:
1. Learning as a life long process
2. Cooperative leadership
3. Learning grounded in experience
4. Importance of physical interaction with environment
5. Importance of social interaction
6. Instrumentalism – problem solving
7. Pragmatism – environmental adaptation
8. Community Support
9. Real life Preparation – internship model

Conclusions:
1. young and old learning spaces
2. integration of faculty and student power
3. less lectures…more doing
4. students and faculty change learning spaces
5. focused social spaces
6. use architecture to learn and problem solve
7. architecture teacher students and students “teach” architecture
8. community can use spaces
9. involve professionals or mentoring programs


Case Studies:
1. Consideration for ecology
2. Consideration for seasons and greenery
3. Open Space Learning
4. Professionalize Teachers
5. Interdisciplinary Work
6. Stress Creativity and Innovation
7. Cultural Values
8. Everyone's imput important to design
9. Close link between interior and exterior
10. Build with the environment: sun, wind, water, green

Conclusions:
1. consideration for how building sits on the site
2. green spaces
3. large spaces for learning
4. educational support for teachers
5. overlap subject spaces and content
6. lateral thinking
7. multi-cultural infusion
8. teachers, students and community influence design
9. overlap interior and exterior spaces
10. green design

Program Diagrams

This series of diagrams expresses my current ideas that have been filtered and processed throughout my initial thesis process.  I am now in the position to redefine a school.  I would like to proceed by speaking about my project in terms of what it is going to do for a community rather than the initial title it is given as a "school".  These diagrams demonstrate the new terms I am beginning to develop to redefine a classroom and ultimately a school.   

How Can a Building Be a Better School?

Why is Spatial Creativity Important?

How are People Spatially Creative?

What is Spatial Creativity?

Restatement of Proposal

Architecture can be designed to increase or spark spatial creativity through engaging the unconscious memories and conscious navigation and movement of humans. Architecture has the power to elicit emotions by recalling memories within people’s minds. People interpret architecture in their own ways, and people can feel different emotions in a space based on their memories. Memories can be used to remember how to use a space.   This is one layer of spatial creative thought, interpretation and unconsciousness.  The second layer of spatial creativity is the conscious, where people consciously move and navigate space. 

Spatial creativity is an important mental skill for people. The lack of creativity in any person means that person does not have the capacity to experience or create anything new to them, their culture or history.  The lack of spatial intelligence in any person means the lack of skills to interpret connections in physical and psychological space. A high level of spatial creativity means not only an awareness of movement through space, but also the skills and motivation to change how they navigate and use space.  I am not attempting to invent spatial creativity [because it already exists], but I believe singling out spatially creative actions can help to create better environments for humanity.

Arguably, architecture can teach spatial creativity in several ways.   Spatial creativity can occur in five modes: change of locomotion, spatial redefinition of use, object manipulation, path alteration and adjustments in spatial perception.  For my proposal, I will design a facility that not only promotes creative inquiry but also promotes better educational performance.  This will involve creating an environment rich with stimulus, opportunities, and personal definition and a lack of uniformity, repetition and absolute definition.

Definitions

To continue progress for my thesis proposal, I would like to begin by defining a few important terms:

Physical Space is the way the world is truly manifested, not concerning any biased opinion or perception.

Psychological Space is a person’s interpretation of the world in connection with emotions, memories and their imagination.  

Creativity is an imaginative process that goes on within a person [intrapersonal] or between persons [interpersonal] that results in a novel, public work that holds significance for a single person, society or history.

Spatial Intelligence is the capacity for seeing patterns, connections and relationships among physical and psychological space in the world.  It is evaluated by looking at a person’s performance level in everyday instances, such as judging the amount of leftover food to fit into a container, estimating the amount of space to parallel park, and the ability to navigate a familiar space.

Spatial Creativity is the conscious manipulation of patterns, connections and relationships among physical and psychological space in the world.  These new connections are helpful and novel to a single person, to a society or in history.   Furthermore, the actions carried out through a spatially creative process refine “everyday” actions.  

These definitions are key to my proposal because I will begin to use these definitions to state how people can be spatially creative.  Currently, I believe people can be spatially creative in 5 different ways:

1. Change of Locomotion: This involves changing the way you move through a space.  This would involve literally changing the way you move [crawling vs walking] or involve changing how you control your movement [riding a train vs walking].  I argue that having a more active role in your movement through space makes you more aware of your travel through space, not just the destination. 

2. Spatial Redefinition of Use:  This involves manipulating your schemas about a certain environment.  As an example, someone would be spatially creative by entering a defined study space and turning it into a performance space.  

3. Object Manipulation:  This involves the manipulation of an object in physical space. This can be referred to as "hacking" an object, where you can redefine the use of an object for your personal purpose. 

4. Path Alteration:  This involves navigating a space in a way that people would normally not.  Often times this is seen when people do not walk on designated paths.  Though this may be an intuitive navigation of space based on wants/needs, it is spatially creative because it is defying social norms.  

5. Differ Spatial Perception:  Lastly, this involves a reinterpretation of space psychologically.  A person's imagination is highly engaged and their new interpretation of space involves a reevaluation of connections and affordances in space.

Overall Methodology

Method To My Madness: Semester 1

1 + 3 + 9 = PROPOSAL

Architecture can be designed to increase or spark spatial creativity through engaging the memories of humans. Architecture has the power to elicit emotions by recalling memories within people’s minds. People interpret architecture in their own ways, and people can feel different emotions in a space based on their memories. Memories can be used to remember how to use a space. In contrast, the lack of memories in a certain space can elicit improvisation and/or creativity within that space.


Spatial creativity is an important mental skill for people. The lack of spatial creativity in any person means the lack of skills to remember their movement through space. A high level of spatial creativity means not only an awareness of movement through space, but also the skills and motivation to change how they navigate. Arguably, architecture can teach spatial creativity in several ways. Spatial creativity can occur in five different modes: change of locomotion, spatial redefinition of use, object manipulation, path alteration and adjustments in spatial perception. These five examples cover physical changes of space and mental changes of space.   For my proposal, I will design a facility that not only promotes creative inquiry but also promotes better educational or job performance.  This will involve creating an environment rich with stimulus, opportunities, and personal definition and a lack of uniformity, repetition and absolute definition.

What is Architecture?

Architecture is comprised of built objects created by goal oriented human beings. Architecture must be built with a goal in mind or it is just art. Architecture is often times defined as shelter, where the goal of the builder and/or designer is to provide shelter for a person. There are many other goals for architecture, but if there is no goal, then it is not architecture. Architecture must also be built, or it is just an idea.


Architecture is about creation not imagination. In the same way that someone is not creative without making or doing something, architecture is not architecture without being made. It simply must involve creation. You can imagine all the things you would like to make, change, influence…but without getting out of bed or off of your couch, you can not call yourself creative or a creator. Due to the nature of architecture as a mental and physical influencer, without an actual wall to interact with, there is nothing to physically interact with. Architecture must be tangible… must be someTHING.


Architecture is able to affect people on both a mental and physical level. Due to the nature of the human mind, we are unable to move through space without preconceived notions about what we are getting ourselves into. These can be referred to as schemas that are influenced by our memory and allow us to expect what will happen in a restaurant, shopping mall, or doctor’s office. In this way, we are affected by architecture on a mental level because we interpret space in our own way. We can even go as far to say that architecture elicits emotions since our emotions are also based on memories. Architecture also affects people physically by often times moving people in different directions and affecting their navigation.


Architecture is essential to the existence of humanity and should be approached with much ethical consideration. Architecture serves the goals of its inhabitants and it is the responsibility of the builder/ designer to make sure that after the building is inserted into its community, that it still supports, not weakens, the inhabitants. Many questions come into play such as the proper program, the cost of the structure, the social influence of the architecture and so on…






What can architecture be? Architecture can be a vehicle for enhancing the lives of humanity and enriching the human psyche. By questioning architecture, humanity can question what is possible in many subjects such as physics and drama. By allowing people to have more control over their movement through space, people can engage with architecture and the built environment on a deeper level. When used in a proper manner, architecture can better the life quality for humanity…or so I hope.