Pragmatics, Plasticity, and Permission: A Model for Creativity in Temporary Spaces

TY - GEN

T1 - Pragmatics, Plasticity, and Permission

T2 - A Model for Creativity in Temporary Spaces

AU - Maxwell, Deborah

AU - Williams, Alison

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - The meaning of a space to its users is influenced by the users’ perception of that space and its potential to support – or otherwise – desired behaviours. This paper considers the case study of a three-day residential knowledge exchange event, exploring the meaning of the event’s physical environment for impact on participants’ creativity and design thinking. The event’s mixed group of academics, design professionals, and entrepreneurs were encouraged to think and respond creatively together on a thematic call (to which they responded in the application process) and were observed within the space. We examine how an unconventional workplace environment (a set of elaborately decorated Victorian hotel meeting rooms) influences a group who do not know each other beforehand, observing how participants appropriate the space, and make changes suitable to their needs. The authors (from polarised but privileged insider viewpoints of organiser-author and participant-author) present this through considering Pragmatics, Plasticity, and Permission and their dynamic interrelationships. These concepts develop into a new three-staged model comprising ‘Space As Is’, ‘Space As Anticipated’ and ‘Space As Used’, which describes how the interaction over time of space, its affordances and its users have the potential to expand creativity.

AB - The meaning of a space to its users is influenced by the users’ perception of that space and its potential to support – or otherwise – desired behaviours. This paper considers the case study of a three-day residential knowledge exchange event, exploring the meaning of the event’s physical environment for impact on participants’ creativity and design thinking. The event’s mixed group of academics, design professionals, and entrepreneurs were encouraged to think and respond creatively together on a thematic call (to which they responded in the application process) and were observed within the space. We examine how an unconventional workplace environment (a set of elaborately decorated Victorian hotel meeting rooms) influences a group who do not know each other beforehand, observing how participants appropriate the space, and make changes suitable to their needs. The authors (from polarised but privileged insider viewpoints of organiser-author and participant-author) present this through considering Pragmatics, Plasticity, and Permission and their dynamic interrelationships. These concepts develop into a new three-staged model comprising ‘Space As Is’, ‘Space As Anticipated’ and ‘Space As Used’, which describes how the interaction over time of space, its affordances and its users have the potential to expand creativity.

M3 - Conference contribution

SP - 28

EP - 48

BT - Proceedings of the 19th DMI: Academic Design Management Conference

A2 - Bohemia, Erik

A2 - Rieple, Alison

A2 - Liedtka, Jeanne

A2 - Cooper, Rachel

PB - Design Management Institute

ER -