Spaces to encourage creativity

Abstract

The creativity of people, working alone or in groups, contributes to the future success of an organisation. Creativity, for the purposes of this chapter, has been defined as developing and using original/imaginative ideas leading to innovation. As the material in the pages that follow indicates, workplace design can facilitate and influence how people think creatively. But, of course, design alone does not enable people to think creatively, especially about topics with which they are not familiar. Over generations, people have been creative in a wide range of spaces. These areas, whether artists’ ateliers or chemistry labs or copywriter’s workrooms, have provided the sort of relaxed but cognitively activated mindset that can support creative ideation. Design can make creative thinking more likely via surface colours, lighting, materials, soundscapes, scent profiles, furnishings, opportunities to influence the environment and architectural features.