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The relationship between tolerance of ambiguity and creativity in architectural design studio

    Naiera Ebrahim Mahmoud   Affiliation
    ; Shaimaa Mohamed Kamel   Affiliation
    ; Tamer Samir Hamza   Affiliation

Abstract

Creativity is a cognitive ability that enables individuals to come up with both original and functional ideas and products. As architectural design requires producing aesthetic and practically useful solutions, it is a primary concern to enhance creativity in design disciplines. Many theorists argued that design is a non-linear process and many components of design problems are not clear at the beginning. At the start of the process, designers are always working at the periphery of a solution space where there is less coherence and more ambiguity. Thus, they must deal with a lot of ambiguity in every design situation. These states of uncertainty and confusion can be annoying for architecture students. On the other hand, tolerance of ambiguity is a personality trait that has been linked to creative thinking. Therefore, this paper attempts to investigate the correlation between tolerance of ambiguity of architectural students and their creativity via a qualitative study. The researchers implemented a mixed-method approach and recruited 18 architecture students. The results from this study revealed that there is a significant correlation between students’ creative thinking abilities and their tolerance for ambiguity. Our results also indicated that there is no statistically significant correlation between students’ tolerance of ambiguity and their design creativity.

Article in English.


Santykis tarp tolerancijos dviprasmiškumui ir kūrybiškumo architektūrinio projektavimo studijoje

Santrauka

Kūrybiškumas kaip kognityvinis gebėjimas sudaro sąlygas asmenims sukurti originalių ir funkcionalių idėjų bei produktų. Kadangi architektūrinis projektavimas reikalauja priimti estetinius ir praktine prasme naudingus sprendimus, todėl pirmiausia reikia rūpintis kūrybiškumo stiprinimu su projektavimu susijusiose disciplinose. Dauguma teoretikų įrodinėja, kad projektavimas yra nelinijinis procesas, o didžioji dalis projektavimo problemų sudedamųjų dalių nuo pat pradžių sudaro neaiškumų. Prasidedant procesui, projektuotojai bet kuriuo atveju darbuojasi sprendimo erdvės paribyje, kuriame yra mažai darnumo, tačiau kur kas daugiau – dviprasmiškumo. Tad jiems tenka spręsti klausimus, susijusius su dideliu dviprasmiškumu bet kurioje projektavimo situacijoje. Šios netikrumo ir painiavos būsenos gali erzinti architektūros studentus. Kita vertus, tolerancija dviprasmiškumui – tai asmenybės bruožas, siejamas su kūrybiniu mąstymu. Todėl šiame straipsnyje siekiama išnagrinėti koreliaciją tarp architektūros studentų tolerancijos dviprasmiškumui ir jų kūrybiškumo, atliekant kokybinį tyrimą. Tyrėjai taikė mišrų metodą, o jų tyrimo objektu tapo 18 architektūros studentų. Šio tyrimo rezultatai atskleidė, kad yra reikšminga koreliacija tarp studentų kūrybinio mąstymo gebėjimų ir jų tolerancijos dviprasmiškumui. Rezultatai, kuriuos gavome, taip pat parodė, kad nėra statistiškai reikšmingos koreliacijos tarp studentų tolerancijos dviprasmiškumui ir to, ar jų atliekamas projektavimas yra kūrybiškas.

Reikšminiai žodžiai: architektūros studentai, kūrybiškumas, projektavimo problemos, projektavimo procesas, tolerancija dviprasmiškumui.

Keyword : architecture students, creativity, design problems, design process, tolerance of ambiguity

How to Cite
Mahmoud, N. E., Kamel, S. M., & Hamza, T. S. (2020). The relationship between tolerance of ambiguity and creativity in architectural design studio. Creativity Studies, 13(1), 179-198. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2020.9628
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Mar 23, 2020
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