The influencing of spatial qualities in fostering creativity: a case of Makerere University Architecture Studio spaces.

Abstract

The immense positive impact of creative problem solving and innovation on the world has interested researchers to seek ways on how creativity can be nurtured in an environment. One prominent way is through performing various creativity-centred activities from a space whose spatial qualities are suitable for the process and behaviour of creativity for research has proven that the environment we immerse ourselves in can either boost or impede creativity. This thesis investigates whether the learning spaces for students perusing architecture from the best university in the country, Makerere University Uganda, are conducive for the process of creativity, an attribute considered by scholars as a core in the field of architecture. The Makerere architecture studio spaces play a big role in developing the creative capabilities of the architects of tomorrow who are tasked with the challenge of solving the nation’s problems concerning the built environment. Data drawn from literature review disclosed the spatial qualities of an ideal creative space, which is a flexible space suited for functions necessary for the process of creativity, a process that thrives with five key behaviours of associating, experimenting, networking, questioning and observing of which are suited in specific spaces of a solitary space, a tinker space, a team space, a presentation space and a transition space respectively. Based on this data, the studio spaces were assessed using methods of participant observation and interviews where participant observation was such a great source of rich information for it was in use for a period of four years prior to the commencement of the written research which lasted four months. The findings of the data collected revealed that the studio spaces flexibly accommodated the functions of a presentation type of space but were rigid in accommodating the functions of a tinker space, solitary space and team space and yet all these in unison are the embodiment of an ideal creative space. The analysis of the data collected resulted into a conclusion that the studios were poor creative spaces whose functionality as an ideal creative space was greatly inhibited by the luck of privacy of the spaces and the inaccessibility of the studios during late hours. The impact of these issues is so great that solving the issues concerning the type of furniture, the colours of the walls, the class size and the type of lighting would be futile since the studios would still be encroached on by non-architecture students and as well as remain inaccessible to the architecture students during the late hours. xi Recommending an effective solution that would solve these two underlying issues seemed unfeasible due to the constraints of the publicity of the CEDAT building that houses the studios and other spaces for non-architecture students which left the idea of creating studio spaces with a localised place next to architectures student residences spaces away from publicity as a feasible solution just like the case of the Lassonde Studios of Utah University, USA.