In the dynamic field of interior design education, fostering creativity among students is a central objective. Improvisation, an intricate activity built on spontaneous creativity, is seen as a way to find new, surprising, and appropriate solutions to challenges. While improvisation has been extensively studied in arts, particularly music, its application in architecture still needs to be explored. This study aims to address this literature gap by investigating improvisation as a tool to improve creativity in interior design studios. In this regard, the research problem concentrates on the limited understanding of how improvisation can be systematically integrated into architecture design education to foster creativity. The hypothesis posits that structured improvisation games will give students more creative outputs. An experiment was conducted with students in the Visionary and Future Environment course studio at Bilkent University. Participants engaged in the ‘Yes, and…’ improvisation game. Firstly, they sketched individually based on the theme ‘The window to infinity.’ Then, they passed their sketches around to group members, and each member added their idea to the initial sketch. The process lasted an hour, after which individual and collaborative sketches were assessed using the product creativity scale. The findings suggest that collaborative improvisation significantly increases creative outputs compared to individual efforts. This research implies that integrating improvisation into design curricula can create an environment for exploring, experimenting, and risk-taking, fostering innovative thinking and problem-solving skills and encouraging students to be free of traditional thinking patterns, which is essential for future design professionals.

Authors:
Mahsa Fatemi Alavi, Bilkent, Turkey
Halime Demirkan, Bilkent, Turkey

About the Presenter(s)
Mahsa Fatemi Alavi is currently a Ph.D student and teaching assistant at Bilkent University, Ankara.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahsa-fatemialavi-a0893a77/

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