Creativity -what is it? I recently attended seminars at the 72nd Annual Texas Society of Architects convention. There were plenty of technical and business seminars, but for me, the most inspiring seminars feature great architecture.
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Architects always amaze me. They are generally broad thinkers that have to solve highly technical problems with visually beautiful solutions. Granted some solutions fall way short of the “beautiful” mark and sometimes the technical side may slip (Frank Lloyd Wright was said to have designed some pretty leaky houses). I enjoy listening as architects describe the thought process that they went through to arrive at the end product. Some descriptions are poetic, metaphorical, pragmatic or just whimsical – even funny. So what is this gene that allows architects to solve problems in such a distinctive way? Sometimes the solutions that look the simplest are actually the most difficult. Paring design elements down to their essence takes a skilled eye and facile mind.
I believe that bringing creativity to a solution or job makes everyone in any profession more successful. I remember going to a renaissance fair in Arizona and watching the guy in the parking lot direct traffic. It was hot, well over 100 degrees, but he would wave his flag dramatically and dance as he guided you into your parking space. Talk about making lemonade out of lemons! The creative approach (not to mention positive attitude) that he brought to a mundane job made it bearable for him and most certainly entertaining for us.
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Architects are always finding ways to take advantage of the creative energy that seems to pour out of them. An architect in our office, Scott, recently brought in the Halloween costume he had made. He and his wife were a “Day of the Dead” bride and groom and Scott had created paper mache’ large heads and painted them with glow in the dark paint. I’m pretty sure that the long and grueling architectural training that we all endured forces us to think that we have to come up with highly creative, sometimes difficult to build, solutions to almost any challenge that they choose to tackle. When my daughter was young, my birthday cakes and Christmas cookies were insane! Never mind that I was a single mother working full time and doing a little moon lighting to keep her in new sneakers … my cookies had to make a statement and inspire awe among the PTA group. Buy a tray of cookies at Sams and go to bed at a decent hour?? No way – not for me. I suppose staying up all night in the architecture lab trains you well for such situations.
I admire architects, but what I really admire is creativity in any form. My father was a structural engineer and my mother was an artist, but my father’s creative approach to engineering was certainly equal to my mother’s creative approach to her painting. As a result, he was always very popular with architects because no matter how hair brained an idea was that an architect presented, he would put his creative mind to work on solving the structural issues. It is all about thinking outside the box-trying something different-something new. Sometimes just looking at the problem upside down and backwards to see what you come up with-whatever that problem is, is the best place to start.
