Creativity

As said before, the precondition of creativity is imagination. When imagination turns into a unique reality, creativity is born. Thus in artistic creativity there are two stages of imagination: imitative imagination and creative imagination.

An imagination, which is the product of processing the information in the memory, in its preliminary form, is the reproduction of mental images and events in a new form. At this stage, the imagination is still dependent on its sources of information and has an imitative character. For this matter we refer to the project of the Academy of Iran designed by Mirmiran(2). In the first page of the project we see a sketch showing a platform on which two structures, resembling the Sassanid fire temple, one arch similar to the Arch of Kasra, and a square yard with two rows of stairs in the Persepolis style, lie along each other. This shows the first stage towards creativity, and because of that, the elements of the project are familiar and resemble the elements existing in the history of architecture.

Creative imagination happens when, with the help of intuitive recognition and deduction of the previous experiences, a basically new and reorganized version of reality is created. In this stage the rules of the project itself, and not the initial imitative models, come into focus. In the example of the project for the Academy, the imitated elements change gradually in the process of design to become new elements, which are an inseparable feature of Mirmirn’s work(3). General styles of architecture become specific. In the stage of creative imagination the imitated elements and shapes are continuously analyzed and elaborated until they turn into concentrated abstract ideas. In the process of design, these ideas are once more elaborated and reconstructed to meet the specific requirements and needs of the project.

In the project of the cultural center of Ekbatan,(4) carried out by Shirdel and partners, with the collaboration of the author, one problem was the dual character of the elevation. Because of the location of the land, in conjunction of the two phases of development of the Ekbatan complex, the main elevation of the building looks northward to the Tehran-Karaj highway. And the second one gives on the access road from the west. As we wanted to have a public space, like a covered terrace, of seven or eight meters high, looking towards the mountains of the north, the idea of “two terraces” came to us. In the Iranian culture there exists two types of terrace (ivans), which differ in function and spatial specification: one is a terrace as a passing space (like mosques entrance), the other is a terrace as a gathering and pause space (Isfahan’s Hasht Behesht or Alighapoo). In the west elevation the terrace functions as a passing space, whereas the northern terrace is a place of gathering and belvedere. In this design, the formal relation with the traditional terrace is absent. The idea of terrace was analyzed until it became an abstract spatial concept. The specific problems, stemming from the project itself, dictated a new interpretation of the traditional elements.

Tradition, which is very important in architecture, can be presented in three fashions:

A. “Conservation” or reproduction of what exists. This is merely a consumption of history bringing about no progress.

B. Tradition as “transposing”. It means adapting historical typologies and models to the present needs and requirements. (e.g. the Rafsanjan Museum, designed by Mirmiran(5) and inspired by the form of traditional glaciers.)

C.Tradition as "transformation": in this approach the aim is to begin with history but only to add new values to it. This concept, which is the nearest to the concept of creativity, the consumptionist approach towards history is transformed into a productive relationship, giving history the opportunity to play its role: historicize the achievements of the past.

In daily life, for practical reasons, there has been a classification of professions like industrial design, architecture, and urban planning. Each of these disciplines has its own techniques and rules. The brain, which creates, has no such classification. Thus creativity in architecture is not different from creativity in other arts. Although creative activity is in contrast with repetition and imitation, yet considering its conditions, it is classifiable into following conditions:

As we have said there is no creativity, which comes from nowhere. Creativity is always a part of history and has a relation to what already exists. Adaptation from nature or other artistic activities, such as crafts and industrial design, or sculpture is common in the creative activity. The works of Frank Gehri(6) are similar in aesthetics to the paintings of Picasso(7) and Braque.

Nature has always been a source of inspiration for the architects. Santiago Calatrava is one of the architects who has repeatedly used natural and organic forms in his architecture. The TGV train station in Lyon(8),(9) resembles the anatomy of an insect.

There has always been a close relation between architecture and industrial design. Today architecture is no longer separable from DESIGN and great architects like Norman Foster and Phillip Stark, work in a parallel fashion in architecture and industrial design. See the clock pictures in this article by Karim Rashid compared Gate house by Phillip Johnson(11).

Each object belongs to its specific context. Taking an object or form from its context and putting it in another context can, in itself, be an innovation. A good example of this is the advertising work of the Design Company named Fontana Arte(12). An advertisement is composed of three parts. 1- a few pict ures of the products of this company; 2- at the top a statement from Schop enhauer "form is not immovable"; 3- a big table in the middle of the page with 4 big wheels instead of legs.

Apparently here no innovation has taken place, because the advertisement is composed of ideas belonging to other authors, not that of the advertiser. In fact the juxtaposition of these three concepts, each of which having its own author and value, side by side, transforms the advertisement into an outstanding work. By seeing this advertisement, the mind establishes a new relationship between what Schopenhauer said, and the rotating table in the picture. The metaphor between static and and dynamic is read in two fashion: one the apparent aspect and the other, the more deeper aspect, that is the deep meaning of dynamism and vangrards in the designs of Fontana Arte products.

In architecture, as in literature, a new and innovative work can take the form of reelaboration an old subject. In sculpture one can compare the works by Tatlin(15) and Echo(16). Although reelaboration is a structural process, but the more unsystematic the more interesting it becomes. Even creative artists, such as Le Corbusier and Alvar Alto take benefit of this method. Here Le Corbusier’s sketches of the historic Bath of Adriana(19), his preliminary sketches of Chandigar Justice Building(20), and the built project(21) are compared with each other. Also are compared Alvar Alto’s sketches for the Delphi Amphitheater(22) and the Ottaniemi Polytechnic building(23). In the preliminary sketches of the Storey Hall in Melbourne, by Mc Dougall,(24) we see a simplified concept of an Iranian terrace, but in the final design,(25) we are in front of a new form completely different from the preliminary sketches in which the spatial concept and the geometry and bright colors of the enterence reminds us of the primary concepts. Another important point in this project is that, similar to many cases in the Iranian architecture, like the Mosque of Sheikh Lolfallh, the enterence ivan forms the elevation and there is no distinction between the enterence and the elevation.

Elaboration of an existing theme, as we see, is always accompanied by a change in meaning and concept. This interpretation has a structural nature. In the elaboration, being faithful to the exact form is not important, but in order to avoid imitation, it is recommended to use only parts of the original form.

In this article three important conditions of creativity were described. Certainly there are other conditions which are either less important or can be incorporated in the above-mentioned conditions. In our next article we describe the practical techniques leading to the development of creative ideas.