Office Curves and Creativity

As you know, every month we share Short Reports from recently discussed academic journals which you might like to delve into or drop into conversations on your next zoom meet!

We love curves here at The Space Doctors, and it’s not unfounded. There is a lot of research backing up what we say. For instance you might be interested to know that recent research published by Wu, Lu, Yan, Chu, Wu, and Yang, link curvilinear design elements in offices and creativity.

The group reports that “The results of a survey with makers in 15 makerspaces and two experiments indicated that a rounded physical work environment (Rounded-PWE) was more likely to enhance divergent creativity than an angular physical work environment (Angular-PWE), while an Angular-PWE was more likely to enhance convergent creativity than a Rounded-PWE.”

Important definitions include :

“A rounded physical work environment (Rounded-PWE) indicates that the corners of objects, including shapes, abstract objects, furniture, and design elements, in the environment have been blunted and are not sharp, but curved.

Conversely, an angular physical work environment (Angular-PWE) indicates that all objects have angles or sharp corners.”

In the curved test condition, for example, a round white table was included and in the more angular one a square white table took its place. Also, “Divergent creativity can be defined as the ability to generate as many ideas and responses to a problem as possible. . . . convergent creativity can be defined as the ability to integrate and synthesize various concepts. . . . it plays an important role in idea implementation.”

Yueyan Wu, Chingyu Lu, Jianhui Yan, Xiao Chu, Meijiao Wu, and Zhi Yang.  “Rounded or Angular?  How the Physical Work Environment in Makerspaces Influences Makers’ Creativity.” Journal of Environmental Psychology, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101546