ITU A|Z
VOL: 4 NO: 2, 38-51 2007-2
Istanbul Technical University Faculty of Architecture Istanbul TURKEY
Received: July 2007 Final Acceptance: July 2008
Abstract:
This
paper introduces a new approach to creativity in design education based on
puzzle solving activity in a world where ambiguity and change is essential with
the innovations of 21st century. Design as puzzle solving activity makes it
possible to generate new ideas, to think something different, to be able to
integrate knowledge and imagination which gives rise to generation of form –
creative thinking. Accordingly puzzle solving activity can be considered as
choreography emerged in dialectics of multiplicity which leads us mythical stage
between the real and virtual, between the possibilities and limitations creating
shifting balances. In this paper we come up with a broader network relationship
for understanding creativity which cannot be taught, but learned through the
notion of narrative referring to Visual Design Course’s (VDC) intellectual
atmosphere created by discussions on narrative workouts. VDC is structured
according to the design practices based on narratives in order to help students
to constitute a flexible thinking and also to develop more unified mind by which
both open the doors for creativity. The theme of the each workout designed as a
narrative reveals a puzzle solving activity which involves thinking something
different, imagining unrelated structures of consciousness, questioning
assumptions, and discovering connections among various phenomena.