Thinking spaces

Do you need thinking space? What kind of space best encourages you to think creatively?

Recently I spent a week working in Singapore with the Lifelong Learning Institute. My base was iNLAB - a purpose built unit designed specifically to promote ideation - creative thinking and innovation. The image on this page is the communal area where students and staff can take breaks.

The LLI team members were writing some new research proposals and were allocated a room with large dry-wipe white boards on three walls. As I was working in this space with 5 other members of the team, I realised how useful it was to have these writing spaces to map out our ideas and plans.

Using the whiteboard surfaces for free thinking such as sketching out ideas energised the whole team. We could discuss, modify, edit and erase quickly and spread our ideas around the room.  Whiteboard rooms are a simple yet surprisingly effective method to encourage and support creativity, agile thinking and collaborative working. I have seen similar spaces in the UK and Australia, and I'm sure other organisations do it too.

This leads to several questions: How important is the design and resourcing of spaces? What spaces do you find the most conducive for thinking? What about creative thinking spaces? What about spaces for problem solving? In the digital realm, how effective are shared spaces such as wikis and forums for promoting creative thinking? How could they be designed better? How can blogs be used to encourage create thinking in education? As ever, your comments and advice are very welcome.

Photo courtesy of LLI Singapore


Thinking space by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.