How do you create an innovative environment?
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Dami, an architect from Vancouver, delves into the concept of innovative environments, inspired by her architectural thesis. She explores the history of open office spaces and their impact on creativity, using the example of MIT's Building 20, a WWII-era structure known for fostering groundbreaking innovations. Dami discusses the building's unique characteristics, such as its temporary nature, multidisciplinarity, and layout, which facilitated chance encounters and knowledge exchange. She also touches on the importance of serendipity in innovation and suggests ways to incorporate these principles into modern workspaces, especially in the post-COVID era, where remote work has become prevalent.
Takeaways
- 🏢 The trend of open and flexible office spaces has been popular, but not necessarily the best solution for every office, as some firms found it distracting and counter-effective.
- 🤔 Dami's interest in innovative environments began with her architectural thesis, where she sought to understand the principles behind such spaces and if there is a specific environment for innovation.
- 🏛️ Building 20 at MIT, a temporary WWII structure, was an example of an environment that fostered innovation, despite its lack of design and poor conditions.
- 🛠️ The temporary nature of Building 20 allowed for easy modifications, enabling occupants to adapt the space to their needs without bureaucratic hurdles.
- 🔬 It housed a multidisciplinary mix of professionals, who, despite knowing little about each other's work, had deep knowledge in their own fields, leading to unexpected collaborations.
- 🎶 The story of Amar Bose illustrates how serendipity in such an environment can lead to significant inventions, like the Bose Corporation's unique speaker technology.
- 🔄 The layout of Building 20 was maze-like, forcing occupants into chance encounters that could spark innovative ideas.
- 🤝 Serendipity in innovation often occurs when people break out of their routines and interact in unusual or unfamiliar settings.
- 🌐 The horizontal layout of Building 20 facilitated more chance encounters and technical discussions compared to traditional vertical office structures.
- 🌟 Jane Jacobs' concept of 'knowledge spillovers' from chance encounters in urban settings is applicable to the innovative environment of Building 20.
- 🔄 The adaptability and multidisciplinary nature of spaces like Building 20 can inform the design of future work environments, even in a post-COVID world where remote work is more common.
- 🌐 Dami suggests that incorporating elements like multidisciplinary networking sessions could bring the principles of innovative environments into educational and professional settings.
Q & A
Who is the speaker in the video and what is their profession?
-The speaker in the video is Dami, who is an architect based in Vancouver.
What sparked Dami's interest in the topic of innovative environments?
-Dami's interest in the topic of innovative environments was sparked about four years ago when they were writing their architectural thesis.
What is the significance of open and flexible office spaces in recent years?
-Open and flexible office spaces have been significant in recent years due to their trendiness, which dissolves physical boundaries and focuses more on communal spaces, although it may not be a solution for every office.
What is the name of the building that Dami discusses as a case study for an innovative environment?
-The building Dami discusses is known as Building 20, a temporary building at MIT.
Why was Building 20 initially constructed at MIT?
-Building 20 was initially constructed at MIT to help with war efforts during World War II as a temporary extension to the radiation lab.
What were some of the physical shortcomings of Building 20?
-Building 20 had several shortcomings including being run down, leaking, having bad acoustics, poor lighting, bad ventilation, and violating the fire code.
Why did Building 20 become a hub for innovation despite its physical shortcomings?
-Building 20 became a hub for innovation due to its temporary nature, multi-disciplinary occupants, maze-like layout forcing chance encounters, and horizontal layout facilitating knowledge spillovers.
What is the story of Amar Bose related to Building 20?
-Amar Bose, an electrical engineer, procrastinated from writing his thesis and spent time in the acoustics lab, where he invented a unique wet-shaped speaker that later founded the Bose Corporation.
What is the definition of serendipity according to the video?
-Serendipity is defined as a happy accident or a pleasant surprise, but it is more complex, involving discoveries that fill a piece of the puzzle one has been working on.
How does the video relate the automobile industry's rise to the concept of serendipity?
-The video relates the rise of the automobile industry to serendipity by explaining how shipyards, which were centers of expertise in internal combustion engines, became the foundation for powering cars, showing how expertise in one area can lead to innovation in another.
What are some of the challenges in replicating the conditions of Building 20 in today's world?
-Challenges in replicating Building 20's conditions include the culture of efficiency, specialization dividing disciplines, and the difficulty of obtaining permits for modifications in buildings.
How does the video suggest adapting the principles of Building 20 to the post-COVID era?
-The video suggests adapting the principles of Building 20 by considering multi-disciplinary pollination, serendipity, chance encounters, and the adaptability of spaces in the design of online and remote work environments.
What is Dami's current role in the context of the video?
-Dami is a studio mentor for an architecture studio at Ryerson, participating in online discussions and exploring the impact of remote work on architectural education.
Outlines
🏛️ The Quest for the Innovative Environment
Dami, an architect based in Vancouver, introduces the topic of environments conducive to innovation, sparked by her architectural thesis four years prior. She discusses the trend of open and flexible office spaces, which dissolve physical boundaries and promote communal areas over hierarchical ones. However, not all firms find this layout effective, leading Dami to explore the concept of an 'innovative environment' through a case study of Building 20 at MIT. This temporary WWII structure became a 'magical incubator' for significant scientific achievements, despite its lack of design and numerous practical flaws.
🌐 The Serendipitous Maze of Building 20
The second paragraph delves into the characteristics that made Building 20 a hub for innovation. Its temporary nature allowed for easy modifications, and its multi-disciplinary occupancy fostered an environment where professionals unknowingly contributed to each other's work. The building's layout, described as a maze, inadvertently encouraged chance encounters between different departments, leading to 'knowledge spillovers' and serendipitous discoveries. Dami uses the story of Amar Bose to illustrate how such encounters can lead to groundbreaking inventions, like Bose's unique speaker design that laid the foundation for the Bose Corporation.
🤝 The Importance of Horizontal Interaction
The final paragraph emphasizes the importance of horizontal layout in fostering innovation. Dami contrasts traditional vertical office structures with Building 20's horizontal design, which facilitated chance encounters and technical discussions in its long corridors. She references Jane Jacobs' concept of 'knowledge spillovers' and the rise of the automobile industry in Detroit as examples of how interdisciplinary interaction can lead to innovation. Dami then reflects on the challenges and opportunities of adapting these principles in the post-COVID era, where much has moved online, and suggests the potential for multi-disciplinary networking sessions in educational settings.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Innovation
💡Open and Flexible Office Spaces
💡Hierarchy
💡Building 20
💡Multi-disciplinary
💡Serendipity
💡Adaptability
💡Horizontal Layout
💡Knowledge Spillovers
💡Post-COVID Era
Highlights
Dami, an architect based in Vancouver, discusses environments conducive to innovation.
Interest in the topic sparked four years ago while writing an architectural thesis.
Trend of open and flexible office spaces dissolves physical boundaries and hierarchy.
Some firms found open spaces distracting and counter-effective.
The importance of understanding principles behind innovative environments.
Case study of Building 20 at MIT, a temporary WWII structure known for innovation.
Building 20's characteristics included adaptability and multi-disciplinarity.
The building's temporary nature allowed for easy modifications.
Multi-disciplinary occupants with deep knowledge in their fields.
Serendipity in innovation, exemplified by Amar Bose's invention.
Serendipity requires breaking out of routines and encountering unfamiliar environments.
Horizontal layout of Building 20 facilitated chance encounters and discussions.
Jane Jacobs' concept of 'knowledge spillovers' from chance conversations.
The difficulty of replicating the unique conditions of Building 20.
Adapting principles of Building 20 to the post-COVID era with online interactions.
The potential of online platforms to democratize discussions and idea sharing.
Suggestion of incorporating multi-disciplinary networking sessions in educational settings.
Invitation for viewers to share thoughts on the future of innovation post-COVID.
Transcripts
hi everyone how's it going welcome back
to the channel
if you're new here my name is dami and
i'm an architect based in vancouver
so today we're going to be talking about
environments
that has historically led to innovation
[Music]
so i became really interested in this
topic about four years ago when i was
writing my architectural thesis
in the past decade or so there's been a
huge trend in
open and flexible office spaces they
dissolve
the physical boundaries like walls
and they allocate more space to the
casual
and non-programmed spaces and there's
also
a breakdown of hierarchy less focus on
the
corner office and more focus on the
communal gathering space
this wasn't the solution for every
office
some firms who've tested it found that
it was very distracting and
counter-effective
i think any time something becomes
trendy there's a tendency to replicate
the look
without actually understanding the
principle i really wanted to
try to understand this idea of the
innovative environment
and just trying to answer this question
of is there really
such a thing as a environment for
innovation
so i just want to talk about some of
these ideas through a case study
a building known as building 20.
it was a temporary building at mit
built to help the war efforts during
world war
ii it was known as a magical incubator
and it was the birthplace of some of the
greatest intellectual achievements
throughout the century
from high-speed photography to
the physics that created microwaves and
it's particularly interesting because
the building
it wasn't really designed
[Music]
it was designed by a local architect
in like one afternoon and it was put up
extremely fast building 20 was initially
built
as a temporary extension to the
radiation lab at mit it was run down
it leaked it had bad acoustics poorly
lit
badly ventilated and it violated the
the fire code which is a huge deal
it's almost impossible these days and
the exception was made
only with the understanding that it was
going to be demolished
just after the war after the war they
decided to keep the building there was
an
overflow of students and professors
right after the war
and they just they had nowhere else to
go so
they decided to keep the building and
put in
machine shops or research labs and
different types of offices so here's
some of the characteristics of the
building
number one it was temporary so the
temporary nature of the building
meant that they could build new walls or
tear them down
based on their needs without going
through the permitting process
if the science students if they needed
access to
sinks they just put in the plumbing
themselves
gerald zacharias and his team developing
the first
atomic clock they just decided to remove
two floors in the lab
to make room for their three-story metal
cylinder if you've built anything in the
city you would know
how hard it is to modify anything in a
building let alone
tear down two floors sometimes it can
take months and months to get a single
permit
and it can get really expensive so the
second characteristic
is that it was multi-disciplinary
it was occupied by a lot of different
groups
who knew very little about others work
but they had very deep knowledge about
their own work
they found a campus phone book that
showed all the different departments
that were in there
and it was the nuclear science
department
particle accelerator
department and here's the story of amber
bose
so bose was a electrical engineer
and he would procrastinate from writing
his thesis
and he would spend a lot of time in the
acoustics lab
which was basically just down the hall
by spending a lot of time there with the
help of the acoustic engineers
he invented this unique wet-shaped
speaker
that would later found the
bose corporation so all these
professionals
on their own might not have led to a
particularly
innovative environment but there was one
thing that
basically forced them to get together
and it was that the building was
practically
a maze so the rooms were very poorly
laid out
for example the rooms on the second
floor they started with numbers starting
with ones
and the rooms on the third floor they
started with twos
the different wings they were given very
a very confusing sequence like
b was given to a and where c
should be was given to b people were
constantly getting lost
and stumbling into different departments
so on their own
they might not have made these
serendipitous encounters but when they
were put into this
maze-like environment they were
constantly
forced into situations where they could
have these serendipitous
encounters and the fourth aspect of
innovation
is serendipity so history has proven
over and over again that serendipity
is an essential ingredient in innovation
so what is serendipity serendipity
has been defined as a happy accident
or a pleasant surprise but it's actually
more complex than that discoveries are
not truly serendipitous
unless it helps you fill a piece of the
puzzle that you've been pouring over
there's a little detail that i left out
in boze's story
it's been left out for some reason in a
couple articles that i've read
and it's that bose actually loved music
and
before he stumbled into the acoustics
apartment
he'd purchased a hi-fi and
he bought one with the best specs but he
was very frustrated with the sound
quality
apparently it was not very good so when
he stumbled into the acoustics lab
he had already thought of these
solutions
and he was able to connect the dots of
some of the thoughts
that he had already been forming in his
mind so
to quote stephen johnson serendipity is
built out of happy accidents
that's for sure but what makes them
happy
is the fact that the discovery that you
made
is very meaningful to you so it
completes a thought
or what he calls a hunch it links to
a possible connection that you had
overlooked
serendipity happens when we break out of
our routines
or our task-based environments and when
we put ourselves in environments that
are
unusual or unfamiliar and that can be a
bit of a problem because we live in a
culture of efficiency
where we just want the fastest route
from a to b and
this can actually limit these
opportunities we
also live in a time of specializations
we break up the different disciplines
and we divide them into different
categories where they can
rarely mingle with each other the
scientists and professors
who already had deep knowledge in their
own fields
they were forced into situations where
they could share ideas with people
with people who were studying something
completely different
and the fifth characteristic is that it
had a horizontal layout
so this might not seem very important
but if you look at a conventional office
building
or a university building you have the
different departments
on different floors and you have the
lobby
and then you have the elevator which
will lead you
to your office and so in this case the
elevator
becomes your place for serendipitous
encounters
but the problem with this is that once
you're
out of the elevator you go into the
lobby
or you go into your separate offices and
so it doesn't give you that much time
for
discussions probably just enough time
for small talk
so in building 20 because it was all
horizontally laid out
the chance encounters in these long
corridors they would lead to
technical discussions so jane jacobs who
was an urban theorist
she called these conversations knowledge
spillovers
and her favorite example was the
rise of the automobile industry in
detroit
basically in the 1920s the city was
full of shipyards built for the flower
trade
and over time these shipyards became
centers of expertise in the
internal combustion engine and
almost a century later these engines
became the
foundation for powering cars and a lot
of the pioneers from the automobile
industry they actually got started
building ships it's tricky because these
situations are not
predictable and so you can't really
prescribe them in advance
but we can keep them in mind as we
design our spaces for working
so this building was an anomaly
and it would be very difficult to
replicate some of the conditions that
created this building
but i wanted to share this case study
not as an example of something that
we should replicate but to understand
the principles behind it
like the importance of
multi-disciplinary
pollination of serendipity and
chance encounters or knowledge
spillovers
or the adaptability of these spaces
and how can we try to apply these
principles in the post
covert era where a lot of things have
moved online
for example architecture school it was
always centered around
the studio environment students worked
there with other students
all day all night so that you could
share ideas
and if someone was stuck with a problem
you could
help them try to solve it and
in turn it could give you some ideas
about your own work i'm
a studio mentor for architecture studio
at ryerson right now
and it's just very different everything
is online
we meet regularly to review their work
but we we're missing that element
of the students interacting with each
other
and i can't instantaneously sketch over
the student's work
and they can't talk to a friend or a
colleague
immediately if they have a problem but
at the same time
i think it's been a really interesting
opportunity i
was able to participate in the studio
from
across the country we had studio profs
from
france that were in the discussions
and so i feel like it's gonna
democratize the discussions
and make it open for a lot more people
so i attended the young architect summer
series
last month and we had these networking
sessions
and obviously i was extremely skeptical
in the beginning
but it actually turned out to be pretty
fun
and a very positive experience we had a
facilitator
who gave us a discussion topic and we
would be
randomly put into groups and we were
given a limited amount of time
to discuss these topics people with
different commitments or financial
barriers
can join in on the discussion even for
people who are shy
who would otherwise not openly interact
with others
they can even have a platform for
sharing so
maybe if we can move this possibly into
a classroom setting
or university setting where we could
have these like multi-disciplinary
networking sessions i think that could
also be
an interesting idea so i would love to
hear your thoughts on this topic
do you think that innovation is going to
stagnate
you think it's going to explode what do
you think is going to happen
in the postcovid world i think this is
an ongoing discussion that i want to
have on this channel
so please drop down your thoughts in the
comments below
i will respond to you if you like this
video give me a thumbs up
and if you haven't already subscribe and
i'll see you in the next video
you
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