Collaboration in architectural design competitions

Abstract

This study investigates design collaboration with reference to convergent and divergent idea generation processes, conceptual, spatial, temporal and technological barriers, and roles and relationships in architectural design teams entering a design competition. Study of design teams offer a unique opportunity to investigate how creativity is fostered through collaborative work. While views of creativity often relate creativity to individual originality, collaboration requires different designers to work together towards one common design idea and consider as many different ideas as possible. In collaborative design, it would be easier to offer a variety of ideas but equally difficult to establish a consensus on a single idea. To investigate the role of convergent and divergent thinking in the design process, first, 30 professional architects, who participated in competitions as a team, were interviewed via phone. Phone interviews were analyzed thematically to investigate how teams came together and how team participants overcame spatial, temporal, conceptual, and technological barriers. Convergent and divergent idea generation phases were analyzed to understand how team participants generate multiple ideas and converge on one single issue. Second, three groups of architecture students, who participated in competitions as a team, were interviewed. Interviews were analyzed thematically to investigate how teams overcame spatial, temporal, conceptual, and technological barriers. It is concluded that barriers and roles of participants in design collaboration interact with convergent and divergent concept generation. Keywords: Collaboration; Architecture Competitions; Design Process; Design Cognition