What kind of physical spaces provide the best environments for innovation to flourish? We asked three creative companies to share their workplace innovation secrets and descibe what makes them so perfectly suited to fostering creativity.
MOTHER, LONDON
Mother is an award-winning creative agency famous for its irreverent approach to advertising. Based in Shoreditch, East London, its clients include Schweppes, IKEA, Stella Artois and Powerade.
‘All architecture is shelter, all great architecture, is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space.’
By [American architect] Philip Johnson we abide. Mother as a space is part-church, part-factory floor, part-living room. A space that has the ability to settle and unsettle in the same breath. It is a restless space that demands that one be present, as we believe that true creativity resides in the present.
Stephen Butler, Partner/Creative Director
TERREFORM ONE, NY
Terreform ONE is a non-profit design group that promotes green design in cities. It is based in Brooklyn, New York.
At Terreform ONE we need ‘messy’ spaces to create a massive outpouring of projects and models. We have a collection of materials and artifacts found throughout the city of New York that add to the environment. These seemingly random objects are essential to helping us formulate complex morphologies into tangible suppositions.
Design is seeing new qualities in everyday objects. We surround ourselves with these seemingly random items to be inspired just so. Our working studio is similar to the toymaker’s shop in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner – a physical narrative of possibilities ready to be animated.
We have a collection of materials and artifacts found throughout the city of New York that add to the environment. These seemingly random objects are essential to helping us formulate complex morphologies into tangible suppositions.
Mitchell Joachim, Co-founder
DAVISON INTERNATIONAL, PA
The Pittsburgh, PA, headquarters of development firm Davison International is known as ‘Inventionland,’ and turns out more than 2,000 new products each year.
Hidden talents and creativity overflow inside Creation Cavern. Remaining close to nature, creationeers are nestled behind a mountain of imagination and cascading waterfalls, where workstations are chiseled into cavern walls and outdoor creations spring to life, just as Mother Nature intended.
Meanwhile, inside Inventalot Castle, new ideas are brought forward at The Round Table. Much like King Arthur’s Knights, royal creators and designers from all across Inventionland gather to brainstorm and create the latest innovations for tomorrow.
George Davison, Founder/CEO
