Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration

"If you are determined to encourage creativity and provide a collaborative environment that will bring out the best in people, you will want this book by your side at all times." —Bill Moggridge, Director of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum "Make Space is an articulate account about the importance of space; how we think about it, build it and thrive in it." —James P. Hackett, President and CEO, Steelcase An inspiring guidebook filled with ways to alter space to fuel creative work and foster collaboration. Based on the work at the Stanford University d.school and its Environments Collaborative Initiative, Make Space is a tool that shows how space can be intentionally manipulated to ignite creativity. Appropriate for designers charged with creating new spaces or anyone interested in revamping an existing space, this guide offers novel and non-obvious strategies for changing surroundings specifically to enhance the ways in which teams and individuals communicate, work, play--and innovate. Inside are: Tools--tips on how to build everything from furniture, to wall treatments, and rigging Situations--scenarios, and layouts for sparking creative activities Insights--bite-sized lessons designed to shortcut your learning curve Space Studies--candid stories with lessons on creating spaces for making, learning, imagining, and connecting Design Template--a framework for understanding, planning, and building collaborative environments Make Space is a new and dynamic resource for activating creativity, communication and innovation across institutions, corporations, teams, and schools alike. Filled with tips and instructions that can be approached from a wide variety of angles, Make Space is a ready resource for empowering anyone to take control of an environment.

Table of Contents:
Foreword David Kelley Preface George Kembel The Environments Collaborative 1. Instructions 2. Tools 3. Situations 4. Insights 5. Design Template 6. Space Studies Index

About the Author :
Scott Witthoft's professional work as an engineer and a designer has focused on understanding and manipulating interactions among systems. This has covered a spectrum including forensic structural engineering, furniture design, and curriculum design. Scott is an amateur musician with a love of stringed instruments. As a Lecturer at Stanford University, he teaches classes in human-centered design and storytelling and visual communication. Scott has degrees in civil engineering from Washington University in St. Louis (BS, '99) and The University of Texas at Austin (MS, '00), and product design from Stanford University (MSE '08). Scott Doorley's work focuses on how physical context and digital media can benefit human experience. His installations with the Dacha Art Collective have been exhibited in the San Jose Museum of Art and the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts San Francisco. Currently he is the Creative Director at the Stanford d.school, where he teaches classes in subjects at the intersection of design and media arts: storytelling and visual communication, improv, and digital media. Scott has degrees in film from the University of California, Los Angeles (BA '96) and learning, design, and technology from Stanford University (MA '06).

Review :
“If you are determined to encourage creativity and provide a collaborative environment that will bring out the best in people, you will want this book by your side at all times. You can browse it for tools to enhance teamwork, configurations to enable activities, insights about communal behaviors, design templates and first person stories. The way we design our spaces can help us or hinder us, inspire new ideas or stifle them, make it easier to work together or set us apart. Discover here how to improve team dynamics by altering your physical environment.” — Bill Moggridge, Director of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum