Lesson 2 Creativity Is Key
The Potential of Unconventional Thinking
As we go through life, we may become stuck in a routine, missing out on ____ ideas or solutions.
In such a situation, we ____ try considering things from a different angle.
By doing so, we can expand our understanding of the world, challenge our ____ and find creative solutions to problems.
Let’s look at two stories ____ demonstrate the power of thinking differently.
Who Makes the ____
Walter Gropius was a well-known architect, widely regarded as ____ of the pioneers of modernist architecture.
However, even this expert architect was once troubled ____ designing an amusement park.
He finished most of the main ____ except for the pathways between the attractions.
Gropius wanted to find the best ____ for the pathways but could not come up with anything that satisfied him.
One day, Gropius took a trip ____ France.
The place he went ____ was famous for its vineyards.
Farmers were selling grapes along the road ____ each vineyard.
Then, one far ahead caught his eye because there was no one selling grapes but only a box by the side of ____ road.
It turned out that the ____ couple who owned the vineyard were in poor health and could not pick the grapes themselves.
Instead, they let ____ pick as many grapes as they wanted as long as they put five francs in the box.
The couple not only prevented their grapes from becoming too ripe by permitting grape picking, but ____ also provided an enjoyable experience for their customers.
Astonished ____ the elderly couple’s idea of allowing customers to freely pick grapes, Gropius thought it would be good to extend this idea to the amusement park design and allow visitors to create their own paths.
Upon returning to ____ project, he instructed the construction team to plant grass in areas where he wanted to create the pathways.
When the grass ____ to grow, he opened the amusement park earlier than planned.
In places where people repeatedly walked, small footpaths ____ to form on the grass.
The shapes of the paths were ____ unified, with some wide and some narrow, because they were formed naturally by visitors.
The following year, Gropius used the grass pathways ____ an outline on which he built permanent pathways, resulting in the most convenient and efficient routes.
This pathway design was later chosen as the best road design at the 1971 International Landscape Architecture ____ in London.
It was contrary to common ____ to allow people to walk on newly sprouted grass because it could damage the grass.
Moreover, it was unprecedented ____ an architect to let people do the designing.
Nonetheless, Gropius gained insight into ____ ideal pathways by thinking outside the box.
Why Are There Mirrors in Elevators?
____ you ever wondered why there are mirrors in elevators?
The world’s first successful passenger elevator was installed in ____ five-story building in New York in 1857.
This prominent development brought excitement to the field of architecture by making it possible to build much taller buildings than ____ before.
Nevertheless, passengers were highly ____ regardless of how practical it was.
Employees of the elevator company conducted ____ customer survey in order to find out why the passengers were so unhappy.
The results ____ the questionnaire showed that it was the elevator’s slow speed that was causing dissatisfaction.
The trip from one ____ to the next took nearly fifteen seconds.
The employees ____ discovered that passengers thought the elevator was much slower than it actually was because passengers had nothing to do.
During the slow ride, some ____ complained and said they felt trapped.
Even though the employees identified speed as the main source of dissatisfaction, it was not ____ that could be improved immediately due to technological limitations.
Then, one day, one employee of the elevator company began to look at the problem ____ a different perspective.
She thought about it from a ____ point of view.
____ thought that what mattered was not speed but discomfort and boredom.
She asked herself what ____ be done in this case.
After many days of searching for a solution, she proposed installing a mirror inside ____ elevator.
She believed that it could make the elevator appear ____ reducing the feeling of being trapped.
Also, she believed that ____ could relieve boredom by looking in the mirror.
On a survey done after the mirror was installed, passengers commented ____ how much faster the new elevator was, even though the speed was exactly the same.
Passengers stopped paying ____ to the speed of the elevator because they were looking in the mirror.
If the employee had thought only of ways to increase the speed of the elevator to resolve the problem, it might not ____ been possible to find a solution.
However, by viewing the problem from a different perspective, the employee found the solution by speeding up the customers’ perception of ____
In solving problems that are new to us, it is quite easy to get stuck in ____ particular point of view.
However, even a simple shift in ____ can result in a creative solution.
So, ____ next time you face a problem, try thinking about it from a different angle.