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