Spatial ability, creativity, and studio performance in architectural design

Architectural design is a multifaceted discipline that requires many abilities, in particular creativity and spatial ability. In order to identify the relationships among spatial ability, creativity, and studio performance, an exploratory study was conducted at one Midwestern university in the USA. Twenty-one freshman architecture students participated in the study, which involved three tasks: (a) the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking that measures fluency and originality in creativity, (b) a group of general spatial ability tests, and (c) the computer-based Architectural Spatial Ability Test. Students' scores on the tasks were compared with their studio performance grades using SPSS. Results show that studio performance correlated with the ASAT but did not correlate with the TTCT or a group of general spatial ability tests. These findings indicate that a student's performing well does not necessarily mean that she or he can generate many different alternatives (fluency) or original ideas (originality) nor that the student possesses general spatial abilities. The findings show the complexity of architectural design components and reveal beginning design students' architectural abilities.