An unknown episode in the annals of modern architecture and psychology—a
1950s University of California, Berkeley, evaluation of creativity with
subjects including Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Philip Johnson, and 37
other major architects—is published for the first time.
The story
of midcentury architecture in America is dominated by outsized
figures—Richard Neutra, George Nelson, Louis Kahn—who were universally
acknowledged as creative geniuses. Yet virtually unheard of is the
intensive 1958–59 study, conducted at the Institute of Personality
Assessment and Research at the University of California, Berkeley, that
scrutinized these and dozens of other famous architects in an effort to
map their minds. Deploying an array of tests reflecting current
psychological theories, the investigation sought to answer questions
that still apply to creative practice today: What makes a person
creative? What are the biographical conditions and personality traits
necessary to actualize that potential?
The study’s findings have
been gathered through numerous original sources, including
questionnaires, aptitude tests, and interview transcripts, revealing how
these great architects evaluated their own creativity and that of their
peers. In The Creative Architect, Pierluigi Serraino charts the
development, implementation, and findings of this historic study,
producing the first look at a fascinating and forgotten moment in
architecture, psychology, and American history.
