“A Comparative Exploration of the Phenomenological Conception of Creative Imagination and Its Role in the Digital and Non-Digital Architectural Design Processes”

Imagination and its relation to creativity are among the most important issues related to the design category in various areas of architectural inquiry such as architectural design, whose function and role have changed in recent decades due to use and application of computers in the architectural design processes. Given all the changes occurred in the meaning and concept of architecture, by the interaction of designers and architects with computers, now the question arises that how the role and function of the creative imagination have changed in digital architectural design processes, compared to its role in non-digital design processes? The purpose of this research is to explore the concept of creative imagination from the point of view of the phenomenological philosophers, especially Jean-Paul Sartre, as well as to compare the differences between the role of creative imagination and its role in the digital and non-digital architectural design processes. This article first explores the concept of the imagination from the perspective of Sartrechr('39')s phenomenology, and analyzes different kinds of imagination related to its design and function in the design process, and after introducing the effective aspects of the digital architecture design on the process of architectural creativity, it examines the role of creative imagination in digital architectural design process. In the last segment of the article and by way of conclusion, the authors compare creative imagination in the digital and non-digital architectural design in order to present a comparison diagram of the creative imagination in both processes, which shows that due to the presence of computers in architectural designs in architectural designs, as an architectchr('39')s colleague, in comparison to design processes carried out without using computers, not only weaken the role of the designerchr('39')s creative imagination, but also computers can push the boundaries of humanchr('39')s imagination beyond the realm of his/her experienced senses, by covering the weaknesses and limitations of human mind.