Failure stress as a motivator for creative construction management

A building assignment is a complex task that demands collaborative working in order to achieve added value for users and society through creative construction management. Modular building systems are used in workshops in the building environment domain to make students aware of various phenomena that occur in the process of creative construction. Existing modular building systems used in training do not include the experience of failure as a motivator for creative construction. This article validates an innovative set of modular building materials (Handstorm®) that has a high innate risk of construction failure, as a tool in using failure as a motivator in creative construction. It reports on the effect of both innate failures – such as instability or collapsing – and emotional failures, such as the success of a competitor or losing a competition. The results indicate that the presence of failure stress is a valid motivator in teaching creative construction management.