Contemporary Approaches in Museum Space Design (original) (raw)
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Toward a new vision to design a museum in historical places
HBRC Journal, 2016
Some movements within modern architecture particularly emphasize the importance of matching buildings to their surroundings. However, practicing such ''contextual architecture" is highly challenging and typically not something the future inhabitants of a building are well equipped for participating in. This paper attempts to be a new vision to design an important building in such sensitive places, for example, designing a museum in a historical context. The methodology of the study is a qualitative method based on a theoretical foundation. It sheds light on the concepts and definition of museums and contextualism, and answers the main question proposed in this paper: ''How can we design a huge and important building such as a museum in historical context while respecting its importance and at the same time avoiding the deterioration of this historical place?" And based on answering the sub following questions too: What is the museum concept? What are the activities and functions of this prototype? What is the museum form and morphology? What are the types of contextual design? What are the strategies of contextual design? This part ends with electing some criteria that will be used as basis for the practical part. And thus it can be concluded the ideal strategy for designing a museum in historical context. Discussion of the findings is expected to enrich the talk in that domain.
Designing Museums in the 21st Century. A Matter of Responsibility
G. Guerzoni, Designing Museums in the 21st Century. A Matter of Responsibility, in Guerzoni G., ed., Museums on the Map 1995-2012, Allemandi, Turin – London, 2014, pp. 15-85., 2014
This chapter is the pivotal essay of the book “Museums on the map 1995-2102”, which presents the results of 4 years of research, with a survey that analyzes the so-called “museum boom" of the last two decades. It takes 652 new museums and museum extensions completed between 1995 and 2012, as case studies, exploring the “museomania" phenomenon from a statistical point of view. And the results yielded by the survey are certainly telling: dimensions, costs, investments, designers, time of construction, typologies, are deeply investigated.
The Eye of the Beholder Museology, Museums and Contemporary Presentation
2010
Too many museums are floundering under decreasing attendance and increasing commercialization. One very important way to address these ills is to reconsider museum presentation, specifically exhibitions and the visitor experience therein. Central to this reworking of museum presentation is the acceptance of the primacy of the visitor and her community: museums mount exhibitions to educate and entertain the visitor, to enrich and enlarge the person, even to change society. To fire the imagination and stimulate social change, museums must reconsider the nature of the architecture of their galleries; they must engage much more fully with their communities; they must transform the content of their exhibitions; they must rethink exhibition design and they must pay attention to learning systems. If these demanding modifications are made, I believe museums will become much more relevant and pleasurable. _________________________________________________________________ What do museum visitors want and how can museums give it to them? i What are museums for? What is the museum"s role in society? The rather ugly term edutainment has been coined to describe a blend of education and entertainment that many museums around the world serve up to their loyal visitors. The term underlines the dual nature of much museum presentation, a somewhat schizophrenic mixture of informal education and attempted fun. But how is each done and is it successful? This paper will argue that museums have great potential to educate their visitors in a relaxed social setting, but to do so a number of changes must be made, including establishing a new link with community, developing a greater understanding of what are important issues, concentrating on collaboration and undertaking a serious study of learning systems. We are all too familiar with museums where there seems to be more staff than visitors, where the halls echo with the isolated footsteps of quiet patrons peering into dark cases exhibiting the permanent collection. With the exception of the very major international museums, small attendance seems to be all too common. Many museums only come alive when the blockbuster arrives in town, that highly commercial, touring show accompanied by merchandise for sale in the museum shop, merchandise which some visitors consider as important and as interesting as the artifacts in the galleries. Add this to the glitzy opening and the fancy restaurant, and we see the commercialization of museums in full swing where it can seem that substance is outweighed by style. There is a trap here: the sad reality is that often the blockbuster and the commercialism are needed to fund all the other programming.
Interactive Design in Museum Spaces
The Journal of Social Sciences
Museums have a strong importance even in today's digital world. In addition to being a reliable source of information in designated areas, they provide positive learning effects on children and adults with the experiences gained. The correct orientation and exhibitions applied in the interior arrangements of museums also support this positive learning. The colors and lighting used should also be of a quality that will highlight the exhibits. At the same time, the application of interaction in today's modern museums is in the direction of making them more memorable. For this reason, a literature study on museums and exhibition elements was conducted within the scope of the study. Three modern museum applications in which the use of historical space and modern design elements are seen together are analyzed. Descriptive research method was used in the article and on-site documentation was conducted. As a result, in the experiences gained as a result, the interactions in which the game is more involved have a positive effect on remembering and learning. It is concluded that the use of classical and digital interaction methods in modern museology should be encouraged in museums.
Reshaping Museum Spaces - Architecture, Design, Exhibitions
Reshaping Museum Spaces: Architecture, Design, Exhibitions is a book edited by Suzanne MacLeod, emerged out of a conference held at the University of Leicester in April 2004. The book is composed of seventeen chapters, written by different authors, which are divided in four sections that would like to lead to one idea: how come museums had such a radical reshaping in the recent years. Each author explains, with some examples, his own opinion about what are the most evident reasons of these changes, both on the architectural (inside and outside), social and cultural aspects. The authors keep questioning what kind of types the new museum spaces are required, and highlighting a range of possibilities for creative museum design. The authors reflect about the complexity, significance and malleability of museum space, which is always open to change. In the recent years, while museums became consciously «recognized as drivers for social and economic regeneration, the architecture of the museum has developed from its traditional forms into often-spectacular one-off statements and architectural visions». Unfortunately, the most highlighted example of this phenomenon, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao designed by Frank O. Gehry, that succeededto transform a provincial city in Spain into a touristic destination, isn’t explained enough but only mentioned as the «Bilbao Effect» (known as the power of iconic architecture to place a city on the cultural map). Also other iconic museum architectures such as Berlin’s Jewish Museum or Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati are absent. In parallel, Suzanne MacLeod and the other authors try to analyze the reciprocal relationship between construed and curated space, or in other words, between museum building, exhibition and exposed objects. The difference of approaches about the book’s topics result as a mix of descriptions; in certain cases the description is structured by the author’s opinion on a specific topic (architecture or exhibition) lead by some examples. In other cases the authors choose to give only a detailed description of one/two museums and their exhibition, in order to touch both arguments (architecture and exhibition) which results more complicated to understand. I think that an interesting result of this book stays on the comparison between the different opinions on the same topics, and in this way I try to compose this summary. I followed the book four sections, trying, from one hand, to bring all author’s viewpoints, and from the other hand to have a logical connection between the different parts, considering also my own position and adding some comments from other books.
Design Approaches to Museum Open Spaces with User Evaluations
Iconarp international journal architecture and planning, 2023
The concept of the museum today should be considered as a social communication platform, and museums should be designed by taking into account the interaction and harmony of their open and closed spaces with the immediate surroundings. This study emphasizes the importance of museums for the city and discusses design approaches to museum open spaces with examples of their effective use and an evaluation of the opinions of their users. In order to shed light on today's museum exterior design approaches, evaluations of the design setup of the museum open spaces were carried out on the basis of literature research and spatial experiences of the museum examples visited. In addition, using the content analysis method, by creating statements about usage, satisfaction level, and expectations, a questionnaire was planned and designed to be applied to a volunteer user group. According to the examples given and the survey data, museum open space designs were carried out. Four groups of factors-planning and design, social, functional and perceptual-having the greatest impact on visitor satisfaction were identified. The examples given include a discussion of museum open space facilities, along with commentary from the literature. For the evaluation of the users, a survey was conducted with 74 people. The survey asked about their satisfaction levels and their expectations in terms of museums and open spaces. Since there was not chance to conduct face to face survey in pandemic conditions, the study was conducted that questioned the general qualifications. In addition to reaching the users visiting the museum were limited. When we look at the literature, multi-dimensional research has been carried out on museum architecture and design. However, no comprehensive study has been carried out on museum open spaces. Consequently, this study focused on the interaction between museum open spaces and visitors.
Proceedings Article, 2020
Museums are institutions that carry on the cultural and artistic treasures of societies to future generations. Economic social, cultural and philosophical thoughts in the world have changed the understanding of museology. At the beginning of the 20th century, modern architects brought new expansions to classical museum typology. In the 1970s, museums began to draw attention as the city's landmark and meeting points. Along with the museums, courtyards, squares and gardens, which are open spaces of museums, have also changed. By joining the city life, they became new social attraction centers. Museums and museum open space from Turkey and the world in the study areas, classified under the headings of traditional and contemporary, will be analyzed under the headings of form, style, material, elements of boundry, planting design, activities area, urban furniture, and function. In order to demonstrate the changing today’s museum’s open space; an analysis will be made using spatial ex...
Interactive Spaces in Art Museums: A Landscape of Exhibition Strategies
Solsko Polje Journal, 2015
The changing relationship between museums and their audience has required a transformation in the museum spaces. Interactive exhibition spaces have boosted this transformation in many museums. Today, there is a growing interest for interactive spaces in museums. Especially art museums has been establishing interactive spaces in many countries. Interactive spaces is one of the most important environments that could transform the experiences of visitors. This study contributes to a better understanding of the interactive spaces practices in art museums. The aim of this study is to gather descriptive data about the exhibition design strategies of art museums’ interactive spaces regarding installation, display and interpretation of art objects for target audiences related to the physical context. The sample of the survey is American and European Art Museums. A questionnaire distributed to the 250 museums from Unites States and 200 museums from Europe. A total of fifty art museums participated in the study. At the end of the our study, the results regarding interactive spaces are determined as follows; Interactive spaces mostly target families and children; they are designed to address the educational interests and needs of target audiences, and interactive spaces use interaction techniques to enhance experience of visitors and to convey information about art objects. Keywords: Interactivity in Museum, Art Museums, Interactive Spaces, Exhibition Strategies, Art Object, Interactive Learning.
Investigating the Evolution of the Role and Architecture of the Museums
2018
The architecture of the museum is the most exciting space for an architecture to discover and investigate. Undoubtedly, those museums that have been largely supported by people have come to be cultural memorabilia, moreover holding competitions in museums, producing new publications for theoretical or intellectual debates, and new designs lead the museums to be the most effective and attractive place for work and study. The importance of museums as centers of knowledge, science and art has increased over the last century. Museums have moved from being a place specific to the first-class of the community, to a place used by the whole community widely. By considering these reasons, the value and importance of museums in today's society is imperative. Finding common features for museum architecture in the decades after 1990s has become more difficult than previous decades. The purpose of this article is to examine the effect of museums and their position in society on architectural...
MUSEUMS IN THE LIFE OF THE PUBLIC
The present paper aims to emphasize how, in the latest years, more and more events and museum practices focus on the identification of new ways of engaging more individuals into the museum life, even exploring the possibility to extend and adapt the museum activities in the life of communities, according to the actual realities. In this regard we selected a number of relevant institutions in the field (museums, cultural forums etc.) and analyzed their innovative museum practices regarding the visitors and their engagement into the life of the museum. The results revealed that to attract more visitors and to increase public engagement, a museum must to be as a living entity who adapts its needs to the present cultural, economic, social, educational and technological context.