New Directions
Curating Opportunities: Invitations for Inclusive Exhibition Design
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Katrine Hesseldahl
Museums and galleries are now developing confidence in the area of inclusion. There have been significant advances in the design of cultural physical and digital spaces, which better facilitate access to the museum's physical and intellectual resources for individuals of diverse ages and abilities. However, responses have varied in consistency, efficacy, and legacy. This year-long design research project, in partnership with the Wellcome Collection and the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art, develops a working set of tools that can be used by museums for improving accessibility in an ongoing way, with a clear goal of gathering and sharing learnings between museums. This paper focuses on the new approaches to inclusive design process, using co-design methods to produce principled guidelines that include all relevant stakeholders. Establishing empathetic links between exhibition audience and exhibition-makers is used to productively combine the skills of museum professionals with the lived experience of people with disabilities. A central goal of the research is to explore how access can be framed not only as an essential foundation of exhibition design, but also as an opportunity to creatively engage and inform design, making creators of exhibitions understand design for disability as an opportunity for innovation as opposed to being a secondary and/or obligatory requirement.
Thematic Map of Accessibility : A Method for Studying Pathways in Education and Culture Centers
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nubia Bernardi
In Brazil, the last decade was marked by greater attention to architectural accessibility due to factors such as the institution of Participative Director Plans in cities and the creation of laws to support inclusion. During this same period, two public consultations were held to update the NBR 9050 standard, an important accessibility standard in currency in Brazil. In this context it is necessary to carry out studies that identify qualitative solutions that adopt the guidelines of the NBR9050, but whose architectural solutions are compatible with the principles of universal design. Noting the lack of studies on pathways with a focus on universal design, this paper discusses the elaboration and application of thematic maps, tools resulting from the application of graphical analysis of constructive elements complemented by mapping of flows based on the parameters of the Standard NBR9050 and universal design. The method was applied in a building destined to the educational and cultural divulgation in a Brazilian city. The tool helped the analysis of a built environment, but also proved being able to be used already in the design process, both in the preliminary and/or executive design stage, detailing possible interferences and correcting them before beginning construction.
Architectural Spatial Theory in Museum Design for Improved Visitor Engagement
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jillian Decker
Born from the strain between exhibition designers, educators, and curators, the challenge that the museum faces rests in the balance of conveying the overarching message of an exhibition and the consistent, observed behaviors of the visitors. Approaching the exhibition space as an architectural entity and applying spatial theory and planning to exhibitions can establish this balance. Beverly Serrell’s study, "Paying Attention: Visitors and Museum Exhibitions" (1998), on the relationship between the amount of time that visitors spend in exhibits, what aspects of the exhibit they pay attention to, and the impact of these exhibits opened the door for formal evaluation of exhibition spaces in the United States. Serrell’s study introduced measurable means for determining the success of existing exhibitions. Exhibit developers can create elements that are similar, complementary, and reinforcing, and they can encourage visitors to use exhibitions more thoroughly. People will naturally continue to behave as they have already determined they should act in a given space. This natural programming can, however, be manipulated; if the space is changed to manipulate people to act as the exhibition director desires, it is likely to naturally improve thorough use of a space and the interactions with the exhibition itself.
Changing Roles of Museum Designers: The Demand for Immersive Exhibitions
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Daria Gradusova
As our lives become more and more mediated by screens and technology, cultural institutions are rapidly turning to more immersive environments and experiences. Museum exhibition and curatorial teams are reconfiguring the roles within their own teams and are hiring new members with expertise in experience design to keep up with the demands of modern visitors. Large amounts of money are invested in the rethinking of exhibition galleries and museum outreach strategies. The term “immersive” has become widespread in relation to museums and is used for describing a fully spatialized embodied engagement with various environments from online to theatrical, making its meaning pervasive. This paper presents the results of two research projects which describe the main aspects of current immersive approaches in museum design. The studies were undertaken at the exhibition design company All Things Studio in London and at the School of Media and Communication of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne over the period of May-November 2017. Interviews with practitioners and archival research were conducted with the purpose of identifying theoretical aspects of immersion applied in practice. The findings showed that theories of immersion are not implemented in designers’ practice; however, the aspects of landscape design, choreography, game design, and UX are used to create exhibitions that are relevant to modern visitors. Moreover, we indicated that Melbourne Museum and Australian Centre for the Moving Image are restructuring their design teams with the goal to break through the established frameworks and foster experimentation in museum exhibition design.
