Twelfth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, founded in 1933, is an iconic institution for the local community that in turn serves as the museum’s source of nearly 500 volunteers. The “Bloch Building”, a new contemporary museum wing designed by architect Steven Holl opened to the public in 2007. It went on to receive awards for its design and was labeled a success by diverse audiences, however, little is known about how this addition influenced volunteers’ perceptions and experiences of both front-stage and back-stage work. This study employs a mixed-methods approach to revealing volunteers’ perceptions and experiences after the Bloch Building addition was built including: 1) a content analysis of art and architecture critics’ and museum visitors’ reviews; 2) a statistical analysis of volunteers’ responses to compare the perception of “satisfaction with their space” and the individual variables that describe comfort: view of nature view to outside, daylight, light, adequacy of space, acoustics, temperature, odor, aesthetic appeal, security, flexibility of use, accessibility; and 3) objective participant observations of the museum building’s layout and design to reveal accessibility and wayfinding issues with the museum’s operations, maintenance, and management. This research advocates a new bottom-up approach for museum expansion projects. This includes conducting more post-occupancy evaluations of all user groups including volunteers for making evidence-based design decisions, prioritizing environmental attributes such as daylighting and outside views that influence occupant satisfaction, addressing wayfinding and accessibility concerns throughout the museum, and identifying all these goals early in the fund-raising and design phases.