DESIGN BUREAU
Design Thinking
August 2013
Notes From the Bureau
The New Museum A museum designer explores interactive exhibits for the digital age Four-dimensional theater displays and interactive touch screens... these kinds of engaging elements are part of museum design and planning firm Gallagher & Associates’ efforts to usher museums into the digital age. Firm principal Patrick Gallagher shares how his team leverages technology to attract a new generation of museumgoers. JM: How has museum design, and museums in general, evolved?
Patrick Gallagher: Modern museums are becoming a more intergenerational experience. This means museums are becoming a place for discussion, debate, and interaction. If children have questions or concepts they want to discuss with their parents or grandparents about something they experienced in an exhibition, there needs to be a way to interact and communicate. This is when a designer must consider the layering of content and experiences to keep the dynamic and always be a part of the conversation. JM: What are today’s museumgoers looking for in an exhibit?
PG: What viewers are looking for in museums today is an authentic experience. Images courtesy of Local Projects
Whether it’s the schol- “With a professional, arship of the content creative staff of project managers, estior the entertainment mators, researchers, value of an experience graphic technicians, it must always support builders, artisans, and installers, we are the authentic nature dedicated to producof the storyline. We ing state-of-the-art can consider the ad- museum exhibit experiences,” says 1220 dition of interactivity Exhibits senior vice and media to enhance president Craig Dunn. the authenticity and The Nashville-based has worked engagement. Visitors fabricator with Gallagher & Astoday have limited sociates on numerous free time and if they design-build projects. are choosing to spend some of that time at a museum, as designers, we want to be sure it is a rich and fulfilling experience. JM: How do you strike a balance between entertainment and education?
PG: Of course the designer must be very careful in balancing scholarship with entertainment and interactivity. At the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, we created a 4-D theater experience of WWII. The techniques are big and sweeping, bringing the visitor into the emotion and drama of the storyline. At one moment it literally snows on the visitor. There is an entertainment factor to how we tell this story, but we also want to invite the viewer to take part in the story on an emotional level, to not just tell them what happened, but use it as a lens into their lives. – Jordan Mainzer