The Sensory Experience Museum _ Capstone Project _ Julia Larson

The Sensory Experience Museum Julia Larson

Julia Larson The Sensory Experience Museum I NT D - 4 8 7 C a p s t o n e R e s e a r c h & P r o g r a m m i n g Professor Lisa Phillips Fall 2013 cover photograph by Julia Larson

To my mom, for working harder than anyone else I know to be the best person for my siblings and I. Thank you for inspiring my hard work and dedication and for everything you’ve ever done for me. Through it all you’ve done an amazing job and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

T a b l e of C o n t e n t s

01

Introduction

06

02

Historiography

24

03_A

Case Study_Please Touch Museum

44

03_B

Case Study_Franklin Institute

66

03_C

Case Study_Sephora Sensorium

88

03_D

Case Study_Iceberg

108

04

Topical Explorations

126

05

Site Analysis

146

06

Design & Technical Criteria

158

07

Programming

172

08

Building Analysis

178

09

Conclusion

194

10

Introduction

200

01

Introduction

What did you do?

Was it fun?

Where you scared?

What was it like?

Was it difficult?

How were you able to do it that long?

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introduction

H

ow do you explain a significant event in your life to someone else? How do you re-tell the feelings, thoughts, smells, sights, sounds, and tastes you encountered? Some of the most difficult factors to relay to others is the retelling of a unique experience. We turn to sensory experiences in our story telling to describe actions or events that took place in order to make others understand. Give them factors they can relate to like cold weather, constant winds, street musicians, and throw in a variable like the sound of Danes in casual conversation that you cannot understand at all.

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introduction

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elling stories and relaying experiences to others happens during most conversations. We can explain an event or share something that we witnessed, but the receiving party can never truly understand it unless they have encountered it themselves. One of Philadelphia’s own

“Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand.” So in founding father’s once said,

order to make someone grasp the experiences you felt, saw, heard, or smelled, you must immerse them in relatable sensory elements.

In a time when our world is instantly connected by satellites, the internet, and phones, there is a lack of awareness about the world around us. Many are blinded by the commercialized stereotypes associated with various regions of the world. Newsrooms tend to focus on the misgivings and tragedies of foreign places because they make fascinating stories and commercialism focuses on the monuments that represent an area. Monuments tend to define an area in a global context, they are what the location is known for; France and the Eiffel Tower, Italy and the Leaning Tower, London and Big Ben, etc. But it is not the monuments that define a region, but the moments experienced within each.

best encapsulated in an experiential exhibition setting. Museums will be the best tool to communicate this message of sharing and

“Americans view museums as one of the most important resources for educating our children and as one of the most trustworthy sources of objective information.” 1 Museums transmit relating sensory experiences.

information to educate the public. They come in multitudes of genres ranging from art and historical spaces to comic books and spies. If there is a topic with information to be learned about, there is most likely a museum to represent and share that knowledge.

This idea of moments rather than monuments is

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introduction

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They come in all sorts of sizes, locations, and buildings and attract people from all walks of life, from all regions of the world.

In the built form, designers have developed ways to transport others into a certain location.

Designers can transporting people, not with flags, pictures, or monuments, but with sounds of foreign languages in a crowded subway station, the smell of fresh Belgium chocolate, or standing on the edge of a 400 ft. tall cliff with 40 mile an hour winds threatening to throw you into the ocean below. Words and pictures cannot justify walking in the same footsteps that billions have done before you. You cannot appreciate it, unless you experience it with all five senses.

1 2 3 Design Goals

The main goal is to design a

This museum aims to educate

It will offer various exhibits

museum that explores sensory

the public of global issues and

that utilize the senses of touch,

experiences

and

occurrences while providing

taste, smell, sight, and sound,

focuses on moments rather

a vibrant and entertaining

creating instances that capture

than monuments.

atmosphere.

moments in diverse situations.

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of

travel

introduction

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Research

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he types of information essential for this project will be qualitative and quantitative data that relate to studies surrounding the psychology of interior design, particularly in museum layouts. In addition, the information should pertain to what makes an exhibit/museum successful and how museums keep a person entertained and keep them coming back for more.

Other information that should be learned surrounds unpopular exhibits. Research will be used from case studies and visits, internet databases, scholarly articles, literature, and journals focusing on exhibition design and museum design as well as their design processes. This project has to thoroughly research proper exhibit design techniques and delve into the psychology of colors, signage, and subliminal advertising to affirm the mission of the museum. Research must also be

done on the master plan for the revitalization of the Central Delaware Waterfront and the projected outcome for the development of the urban river waterfront area as submitted by the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation. Advice will also be sought from peers, advisors, and two professional mentors; Ms. Meredith Doby of Meredith Doby Designs in Brooklyn, NY; and Mr. Frank Nave, Vice President of Museums and Exhibitions at Lynch Exhibits in Burlington, NJ. im_5

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introduction

N

o matter what type of project, the designer needs to take into account all of the information learned through the research process and apply it to the situation or problem at hand. The designer applies all knowledge learned throughout years of education and practice for any project they participate in. The knowledge and skills applicable include space planning, mechanical systems, exhibits, structure, conceptualization, detail, psychology of space, circulation applications, materials and finishes, and all other necessary skills. The designer takes all of the qualitative and quantitative data gathered within the preliminary research to create a space that evokes a reaction from the user.

More specifically, a museum/exhibition

Designer designer must educate and create an environment that prompts curiosity, discovery, and entertainment in order to encourage the best response from users.

A designer not only has responsibilities to the design of the space but the users and surrounding community who will be affected by it. The users affected include the client, the visitors, the employees, and the surrounding businesses and communities. Designers are obligated to provide a design that exceeds the requirements and desires of the client and create a space that is unique and effective at translating its mission to the public. They have a duty to create an environment accessible to all users, implementing aspects

of Universal Design, which effectively educate, inspire, entertain, and surprise. The museum designer’s responsibility to the user is to leave them wanting more and impress upon them knowledge they acquired during the visit. As a part of Old City Philadelphia, the museum location will also improve tourist and local pedestrian traffic to the Race Street Pier area and make use of an abandoned yet historic building.

Designing another museum in Philadelphia will add to the diverse culture as an art loving city that supports all forms of design and creativity.

It needs to accentuate the proposed plan to the Delaware River Waterfront Project and help create a new destination location for both locals and tourists. im_6

introduction

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introduction

Sustainability

he project incorporates adaptive reuse of the abandoned Pier 9 building, which will require many modifications in order to provide a functioning design that meets sustainability objectives and recognizes environmental issues. Pier 9’s waterfront location demands the consideration of environmental issues such as its effect on the ecosystem of that area. Pier 9 has been left as an unused warehouse for decades and therefore contains no running water, electricity or any other mechanical system. The renovation work to be completed is extremely extensive and will require much planning and technical preparations. In regards to the river it sits upon,

buildings come with runoff, plumbing, sewer systems, and use many natural resources for construction and function. These issues will affect how sustainable and eco-friendly the building is. With all of the renovation to the waterfront area, construction and building has to be done carefully and in phases so as to not disrupt or shock the existing eco-system.

Preventative measures ought to be taken in order to ensure that this project will not be a detriment to the area but will accentuate Philadelphia’s cherished waterfront. Green materials, alternative energies, and recycling will be utilized to fulfill contemporary sustainability objectives in the Philadelphia Green Movement.

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Client

his Delaware River waterfront is under extensive master planning to revitalize the area by the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation. The company has sub-contracted a local designer to create a space that will enhance their mission in the development of the waterfront. Pier 9 is located next to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and is therefore in the central area of the riverfront plan. It is also adjacent to the office building of the corporation itself. The mission of the DRWC is “to design, develop and manage the central Delaware River waterfront, transforming it into a vibrant destination location for recreational,

cultural, and commercial activities for the residents and visitors of Philadelphia.� 2 Their basis for the creation of this master plan is to take an underused part of the city that is full of abandoned buildings and land and turn it into a destination location making use of the expansive land. It is also being planned in cooperation with the Philadelphia Green Initiative to make Philadelphia a greener city.

Their overall goals will impact how the museum interacts with the remainder of the waterfront.

It will have to accentuate and compliment the surrounding areas and incorporate this new master planned community.

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introduction

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Users

A

museum caters to a wide variety of users ranging from public visitors such as locals and tourists to employed staff such as the administration, employees, and volunteers. Each user group has specific requirements that a designer works to meet within the design process. The public users of this space will consist of local visitors, tourists, possibly international tourists, school groups, children, and adults. The public should have access to a space that is entertaining, informative, creative, and educational. It should cater to a myriad of demographic users and

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should also be universally designed in respect to a contemporary approach that is accessible and all inclusive. The design demands essential for programming will include: how the interior is laid out, how it is built, what materials are used, what codes need to be followed, and how much programmatic planning time is necessary.

The staff users of this space will consist of administration, design staff, cleaning staff, exhibit staff, part-time members, full-time members, and volunteers. The staff’s overall

necessities for the building are separate rooms that can contain meetings, offices, break rooms, supply closets, model shops, lockers, and specific employee only spaces. These requirements will affect how much square footage is assigned to the public use spaces and the private use spaces. The design will need to accommodate the employees and the guests to ensure that all functional basics are met while still retaining aesthetics and the quality of the exhibits themselves.

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introduction

“Creating museums that work for visitors requires changing how we think about visitors and museum exhibits and programs. We need to stop seeing these as parts of a whole and start seeing them as a single complex,

integrated system� 4 -John H. Falk

introduction

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Socio-Economic Conditions

M

aking this museum project possible will require various types of funding including but not limited to: donations, fundraising, grants, and loans. Museums are generally led by a board of executives as a nonprofit, for-profit, or a

hybrid of both. In a nonprofit system, “a group organized for purposes other than generating profit and in which no part of the organization’s income is distributed to its members, directors, or officers. Non-profit corporations are often termed ‘non-stock corporations.’ …Non-

profit organizations must be designated as nonprofit when created and may only pursue purposes permitted by statutes for non-profit organizations...[A]n organization is exempt from taxation if it is organized and operated exclusively for educational [purposes].” 5

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introduction

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Funds or profits obtained from sales can only be appropriated to the well-being of the museum in repairs, exhibit updates, and other services needed to promote a museum’s success. Museums in Philadelphia that operate

a self-sustaining environment. The for-profit museum has stock that can be bought and sold, it can offer benefits to employees, and it is subject to the same taxes and legal restraints of any profit bearing company.

Please Touch Museum, the Franklin Institute, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Examples of the for-profit museum model

under this system include the

In a for-profit system, the opposite occurs.

Members of the board can benefit from a well-performing museum, they function as a company that incurs revenue and generates

International Spy Museum and the National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington, DC, and the Museum of Sex in NYC. In a hybrid of the two, are the

aspects of both models can be applied to the running of a museum. They can fund through

profit and government aid. The running of a hybrid business in any field has difficult legal contingencies that force the corporation to operate as separate entities under the same name. It is a confusing and tricky business model to operate. 6 This museum will be run under the for-profit business model in order to act as a selfsustaining entity and generate profits that can be used for the furtherance of exhibits, will allow for more material choices, and prompt a greater community shareholder reaction to the operation of the space.

introduction

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introduction

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Demographics

s per most museums, the proposed Sensory Experience Museum is for every one of all demographic categories.

Cultural education and awareness in a global context is not limited to any particular group as it encompasses the extensive diversity of the world.

Age, race, gender, economic status, handicap, or any other diverse characteristics will not limit the content of the museum exhibitions and its social message. The project will maintain an ample amount of freedom in trying to appeal to the general public such as implementing lower admission to students and free days during special events or on certain weekdays. One of the most important design considerations is how this design will be universal. The way of the future is through universal design, or to make architecture more accessible to everyone. The built environment

should not be limited to those who can walk or act under an average human means of conduct.

Human behaviors must also be taken into consideration in museum design. Age, ability, and language are some factors that the design has to accommodate. In regards to age, the design has to accommodate the behaviors and necessities of children, adults, and the elderly. Children are stimulated by an active environment, especially one that is designed to exploit sensory reactions.

The exhibits must be able to exemplify a safe environment that is not harmful to either child or adult users and must be able to handle abuse, and sustain the effects of thousands of users. Large fonts, simple graphics, clear language, and well guided circulation will help eliminate any barriers incurred from language, age, education, or disability.

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ll of this information will be applied in order to maintain the integrity and the overall service to the community of Philadelphia. It is important that this project accentuate and add a better quality to the neighboring community and the waterfront. It is to be a landmark, but not a monument; to be an everyday occurrence, but still stand out in someone’s memory as an experiential moment. This project will be introduced into Philadelphia as an additional museum, but it will also share the stories, culture, and experiences from around the world. introduction

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imagery

_ sources

im _1 _ http://8020.photos.jpgmag.com/1168277_174371_0add237ab6_p.jpg im _2 _ photograph by Julia Larson im _3 _ photograph by Julia Larson im _4 _ photograph by Julia Larson im _5 _

http://planphilly.com/articles/2012/12/05/bill-creating-zoning-regs-central-delaware-waterfront-not-likely-be-introduced-until-2013goals-introduced

im _6 _ photograph by Julia Larson im _7 _ photograph by Julia Larson im _8 _ http://www.laschools.org/documents/download/sustainability%2Fimages%2Fimages_for_major_headings%2Fschool_conservation_program%2FPrincipals_Corner_Images.jpg im _9 _ http://www.centercityteam.com/2011/08/01/delaware-river-waterfront-corporation-begins-preliminary-work-on-festival-pier/ im _10 _ http://www.plancentraldelaware.com/ im _11 _ http://www.apple-seed.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/MuSo-view.jpg im _12 _ http://philamuseum.tumblr.com/ im _13 _ http://theflowershowblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/flower-show-partners-with-please-touch-museum/ im _14 _ http://www.activityhero.com/biz/2468-the-franklin-institute-s-discovery-camp-philadelphia-pa/3234-discovery-camp/20359 im _15 _ http://amberhunnicutt.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/spy_logo_blk.jpeg im _16 _ http://www.crimemuseum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/NMCP_LOGO_Black-CIRCLE.gifWW im _17 _ http://www.sanjeev.net/printads/m/museum-of-sex-sex-in-design-corkscrew-6710.jpg im _18 _ http://theleadershipsource.com/wp-content/uploads/Diversity-AwarenessMutual-Respect.jpg

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introduction

information

_sources

1 _ Bromberger, Allen R. “A New Type of Hybrid.” Stanford Social Innovation Review. Spring2011.

Accessed September 02, 2013. http://jibuco.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Stanford-SocInRev-New-Hybrid. pdf. citation 6

1 _Falk, John H. Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2009.

citation 4

1 _ “Museum Facts.” American Alliance of Museums. Museum Facts. 2012. Accessed July 08, 2013

http://www.aam-us.org/about-museums/museum-facts. citation 1

1 _ “Non-profit Organizations.” Legal Information Institute. Accessed September 02, 2013

http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/non-profit_organizations. citation 5

1 _ “Plan for the Central Delaware: Transforming Philadelphia’s Waterfront.” Plan for the Central Delaware Trans

forming Philadelphias Waterfront RSS. Accessed August 16, 2013. http://wwwplancentraldelaware.com/about/project-team/. citation 2

1 _ Thompson,

Karen A. “Master Plan for the Central Delaware-Executive Summary.” Issuu.Dec 2011. Accessed August 15, 2013. http://issuu.com/karenathompsondocsexecutivesummary ?e=3786253/3412024. citation 3

introduction

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02

Historiography

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historiography

I

n the twenty-first century, the term museum is associated with venues that house collections varying from art, science, history, literature, to almost every subject. When used in broader terms, venues such as aquariums, zoos, and botanical gardens can also be classified as museums. According to the International Council of Museums in 2007,

“A museum is a non-profit,

permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.” 1

Merriam-Webster also defines a museum as “an institution devoted to the procurement, care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest or value; also place where objects are exhibited.”2 Neither of these definitions give this building type any rules or guidelines about what has to be exhibited or collected in order to be considered a museum. Therefore, contemporary museums house a much wider variety of collections than ever before. im_1

historiography

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ut what are the origins of museums?

Where did this idea of knowledge procurement and the sharing of intellectual integrity come from? The word museum has a variety of meanings, but all root back to the idea of something that either houses or nurtures a collection, whether it be in the intellectual realm of science and knowledge or in the physical realm of paintings, sculptures, or exhibits. The idea of a museum has been around since ancient Greece, but the idea of collecting both information and possessions can also be traced back to ancient Egypt, Rome and prehistoric times. The word museum as well as its accompanying definition has changed over the course of centuries, evolving with the societies needs.

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historiography

When tracing the history of an idea or an object, the word itself must be analyzed and the etymology of that word dissected. “Museum” is a Latin word relating to the Greek: mouseion.3 It has had a variety of meanings throughout the centuries, but it was first adapted to signify a temple dedicated to the Greek Muses who were the goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were the personification of and inspiration for intellect and the arts. Therefore, all things related to the study or advancement of these subjects were held in gatherings at temples dedicated to these muses.

“The term ‘museum’ was initially used in the ancient world to designate the schools of poetry and philosophy that

came to be attached to the shrines of the muses. Later the term came to refer to the research facilities that were attached to collections such as the museum in Alexandria.”4 One of the earliest and most well-documented examples of this museum idea was the Museum of Alexandria. The museum was formed around the third century BC as a group of scholars who were dedicated to the study of literature, science, and the arts. Their explorations in academia were funded by the Ptolemy family of the Macedonian Empire. 5

They provided the scholars with palace housing and an expansive library which is known as the Library of Alexandria which once held the most distinguished collection of ancient writings in poetry, science, philosophy, and art. Both institutions are celebrated for their role in the development and history of scholarship.6 Sadly, the physical building of the library that housed the museum group burned in the fourth century AD and left no architectural evidence of its existence, only the legend of its vast holdings of scholar and the mission of the museum.

This community of scholars was both academic and religious.

“It was religious in so far as the idea was still centered on a shrine of the Muses of artistic and intellectual pursuits. These scholars were also engaged in the study of science (for instance, medicine, mathematics, astronomy) and in the study of literature (editing the major Greek texts such as Homer).” 7 The description ‘museum group’ defined the scholars as a collection of individuals who possessed higher learning than the average person, rather than a building that holds collections of artifacts. In effect, the term actually refers to any person, place, or thing that contains an acquired collection of some form whether it be physical or intellectual.

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vanished object voluptuous memory

“In sum, the Musaeum was a

(nothing to see) yet still a

(much to know); it was not a collection of things but a

body of scientific and literary knowledge. And it was the control of this knowledge-its limits, progresses, configurations, and representations-that was at the very core of these ongoing debates over the definition of the Musaeum.” 8

historiography

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T

he collection of goods, objects, or art has been a trait of mankind since their inception. Even today we can find ourselves acquiring vast majorities of objects. One may collect dolls or teacups, keys or baseball cards, and the more of a collection one possesses the more prestigious the collection becomes, asserting a hierarchy of wealth and dominance over others. Apart from the scholarly collection of information such as that at Alexandria, we find early treasure collection chambers from Greek history that exhibited statues of battle victors, stolen goods and gifts gathered and dedicated to the gods. At the same time, Romans were filling their villas with paintings and statues which they acquired to exemplify their wealth.9 Man has always equated wealth and status with how many possessions he acquires.

Between the times of early civilizations and the Middle/Dark Ages the idea of the museum lost some historical prominence.

The scholars and groups retreated into obscurity as the relevance of education furtherance diminished. However, collecting still remained a dominant human feature. The Dark Ages are named so because of the political, social, and medical turmoil that erupted in European civilizations. Disease wiped out millions of people and scholarship advancements went on the defense. Battles raged and so did the quest for dominance. With both of these factors at play, people would ransack and collect things from the lands they had overcome in order to display their power. In Medieval England, cousins of families were at war with each other; jewels and rare items changed hands so many times their origins became forgotten. Raids on churches, monasteries, and family manors were organized to steal wealth and collections. People kept these valuables discreet and hidden under lock and key in order to preserve their hierarchal status. Cabinets, closets, and private rooms kept these treasures hidden from the world and only for the viewing eyes of the collector.

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historiography

As the decades passed and Europe went from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, people of status and wealth used these secret collections as a means to further their prestige. They made it known that they existed within a home or manor, and no one was permitted to view except the patrician or royal head of house.

The allusion to the treasures within increased the value of the collections and therefore increased the dominance of the owning individual or family.

“During the Renaissance, the collections of noblemen – variously named studioli, cabinets des curieux, Wunderkammern and Kunstkammern – heavily influenced the manufacture of social and political hierarchies and identities. Typically royal or aristocratic collections, which were intended to represent the world in miniature, were housed in secret, darkened rooms of their palaces. The patrician alone was allowed access to the closed wall cupboards to view the exhibits, meaning he alone was empowered to comprehend the universe. The studiolo therefore embodied a very specific knowledge-power interdependency, reserving to the prince not only the knowledge of the world constituting his supremacy, but the possibility of knowing itself. Monarchs used the forum of the museum as a source of prestige, and through such collections art and curious objects, legitimized and enhanced their control.” 10

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rivate collections slowly developed into museums. Before that time, collectors had occasionally allowed visitors to see their treasures; people such as the Medici family allowed their visitors to view the family collection and wealth accumulations. In 1773, Pope Clement XIV opened the Pio-Clementine Museum that housed the Vatican collection which contained much of what we see today.11 Museums began to be opened to the public eye in the late seventeenth century when such wealthy and powerful individuals decided to showcase their erudite nature and attainment of cultural awareness that put them above all others. The first university art museum was opened in Basil in 1671, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford appeared a dozen years later, the Vatican established several museums in about 1750, and the British Museum was formed in 1753.12 The formation of the British Museum occurred when Parliament purchased Sir Hans Sloane’s impressive collection of items devoted chiefly to natural science. “Over his lifetime, Sloane collected more than 71,000 objects which he wanted to be preserved intact after his death. So he bequeathed the whole collection to King George II for the nation... The British Museum opened to the public in January of 1759. It was first housed in a seventeenth-century mansion, in Bloomsbury on the site of today’s building. Entry was free and

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historiography

given to ‘all studious and curious Persons’.” 13 It contained a myriad of items but most of them pertained to natural history, thus making the museum one of the first subject concentrated museums.

Until the eighteenth century, the term ‘museum’ referred primarily to an academy of scholars and only secondarily to a place that housed a collection. Only since the nineteenth century has ‘museum’ meant a building for the safekeeping and presentation of actual collections as well as the research facility attached to it.”

The present state of museums in contemporary culture give this word’s meaning validity and continues to carry out the inspiring mission of Greek Muses.

In the closing decade of the 18th century, France opened the Palace of the Louvre as the Museum of the Republic in 1793.14 Napoleon had confiscated art objects during his many conquests and devised a grand plan for a unified French museum system as well as subsidiary museums elsewhere. The scheme collapsed with his defeat, but his conception of a museum as an instrument of national glory continued to stir the imagination of Europeans.15 With the opening of this museum, the formal recognition of a museum as a building type as we see it today was formed. It related to a specified place for collections of rare, valuable, or knowledgeable information that was available for public view, use, and enlightenment.

The reinstitution of the term museum “simultaneously evoked the glory of ancient Alexandria, the cultivation of the intellect, of monumental architecture, and the positive expression of political power.” 16 The era that the idea of a museum was re-introduced into relative society was the era of modern Enlightenment. The Enlightenment brought to society renewed ideals in scholarship, scientific artifact and intelligence which were rediscovered in the Renaissance and given resurgence during this era. This product of Renaissance humanism facilitated the transition from an exclusive culture of collecting based around the private patron, to a public one; paired with the new hegemony of the nationstate and the public, the national museum was born.17 18

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he Age of Enlightenment, as it was known, also corresponded with the age of exploration and discovery.

These ages coincided with the shift of private collections to museums in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The influx of understanding and global awareness that circulated throughout the “civilized� world, led to an increased curiosity about what else existed on earth. Particularly adventurous people who were lucky enough to gain financial backing from royalty, set off across the sea in hopes of finding new lands or faster travel routes. These bold and daring men set off to acquire new territories for their homeland as well as bring back foreign goods that could be

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collected or sold. We know these brave men for their role in American history; explorers such

Christopher Columbus, Vasco de Gama, Amerigo Vespucci, Henry Hudson, Giovanni da Verrazano, as

and many others made their mark on foreign locations in the world as well as within their own nation as procurers of national prestige in their conquests of various global regions.

They collected vast amounts of information and items that made the nations wealthy and increased national pride as well as expressed political power. In addition to the discovery and colonization of far off lands, these years were filled with pronounced advancementsin cartography and navigational instruments,

along with other advances in the study of anatomy and optics. The visual arts responded to scientific and technological developments with new ideas about the representation of man and his place in the world.19 This age of discovery, exploration and enlightenment was utilized by the governing bodies of nations as an ego-enhancement. In effect, with an increased global awareness and an increased cultural familiarity of the world around them, they assumed power and dominance over other nations. The combination of these ages, which lasted up until the late eighteenth century, increased the effectiveness of a museum mission and allowed museum collections to increase in their variety, volume, and value.

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Movement towards the Modern Museum

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he museum institution made its way in to the United States shortly before the formation of the colonies into a unified country. The first museum to form in the United States was the Charleston Museum in 1773, focusing its collections on natural history materials. Soon after Peale’s Museum in Philadelphia began and branched to locations in Baltimore and New York. Like most other collection based museums, Peale’s focused on assemblages of animals, birds, and insects specimens displayed with realistic

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historiography

backgrounds, and hundreds of portraits of the Founding Fathers of our nation.21 In 1846, James Smithson called for the increase and diffusion of knowledge and with that, started the Smithsonian Institution.22 As museums were formed and became more prevalent in modern industrialized society, they were given a more homogeneous building type, and increased the societal standing of museums of esteemed institutions.

Museums were not given a building type until

the renaissance when the idea of a museum as a public house for collections of art, science, and rare and precious objects was conceived rather than housed in private rooms or cabinets. Collections were put on display in galleries which were extended interior rooms generally lit by daylight from large windows.

It was a space suitable for exhibiting paintings and sculptures. They usually displayed a highly lavish and decorative program to continue to highlight the wealth of the individual that was sponsoring or owned the collection.

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n contemporary museum architecture, architects of art museum projects have been faced with a dilemma. On one hand, their architecture should be complimentary to the art on display, which often necessitates the production of neutral and passive spaces.

On the other hand, “architecture has become increasingly critical to the success of museum institutions, prompting museum designers to inject a new level of Expressionistic bombast into their buildings. The resultant tension between architecture and artwork is now a constant theme in such museums. The Guggenheim, Bilbao, is surely the most lauded example of this exuberant architectural Expressionism.� 23

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No standard building form was adopted at the museum conception both in the third century B.C. and the resurgence of the formal museum in revolutionary France. There have been models of building conditions that provide optimal experiences and exhibition spaces for the art and sculpture collections displayed within, but even today, there is no set building type of the museum model. Many buildings follow similar guidelines, but each is uniquely designed for the auxiliary museum

functions within the space. These collections and exhibit displays are no longer limited to

art and science. They can exist in any form and any size, containing any collection the museum organization or proprietor desires such as comic books, bottles, children’s activities, beer, or superheroes. Museums also exist as zoos, gardens, aquariums, and arboretums to name a few so the standardization of a museum building type has become more broad and less structured to an overall theme, but rather the concept of the items the individual institution represents.

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ith the formation of the Louvre and the French movement towards exemplifying national prestige through its museums, most models of that time ended up exhibiting a four-wing arrangement with a central rotunda of the neo-classical or neogothic model. The use of neo-classical and neo-gothic architecture in any type of building has always shown an attempt to convey power, prestige, and a desire to communicate national pride. Both of these building types are foreboding and immense structures of stone that command a respect and reverence for the program inside. It made sense to use this building type for museums because of the message that museums portrayed to the public in a global and cultural context. “In order to purvey state wealth, power and stability, neo-Classical and neo-Gothic edifices were largely favored to house these nascent national institutions. Despite the transmutation to a national form, the museum maintained its previous influence, merely shifting its focus. Collections that had previously been intended as demonstrations of royal power, began to be managed in order to accentuate national cohesion, prosperity and identity. The museum as a whole may be seen as an embodiment of the nation’s own self-critique.” 24 One museum in particular that is said to define the best idea behind museum building is Karl Friedrich Schinkle’s Altes Museum. It appears as a two-story block that emphasized its public character by adhering to the tradition of using the closed columned hall of classical times. It was a square ground plan divided into four courtyards by four inner wings. This allowed the setup of the museum to take advantage of as much natural light as possible for the galleries as artificial light was something unimaginable at the time. The two stories each contain laterally lit exhibition rooms, which form the four wings surrounding a rectangle with a central rotunda that create a voluminous double storied hall. Schinkle’s museum is considered to be the building that “definitively ennobled the task of museum-building because of its clear and memorable architecture that linked the functional with the sublime and permanently established the domed rotunda as a motif of museum architecture.” 25

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n coordination with a nations need to promote self-identity and national prestige, more attention is paid in contemporary design to integrating the landscape into the concept and has become a driving factor behind contemporary museum architecture. “Many contemporary museum designers have turned to the natural landscape for inspiration, often for aesthetic pragmatic reasons, but at times, to invest their buildings with a specific identity.”

26 There is undoubtedly a common ambition to integrate the natural landscape into recent museum architecture. Many museums (mainly art galleries) stem from the land they reside on and work with the natural landscape often

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resulting in a one story space with sub-ground levels that accentuate the natural lighting of the area as daylight is generally desired to display works of art or sculpture. An example of this type of building design can be seen in the design of the Louisiana Museum for Modern Art near Copenhagen, Denmark. An architect was once quoted saying ‘Our buildings must be part of nature, must flow out of the land; the landscape must weave in and out of them so that, even in the harshness of winter, we are not deprived of our closeness with nature’, and more subtle strategies than excavation have been used to achieve this ambiguity between inside and out.” 27 It can be said that one of the reasons there is such a

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strong relationship between the natural landscape and the design of a museum is because the natural landscape geographically defines a region or nation and sets it apart from all other areas as unique and rare and therefore valuable and reinforces the people’s sense of national identity. “An empirical link is evident between national landscape and identity; aspects of nation directly influenced by a country’s terrain, such as security and prosperity, in turn influence the national ‘personality.’ 28

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he materiality of a modern museum building also relates to the landscape and site context of its proposed location. “Materiality is also used by museum designers to blur the divide between internal spaces and the external environment.� 29 In the establishment of museum architecture, the standard building material for the neo-classical and gothic styles were stone and brick that later evolved into concrete and steel and other materials that reflected an industrialized nation.

In contemporary designs of art museums and exhibition museums, the types of materials encompass all necessary building materials for a building to pass fire and occupancy regulations as well as any additional material needed to convey the concept of the design. Since the industrial revolution, artificial lighting in museums and exhibitions has evolved into a complex system of colored lights, spotlights, and ambient lights, all while still making use of natural light, not only as the best way to display artwork, but also a step towards a more sustainable future.

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useums have a long history and legacy that continues to develop each year. They evolve with the times and surpass traditional thoughts regarding information display and the way that knowledge is passed between societies, cultures, and people.

They have had a poignant and enduring role as a cultural repository, or ‘treasure-trove’ of items pertaining to history, art, science, intellectual thought, global issues, and common objects.

“The museum has been an influential forum for the promotion of ideas, with while structures of thought being transposed onto the museum to be validated and legitimized.” 30 The museum has acted as a generator of knowledge and a religious experience. Where museums were once religiously associated because of the relationship to the Greek muses, in contemporary times, millions of people pilgrimage to museums each year to visit the collections and works housed within. The human brain is greedy for intellect and learning in order to put ourselves at a higher position than others. Museum institutions facilitate these desires for an education, an enlightening, and an entertaining atmosphere.

The museum of the future is not a stuffy art museum stuck in the seventeenth century, but a cultural movement to express and capture the power of human intellectual advancement and awareness.

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imagery

_ sources

im _1 _ Photograph by Julia Larson im _2 _ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Baldassarre_Peruzzi_-_Apollo_and_the_Muses_-_WGA17365.jpg im _3 _

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B8% D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%8F%D0%BA.jpg

im _4 _ http://content.answcdn.com/main/content/img/getty/1/4/77880614.jpg im _5 _

http://famouswonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/louvre-museum.jpg

im _6 _ http://itchyfeetmagazine.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/british-museum1.jpg im _7 _ http://www.megapopust.hr/images/offers/5799386.jpg im _8 _ http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2731/4340852396_0ea4bf5e3f_o.jpg im _9 _ http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4148/5058327406_b96e52d195_o.jpg im _10 _ http://traveljapanblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/img_6262trim.jpg im _11 _ http://www.terminartors.com/files/museums/8/2/6/826/Louisiana_Museum_of_Modern_Art-Humlebaek-Denmark.jpg im _12 _ http://images.guggenheim-bilbao.es/src/uploads/2012/05/enatriolucernariosin.jpeg

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historiography

information

_sources

2 _ Alexander, Edward P. Museums in Motion: An Introduction to the History and Functions of Museums. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1979. P8. citation 3, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 21, 22

2 _ Erskine, Andrew. “Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Museum and Library of Alexandria, “Greece &

Rome, 42, no. 1 (1995): 38-48, http://www.jstor.org/stable/643071 (accessed September 14, 2013). citation 6, 7

2 _ “Expo Study: Common Knowledge of World Expositions.” Expo Study. Accessed September 14, 2013. http://www.expo2010.cn/volen/volun/knowledge1(2).htm. citation 20

2 _ “History of the British Museum.” British Museum. Accessed September 14, 2013.

http://www.britishmuseumorg/about_us/the_museums_story/general_history.aspx. citation 13

2 _ Hourston, Laura. Museum Builders II. Chichester, West Sussex, England: Wiley-Academy, 2004. p6. citation 10, 17, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

2 _ “Museum Definition.” International Council of Museums. ICOM, n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2013. http://icom.museum/the-vision/museum-definition/ citation 1

2 _ “Museum Definition.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2013. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/museum citation 2

2 _ Naredi-Rainer, Paul V., Oliver Hilger, Gerhard Kahlert, Helmut F.O. Muller, Herbert Pfeiffer, and Hans Jurgen

Schmitz. Museum Buildings: A Design Manual. Basel: Birkhäuser, Publishers for Architecture, 2004. P13. citation 4, 9, 25

2 _ Paula Young Lee, “The Musaeum of Alexandria and the Formation of the Museum in Eighteenth-Century

France,” The Art Bulletin. no. 3 (1997): 385-412. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3046259 (accessed September 14, 2013).p385. citation 5, 8, 16

2 _ Voorhies, James. “Europe and the Age of Exploration.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/expl/hd_expl.htm (October 2002). citation 19

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Case Studies A _ Please Touch Museum B_ The Franklin Institute C _The Sensorium D _Iceberg

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A

case study _ please touch museum

Please Touch Museum

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building_ Please Touch Museum Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park 4231 Avenue of the Republic, Philadelphia, PA.

original architect_ Herman J. Schwarzmann in 1873 renovating architect_ Phillip Scott Kise Straw and Kolodner in 2008 size_ 157,000 square feet

of exhibit space on two floors

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he Please Touch Museum was chosen as a case study purely for its interactive nature as a children’s exploratory museum and exhibit space. It serves the Philadelphia area as an attraction for the city’s youngest users. Children ages 2-10 frequent this museum expecting an entertaining experience through touch, discovery, and interaction. It is the mission of the Please Touch organization to enrich the lives of children by creating learning opportunities through play. They strive to make the Museum a place that reflects their core values of caring and collaboration, play and fun, creation and innovation, learning and education, child-centered and family-focused, safe and clean, respectful and diverse. 1 This museum experience is relevant to that of a sensory exhibition space because it focuses on the senses of touch, sight, and sound. The museum has been designed to facilitate a learning environment that teaches children about living with each other, the city in which they live, and the world in which they are a part of. The best way to learn is by doing and that is exactly what the Please Touch offers. It is this entertaining environment which evokes curiosity, interest, and discovery and prompts an educational experience that is most interesting about this case study. im_6

The way of the future is not about learning through lecture, but learning through action and discovery. The great Walt Disney once said,

“I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educated people and hope they were entertained.”

They need to discover for themselves the information the museum is trying to convey; only then will the museum leave its mark on a user and keep patrons returning to see what else they can find. Contemporary exhibit design must focus on the user experience and the way information is relayed in order to be considered successful. They must engage all five senses and completely immerse the user in order to provoke the desired interactions.

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his building needed a middle-high construction budget in order to be completed up to the expectations of the interior functions. Memorial Hall had lain vacant for a number of years before the decision was made to renovate and restore the Centennial landmark. The renovation process on this historic building began in the early 2000’s and the complete re-purposing of this building, including the construction of the museum exhibits within it, finished in 2008. Since the building is state owned, the renovation was covered by state and city taxes and the creation of the exhibits themselves were completed by both in-house staff and out-sourced exhibit firms. The exhibit work was paid for by the donors and grants the Please Touch organization received.

In regards to the construction of the Capstone Museum project on Pier 9, a feasibility study showed that the renovation to the historic pier will cost upwards of four-million dollars just to get the site up to code and city building standards.2 The creation of a museum within the space will not be an inexpensive project either.

So cost of materials and budget planning should be taken into consideration for the construction of a middle budget that will allow for an ample amount of resources in order to meet the desired criteria.

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emorial Hall resides in the historic Fairmount Park of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both the park and the Hall have existed since the 1876 Centennial Exposition in which 8,900 acres of Philadelphia were set aside for the celebration of our nation’s 100th year of independence. For those unfamiliar with the area, Fairmount is an extensive area that mainly extends to the north of Center City Philadelphia. It includes large expanses of parks, forests, athletic fields, bike/hiking trails, waterways, a zoo, arboretum, Memorial Hall and many other structures. According to the official Philadelphia visitor’s website, Fairmount Park is one of the largest city park systems in the world and offers a bountiful natural landscape within easy reach of the city. 3

The Please Touch Museum is located in the area of Fairmount known as the “West Park” which is also home to the Philadelphia Zoo. The building resides off of Parkside Ave which is just outside the west limits of Fairmount Park. The adjacent neighborhood is a suburban area just outside Center City. The area is comprised mainly of row homes and old Victorian homes with small businesses just like many other neighborhoods located on the outskirts of the city.

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he building is owned by the city of Philadelphia as a historical landmark in Fairmount Park. The building is leased out to the Please Touch Museum in a 99 year lease for a minimal monetary figure in order to keep the building in use and an active part of Fairmount and the City of Philadelphia. This arrangement works out well for the building’s client, The Please Touch Museum, which is a non-profit public organization with a board of directors and contributing donors. It eases the burdens of bills and funds and keeps the participating parties economically afloat.

The space is typically used as a museum and functions that way 7 days a week. Outside of

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operating hours, the building is rented out to different groups and organizations for use of the private meeting rooms. Since the building is still a public entity owned by the City of Philadelphia, many events such as weddings, proms, and ceremonies are held throughout the spaces and are not limited to the large, private meeting rooms in the rear wing of the building.

The building also houses a catering company that serves most of the events which occur in the Hall. The majority of visitors to the museum are guests of the Please Touch organization that are allowed to move freely between both floors of exhibition spaces, cafes, and outdoor spaces. There are also classrooms provided for additional lessons and learning for

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outside school groups to come in and partake in separate activities.

The main users of the space are comprised of about 45 full-time staff members, a number of part-time employees, and various volunteers.

Since moving and opening at its new location in 2008, the Please Touch Museum has attractedover 3 million visitors in the last 5 years.

These visitors are comprised of children ages 10 and under and their accompanying families, friends, and school groups. The museum’s busiest days are Saturdays and holidays as they are the most opportune times for working parents to bring their young children to visit and play.

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emorial Hall, located in historic Fairmount Park - Philadelphia, is the only major building remaining from the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. It was commissioned by the United States Centennial Commission in 1874 for use

1876 celebration as a focal point for our nation’s one hundred year celebration tour. The design was in the

awarded to the young engineer Hermann J. Schwarzmann.4 It was built to house an international art gallery and serve as a permanent memorial to our nation’s centennial year. Schwarzmann built the hall in the BeauxArts style which had originated in France in years previous. Beaux-Arts incorporated many previous styles such as Imperial Roman, Italian Renaissance, and Baroque into one unified collaboration.

The hall is a very grand and ornate structure in a large scale and proportion. Its presence in the park is almost imposing and appears out of place among the smaller buildings and abundant recreational landscaping. Its weathered dome can be seen towering over the trees on both the Schuylkill and Kelly drive on your way to and from the city. The façade is constructed of white granite greyed by time and decorated with marble and ornamental plaster. Schwarzmann used granite, brick, iron, and glass ensuring that this building would

survive and remind future generations of the nation in its earliest times. The oxidized metal used for the construction of the glass dome both contrasts the façade materials and compliments the surrounding greenery adding to its prominence as a focal point for the vicinity. The height of the dome draws eyes upward and give lightness to the solid, heavy structure beneath it. The south facing entrance

contains a tri-portal entrance of immense proportion and scale that instills feelings of grandeur and importance as you approach the hall. The entrance is flanked by what appears to be two wings of equal dimension and proportion, but as the floor plan will show, they are part of a wider volume that extends back to the north entrance creating a solid rectilinear space.

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oday when you enter the hall you are greeted by the colorful and kid friendly multi-million dollar renovation completed by the Please Touch Museum of Philadelphia which has occupied the space since 2008. If you had entered the space when it was opened over 130 years ago, you would have entered into a spacious vestibule – void of reception desks and ticket counters – and greeted by three enormous archways that mimic the exterior entrance as the entryway to the focal point of the hall. This is the space directly located under the large metal and glass dome. As can be seen in plan, this space is the center of the building and all circulation stems from this one main point. Prior to entering this focal hall, which is known as Hamilton Hall, the museums shop occupies the area to the left of the entry and the museum café occupies the area on the right.

The rooms that make up the interior stem out in an orderly and symmetrical fashion directly related to the overall axial and biaxial symmetry of the floor plan.

The axial symmetry can be seen on a line that runs transversely through the space with equally sized rooms on either side in all four quadrants of the space. The biaxial symmetry can be seen in the massed rectilinear forms that constitute the general shape of the space

creating four quadrants of equal size at each corner of the building giving the area a very mathematical and well-reasoned layout. There is a definite hierarchy to the spaces in this grand memorial. Since Memorial Hall was originally intended to be an art gallery or museum, the

removed, allowing for continuous movement throughout the space. The smaller rooms would have been used for private art viewings, small collections, or served as office space; and their current functions as meeting spaces and offices reflect the original intentions of the hall.

All of the rooms are of the same construction to maximize the capacity of each.

The Carousel Wing, located on the southeast side of the building, was added during the renovations to Memorial Hall when it was converted from a vacant art gallery into a children’s museum. It houses a full scale carousel ride for the use of patrons, employees, and any other visitors.

rooms are large and spacious and gradually decrease in size the farther they are from the center of the building, making each wing exhibit smaller than the central exhibits. The larger rooms would have held large collections of art and serve as gala space or ballrooms for large events, they now hold the City Capers and Water Adventures exhibits as well as continue to house large gala events. The rooms were once able to open up to each other by removing a partition, creating more square footage to increase the amount of viewing public capacity; now those partitions have been permanently

Both the addition and the renovations were able to maintain the integrity and character of the original structure with this adaptive re-use project. The renovations to the hall respect the original intentions and layout of the space and work with the original design of Memorial Hall as an art gallery to maximize the efficiency of the exhibitions and their relationship to each other.

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he space expresses an educational, yet fun environment. It does not contain the same signs and information as a typical museum with exuberant amounts of information laid out in front of you, but rather it contains simple signs of clear and concise information pertaining to the name of the exhibit and how to get there. The signs are composed of a single word that labels each space or also contains an arrow that points to the exhibit. This arrangement allows for all users to be able to easily and clearly identify the different locations within the building.

Way finding diagrams use simple and universal pictures to depict the exhibits and other programmatic spaces within the museum.

Images such as a carousel horse denote the carousel wing, a typical place setting depicts the café, and a spaceship locates the outer space exhibit, etc. There are also simple map handouts of the spatial layouts.

The user maintains a sense of place and direction within the building. Due to the overall size of the building, the rooms are large and voluminous and therefore there are only 8 large exhibits on the first floor which are delineated by the axial symmetry of the building’s design. They make use of each pre-existing area without adding any dividers or spatial organizers besides the

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exhibits themselves. The basement is also easy to navigate with two ways down either through the outdoors display into the “Wonderland” exhibit or through the City of Philadelphia space and into the “Out Neighborhood” exhibit.

Whichever option the user chooses to take

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down, the only path to get to other exhibits or get back up is in a straight line that contains little side exhibits. The signage is simple and there are maps in each wing of the building to display where exhibits are located.

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he main floor makes the most use out of the ample natural lighting due to the vertical height and accompanying tall windows. Most of the main floor spaces do not even need any artificial lighting to completely illuminate an exhibit, just a few accent artificial lights. There are no means in place to control this ample flow of natural light. The windows are so large and due to the historical aspects of the building, a system is not able to be put in place to try to control any direct lighting within the space.

In the basement of the building where additional exhibits exist, artificial lighting is necessary as there are no windows. At points in the basement, spots become dim and appear more unused because of the lack of light and the heavy floor construction. The combination of low lighting and the construction give the space a myriad of dim areas that appear to be less used than their more well-lit counterparts.

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Fixtures, Furniture, & Equipment

Sustainability

Materials

Each exhibit and area in the building, requires its own set of fixtures and equipment in order to operate in a seamless manner. The cafĂŠ area requires easily moveable chairs and tables that are able to be configured into large or small gatherings depending on the size of group in the area. Hamilton Hall requires an open plan that becomes occupied by collapsible furniture in order to creatively manage and change the space configuration of the space for any specific event that may be held there. Each exhibit retains permanent, built-in fixtures with few moveable parts as they are all meant to stay cohesive and long-lasting pieces to the Please Touch Museum experience.

According to an exhibit technician of the museum, any changes that were made to the historical, city owned building were limited and constrained in order to maintain the character and historic nature to the space. Therefore, decisions made regarding sustainability were not taken into consideration and the materials used for the renovation, to his knowledge did not incorporate sustainable design principles; certainly not holistically.

All exhibits are made on site and in house by the exhibit technicians. They are made of wood, MDF, plastic, foam, and plaster. Most surfaces are hard and polished in order to make them more durable and easier to clean for the staff as well as the guests at the museum. The actual construction materials of the interior range from plaster walls and stone columns to vinyl and carpet floorings to accommodate the user needs of the space and respect the safety requirements of the primary space users (children).

Public vs. Private Since Memorial Hall was designed to be an art or exhibit gallery, there is a clear separation between the public spaces and the private or back of house spaces. All of the private spaces are actually kept in the back of the building as well as in the basement and mezzanine levels.

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Finishes Surfaces are finished with paint or a plastic finish that covers all blemishes and makes the exhibits resistant to the wear and tear from children’s playing. The exhibit constructions also try to eliminate sharp edges bearing in mind the ages and heights of the children using and interacting with the museum.

Color

Acoustics

The color palate in the museum changes per each exhibit, but each scheme retains bright and stimulating colors in order to influence the user responses to the exhibits. For example, the Outer Space exhibits make use of blues, purples, greys, and blacks in order to convey the pre-conceived notions associated with outer space. Each space utilizes a range of colors that complement each other and reflect the theme of the area.

The Please Touch Museum does tend to get very noisy due to the sounds of children interacting and playing. The staff and designers at Please Touch combatted this problem by incorporating soft materials and surfaces to fill the large rooms and aid in sound absorption.

The ground floor does not have as much of a problem as the first floor does due to the comparatively lower ceilings and presence of carpet flooring and textiles.

Spaces, Rooms, & Adjacencies Given the original functions of Memorial Hall which was designed to be an art and exhibition hall, the square footages were built to accommodate large numbers of people, some that may stop for a while and some that will continue to move through the space. Therefore in its present state, there is sufficient room for guests of the museum to either stop and play at the exhibits or wander around the spaces without any interruptions by either sizing limitations or overcrowding.

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List of Spaces Ground Floor_ Exhibits: Roadside Attractions – 6100 sq. ft.

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Flight Fantasy – 3300 sq. ft.

River Adventures – 8000 sq. ft.

Two toddler areas Carousel Wing – 9000 sq. ft.

Main Atrium (Hamilton Hall) – 5500 sq. ft.

Please Touch Toy Store Catering Company office Coat Room

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Employee Spaces Restrooms Café with adjoining Kitchen & dining Meeting Rooms for private use

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Mezzanine_ Meeting Rooms Administrative spaces Offices

Basement_ Exhibits: City Capers – 8000 sq. ft.

Wonderland – 7100 sq. ft.

Centennial Exploration 4100 sq. ft.

One toddler area Wood Shop Storage Area for tables, chairs, etc.

Classrooms Employee Locker Room Restrooms

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The best aspects about the museum are the ample ceiling height and the flow of spaces from one to the next. The ceiling height creates tall spaces with large windows and abundant amounts of daylight to use rather than artificial lighting. The height also allows the museum to create exhibits of a larger scale that utilize the whole space both vertically and horizontally. Memorial Hall was originally intended to be an exhibition space and art gallery so the rooms were designed to flow seamlessly from one to the next and provide plenty of room for circulation amongst exhibits. This facility is unique due to the fact that it is housed in such an old building that was constructed in a relatively short amount of time. The museum manages to preserve the integrity of the centennial hall while highlighting all the modern necessities for childhood learning and development.

What doesn’t work about the museum is the location of the store to the side of the atrium without any signage so it doesn’t receive much traffic and therefore less revenue. The other problem that was expressed by Mr. Schill was that the museum doesn’t appeal to a wide range of audiences so it doesn’t keep people coming back for as long as other museums that aren’t geared solely to children.

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There were only two issues I saw with the relationship between public and private spaces. The first was the location of a mechanical room and an electrical room right next to the basement entrance to Wonderland. They were just two regular doors labeled appropriately and probably kept under lock and key, but I felt that they should have been hidden better. Aesthetically speaking, as a guest to a museum, I expect all of the mechanical and electrical rooms to be kept out of the public eye and not protruding into an exhibit.

The second location that had an issue with public and private boundaries was the connecting hallway between the café and the rainforest/carousel exhibits. It was a small corridor that only used cloth screen partitions to block the public from the café kitchen space as well as kitchen storage area. It felt like an area that was not supposed to have public traffic walking through it. It allowed users to see messy storage areas as well as hear all the staff in the kitchen. The only thing I would change about the building would be to make a bit more use of the vertical space, as well as create a more inviting atmosphere for the store and café which both sit a little out of the way with not much signage or reason to pull guests in. case study _ please touch museum

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imagery

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im _1 _ http://www.townscapesinc.com/wp-content/gallery/philadelphia-landmarks/please-touch-museum.gif im _2 _ http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/azstarnet.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/48/1484b8bb-e137-5f65-97a9-515acc409bcd/51e

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im _3 _ http://phlvisitorcenter.com/sites/default/files/images/attraction/048%20Please%20Touch%20Museum.jpg im _4 _ http://weekendtrips.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/pleasetouchmuseumfeatured.jpg im _5 _

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1287540/thumbs/o-KIDS-MUSEAUMS-facebook.jpg

im _6 _ http://press.visitphilly.com/uploads/photos/1555_l.jpg im _7 _ http://www.annandale-umc.org/preschool-programs/weekday-preschool im _8 _ http://mainlineparent.com/2013/07/main-line-family-fun-for-july-2013/ im _9 _ http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-595VpUyUGaE/UBaPWqdNylI/AAAAAAAAN4Y/7GVrSwIH8aU/s1600/touch+museum+philly.JPG im _10 _ Please Touch Museum floor plan guide im _11 _Photograph by Julia Larson im _12 _ http://philamuseum.tumblr.com/ im _13 _ http://theflowershowblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/flower-show-partners-with-please-touch-museum/ im _14 _ http://www.activityhero.com/biz/2468-the-franklin-institute-s-discovery-camp-philadelphia-pa/3234-discovery-camp/20359 im _15 _ http://amberhunnicutt.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/spy_logo_blk.jpeg

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information

_sources

3A _ ”Fairmount Park.” Visit Philly: Official Visitor and Travel Site. Accessed September 24, 2013. http://www.

visitphilly.com/outdoor-activities/philadelphia/fairmount-park/. citation 2

3A _ “Mission.” Please Touch Museum. Accessed September 24, 2013. http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/about

-us/mission/. citation 1

3A _ Roger W. Moss, Historic Landmarks of Philadelphia, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008),

2005. citation 3

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B

The Franklin Institute

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case study _ the franklin institute

building_ The Franklin Institute Parkway Museum District 222 N 20th St, Philadelphia, PA

original architect_ John T. Windrim in 1934 renovating architect_ SaylorGregg Architects Karabots Pavilion 2012-2014 size_ 81,000 square feet

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of public space, increasing to 100,000 sq. ft.

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he Franklin Institute was chosen as a case study for its entertaining and creative approach to an educational and informational learning experience. It serves the Philadelphia area as an attraction for the intellectual enrichment of all users within the city and tri-state area. School-aged children and their accompanying groups and families frequent this museum expecting an informative yet amusing experience through information, discovery, and interaction. It is the mission of The Franklin Institute, “In the spirit of inquiry and discovery embodied by Benjamin Franklin…to inspire a passion for learning about science and technology.”1 The museum aims to show the multifaceted characteristics of science and the unique ways it is a part of our everyday lives.

This museum experience is relevant to that of a sensory exhibition space because it focuses on the interaction between user and exhibit in order to convey concept and provoke learning and understanding by completing an action.

The museum has been designed to facilitate a learning environment that teaches people of all ages the importance of science, scientific learning, and the continuation of scientific advancement in a modern society. The Franklin Institute has balanced learning by pairing moments of discovery and

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“Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn’t know the first thing about either.”

- Marshall McLuhan curiosity with learning by reading, seeing, and hearing. It is this engaging, yet instructive environment which evokes the innate inquisitive nature of thehuman psyche that is most interesting about this case study.

The way of the future is not about learning through lecture, but learning through action and discovery. Marshall McLuhan once said, “Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn’t know the first thing about either.” These two qualities must be merged in order to nurture the growth and development of a successful museum space. In the creation of The Franklin

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Institute as well as this Capstone Museum, it is the design mission to educate while entertaining in order to leave the greatest impression on the users. They need to discover for themselves the information the museum is trying to convey; only then will the museum leave its mark on a user and keep patrons returning to see what else they can find. Contemporary exhibit design must focus on the user experience and the way information is relayed in order to be considered successful. They must engage all five senses and completely immerse the user in order to provoke the desired interactions.

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he Franklin Institute resides in in the Parkway Museum district adjacent to the Ben Franklin Parkway and Logan Square. The area is filled with extraordinary museums, schools, businesses, and residences along a connecting roadway that runs from the famous “Rocky steps” of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to LOVE

“The Parkway serves as a vibrant setting for many major events throughout the year…Philadelphians and visitors alike visit the Parkway Museums District to explore the cultural institutions, walk beneath a canopy of international flags, enjoy the beautiful Fairmount Park setting, and admire the unique outdoor sculptures and fountains.”2 This is the area Park at 16th street.

in which historic Fairmount Park (where the Please Touch Museum resides) meets center city Philadelphia and serves as a cultural transition between park settings and city surroundings.

Logan Square and the other three squares of Philadelphia create points of intersection and destination within the city. The location of The Franklin Institute in relation to both the Parkway and the square creates an idealistic setting for the cultural and historical relevance of the museum to the city as well as its namesake.

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he building itself was designed by the architect John T Windrim and built in 1934. Despite the presence of the Great Depression, the Poor Richard Club, the City Board of Trust, the Benjamin Franklin Memorial, Inc., and the Franklin Institute, were all able to raise the funds necessary to build the massive stone and steel structure that would house the Franklin Institute from that time until the present day.

The original concept Windrim wanted was to create a completely square building with 4 wings.

In the end, only 2 of the 4 wings the designer had envisioned were actually built. They were meant to surround a memorial for Benjamin Franklin which would sit in the front atrium and celebrate his accomplishments as a statesman and a scientist in the beginnings of our nation’s history. The current construction of the Karabots Pavilion is adding one of the two remaining wings to the Franklin Institute which financial situations of the 30’s had prevented.

The Franklin Institute building was constructed in the Neo-Classical style that was popular to use for stately and notable buildings. The use of the NeoClassical style paid homage to the great thinkers, philosophers, and scientists of the ancient Greek and Roman classical times. It symbolically stood for the strong foundation for which modern science and thinking found its origins. im_7

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n the spirit of inquiry and discovery embodied by Benjamin Franklin, the mission of The Franklin Institute is to inspire a passion for learning about science and technology. The Institute has become a dynamic agent of change through its rich array of internationally recognized exhibitions and programs, lectures and discussions themed to illuminate issues in contemporary science, community outreach initiatives, and its series of innovative partnerships in public education.

The exhibits present in the museum today utlizes contemporary designs that appeal to the widest range of users.

The user entry into the museum is is not indicative of the innovative and contemporary approach the museum tries to embody. Visitors and guests to the museum walk up a grand flight of stone steps. As the grand neo-classical columns that sit upon this pediment draw near, the immensity of the structure overwhelms the user and commands a respect and reverence for the grand and dignified nature of the building.

After users pass through the two-story entry, the interior opens into a voluminous space with multiple directions to choose from; either the restaurant, the guest services, or straight ahead to face the man behind the idea for this museum and most of Philadelphia as it is

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known today.

The main atrium of the museum contrasts the architectural style and user reaction evoked by the design. Large circular skylights allow light to penetrate and brighten the three story volume. Curved ramps and bright signage

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reflect contemporary design trends and showcase the museum as a forerunner in modern society. The museum keeps with the times in order to continue to appeal to wide audiences and keep visitors returning each year.

A traveling exhibit space on the second floor of the left wing acts as the seasonal advertisement to entice new and returning guests. Much like the entry to the building, the museum atrium offers users several directions to explore; the museum science store, the IMAX Theater, and multiple levels of exhibits.

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Each floor of exhibits can be seen through the connecting circulation and transition hallways between different areas. A four story “Pendulum Stair� punctures the center of all exhibit spaces, connecting the floors, and juxtaposing the contemporary designed exhibits with a classical monumental stair. All exhibits are maintained by an in-house design team that works to keep the interiors designed to contemporary standards so as to never appear old-fashioned and outdated. Exhibits cater to the realms of present-day societal norms and issues. One exhibit diagrams the amount of cell-phone transmission data and another presents the current global movement to a more sustainable society. The designs focus on providing the most accurate information accompanied by some form of hands on activity/structure/exhibit to reinforce the lesson taught.

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he Franklin Institute is a privately owned, non-profit organization with board of directors dedicated to the education of the youth and community of the greater Philadelphia area. The building itself is owned by this organization, and operates in order to maintain the legacy of Benjamin Franklin.

Appropriately placed within is the memorial to Mister Benjamin Franklin himself who gave so much to both Philadelphia and the science world. This is the only National Memorial that is privately owned.

The space is typically used as a museum and functions that way 7 days a week. Outside of operating hours, the building is rented out to different groups and organizations for use of the Ben Franklin Memorial hall for events such as weddings, proms, and ceremonies. The majority of visitors to the museum are in fact guests of The Franklin Institute that are allowed to move freely between all three floors of exhibition spaces, cafes, and theaters. There is no demographic restrictions or dominant category that the museum is designed to cater to.

There are also classrooms and recreation rooms provided for additional lessons and learning for outside school groups to come in and partake in separate activities. The museum provides field trip planners to school groups in order to meet state and city educational requirements for inclusion in local school curriculums.

The main users of the space include about 150 full-time staff members and about 350 part-time and temporary employees. In the past three years, The Franklin Institute has gotten about 800,000 visitors each year. These visitors are comprised mainly of school aged children under the age of 18 and their accompanying families, friends, and school groups, but the museum does its best to accommodate all age groups and appeal to a wider range of audiences. The museums busiest days are Saturdays, holidays, spring break week and Christmas break week.

These are all times when families or tourists are more likely to visit without work or school restrictions.

Its goal is to provide an educational or entertaining experience to anyone who walks into this historical institution.

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Post Occupancy Survey In 2012, The Department of Research and Evaluation of The Franklin Institute conducted exit surveys to determine customer satisfaction as well as provide information to improve the museum experience. The surveys targeted audiences ages 18 and older, and was able to conduct 250 comprehensive surveys to gather information pertaining to circumstances of the visit, the guest’s experience, visitor location origin, personal demographic information, and lastly the respondent’s media preferences and science interests.3

Some of their findings are detailed here:

Almost two- thirds (64%) of all surveyed visitors were repeat visitors to the Franklin Institute.

Among respondents who have previously visited the Institute, 54% have been to the museum within the last two years, 34% had come back within a year.

Citing multiple reasons for visiting the museum today, an impressive 26% of reasons given were “To learn something,” and an equally big reason (25%) was to come to the museum for entertainment.

“Spending time with family/friends” and “Interest in science” were also popular reasons (16% and 14% respectively) for visits.

While a large majority (81%) of surveyed visitors did not experience inconveniences during their visits, 19% of respondents did mention experiencing inconveniences. Accepting multiple reasons for inconveniences experienced, 21% of inconveniences involved viewing exhibits; another 19% indicated Museum Parking to be of concern. A significant 26 out of 57 reasons given for inconveniences included: Large/noisy/unruly school groups (9); “Non-working exhibits” (5); Museum “too cold” (3) and inconveniences with facilities such as water fountains, food options, towels in restrooms, etc.

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Sixty-nine percent of all surveyed visitors came to see the museum in a family group.

About 8% of visitors in the survey came with an Organized Group. Most respondents (61%) did not buy any food or drink in the museum. Sixty-four percent or respondents reported driving to the museum; however, only 19% of these drivers parked in the museum’s parking garage.

Breaking down visitors in the survey by age group, about a quarter (26%) of the reported total of 668 group members was 60 or above in age, the largest single group. A little over a quarter (28%) were between the ages of 40 and 59. Visitors below the age of 20 represented another quarter (25%) of the visitors.

Eighty-two percent of members in responding groups were identified as Caucasians.

Hispanics (6%), African Americans (5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4%) were significantly less represented.

A notably large diversity in the self-reported ethnicity in the “Other” category included Canadian, Jamaican, Indian (2 each), European, Russian, Midwestern, and Jewish.

A small number (16) of respondents identified having disabled members in their groups. Movement restriction among the elderly was the most often cited disability.

In terms of interest in science, 41% of respondents said that they were “Very interested” in science, another 53% were “Somewhat interested.” A very encouraging 76% of respondents said that they “Learned something new about science or technology” during their visit to the museum.

Exploring multiple ways in which they learned new things, “Reading an exhibit panel” was mentioned most frequently (42% of responses), followed by “Using an exhibit” (32%). “Heard during a show” (18%) was a positive recognition of the many shows and demonstrations attended by visitors. case study _ the franklin institute

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Public vs. Private Since it’s initial construction in 1934, the Franklin Institute has been designed to be a museum. It focuses on keeping guests entertained while educating them at the same time. Therefore, the guests are never exposed to any of the “back of house” private rooms. They are guided from one room to the next without any obvious signs of mechanical or employee functions. As a user, you would have to search beyond the exhibit facades in order to find any sort of operational rooms. All shaded areas in the accompanying diagrams are public.

Acoustics

Finishes

The Franklin Institute is an extremely large and expansive building that could easily make a user confused and get lost within its many floors. Due to the large quantities of visitors the museum receives and not necessarily the size of the rooms, acoustics can be quite a problem.

The staff and designers at The Franklin Institute combatted this problem by incorporating soft materials and surfaces to fill the large rooms

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and aid in sound absorption. They used both the old materials of the original neoclassical building and contemporary materials that are popular in design today. Most rooms are carpeted and have ACT ceilings. The large exhibits in each space also help with sound absorption and the reflection of sound around a space.

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Surfaces are finished with paint or a plastic finish that covers all blemishes and makes the exhibits resistant to the wear and tear from constant playing. Exhibits also try to eliminate sharp edges and severe corners in their exhibits, bearing in mind the ages and heights of the children and adults using the exhibits.

Lighting The museum utilizes both natural and artificial lighting where necessary. Some exhibits like the rail station and aircraft operate under natural light because that is the most prevalent and relatable lighting situation to portray the scene in its true state. At night, artificial lighting takes over as the primary lighting source. The light blue ceilings of the aircraft hangar, paired with the tall, frosted windows of the space add quality to the authenticity of the display. Other exhibits like the human heart, electricity, and outer space use the appropriate artificial lighting to create controlled staging effects that set the mood and atmosphere of the exhibit.

Materials All exhibits are outsourced to various exhibit design companies that comply with the education and learning qualifications that will make an exhibit well-suited for the philosophy of the Franklin Institute. All repairs are made in house by the exhibit technicians. Displays are made of wood, MDF, plastic, foam, metal, and plaster. Most surfaces are hard and polished in order to make them more durable and easier to clean for the staff as well as the guests at the museum.

Color The materials and color selections are all appropriately chosen based on the type of exhibit with the audience (mainly youth) in mind. All the exhibits, especially the ones meant to be touched and used are built with durable materials like plastics, synthetics, and metals.

Unlike the Please Touch Museum, the Franklin Institute only has a repairs shop and not a complete wood shop in order to construct new exhibits. All exhibits are designed in house, but outsourced to exhibit companies.

The color palate in the museum changes per each exhibit, but each scheme retains bright and stimulating colors in order to influence the user responses to the exhibits. For example, the Outer Space exhibits make use of blues, purples, greys, and blacks in order to convey the pre-conceived notions associated with outer space. Each space utilizes a range of colors that complement each other and reflect the theme of the area.

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Fixtures, Furniture, & Equipment Each exhibit and area in the building, requires its own set of fixtures and equipment in order to operate in a seamless manner. The cafĂŠ area requires easily moveable chairs and tables that are able to be configured into large or small gatherings depending on the size of group in the area. The atrium requires an open plan that becomes occupied by collapsible furniture in order to creatively manage and change the space configuration of the space for any specific event that may be held there. Each exhibit retains permanent, builtin fixtures with few moveable parts as they are all meant to stay cohesive and long-lasting pieces to the Franklin Institute experience.

Budget This building needed a middle-high construction budget in order to be completed up to the expectations of the interior functions. The Franklin Institute building has been around since 1934 so work has been done periodically over the years in order to maintain the systems within the building as well as keep the museum current in its technology uses. Exhibits are also maintained, renovated, and created as the museum expands and the ages of the exhibits increase. The current construction on The Franklin Institute is the $10 million dollar expansion dubbed the Nicholas and Athena Karabots Pavilion after its primary and generous donors. The project is being completed by SaylorGregg Architects and will be finished in June 2014, two years after breaking ground. It is a 53,000 sq. ft. addition being constructed on the left wing of the building.

The pavilion will house a permanent brain exhibit similar to the famous Giant Heart, and an extra 8000 sq. ft. to the traveling exhibit space to give the temporary exhibits a total of 16000 sq. ft.

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Spaces, Rooms, & Adjacencies All of the exhibits in the museum average from 3200 to 5000 sq. ft. per exhibit. The general square footages for each space are acceptable but some could definitely use more space or less exhibits. Some of the most crowded were the planes exhibit, the sports room, and the traveling exhibit space.

The Spy Exhibit was where we felt the most overcrowded and uncomfortable. It was not an exhibit that followed the same principles as the rest of the museum and the circulation was confusing and crowded and very tiring for the amount of money you would pay to experience that exhibit along with the rest of the museum.

List of Spaces: 1st floor (ground level): Public Access Rooms: Planetarium Franklin Theater Restrooms Coatroom Group Lunchrooms Education Center Parking Garage First Aid Exhibits: Train Factory Space Command KidScience Pendulum Stairs Private Rooms:

Design Offices

General Operation Offices

Sales & Catering Office

Human Resources

Office Tech Shop for exhibit repairs

Employee Lounge and Lockers

Lunchroom Kitchens

2nd Floor (Main level):

3rd Floor:

Exhibits: Amazing Machine Changing Earth Giant Heart Electricity

Franklin Air Show

4th Floor:

Public Access Rooms: Public Access Rooms:

Traveling Exhibit Space, currently SPY:

Franklin Foodworks (restaurant)

The Secret World of Espionage

Benjamin Franklin National Memorial

Exhibits:

Main Atrium Skyline Bike -Ticket Counter Demonstration Theater -Membership Desk

50 Greatest Photographs

-Franklin Foodworks Express Sport’s Challenge -Mini Café

Sir Isaac’s Loft -Information Desk Demonstration Theater -Sci-Store Restrooms -IMAX Theater

Private Rooms: -Restrooms

Executive Office Wing -ATM Marketing Offices -First Aid

Public Access Rooms: Observatory

Private Rooms: Visitor Services

Theater Staff Office Meeting Rooms Administrative spaces

Museum Programming Office

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hat works best about the Franklin Institute is its dedication to learning and creating an atmosphere that promotes the basic scientific information that surrounds our lives in everyday living. It provides lessons and information on everything from biology and anatomy to physics and how science is used in other aspects of life such as its current Spy Exhibition. The best characteristics are the variety of exhibits the Institute provides.

It covers a variety of science genres to appeal to every user as well as every age group. There are enough exhibits that cater to the needs of children and adults who are never too old to learn something or be entertained.

One of the most unique features of the museum is its approach to curriculum guided learning. The museum offers school groups tours that will cater to the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania guidelines for learning to ensure that visits to the museum are educational and teach the necessary lessons. All learning experiences provided for each school group is unique and individualized to meet the course guidelines set forth by the state and the school.

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What does not work about the space is the volume of information presented. Yes, it is essential to have all the necessary information to explain an exhibit, but for the amount of space the museum has compared to the amount of exhibits they try to present, there is not enough room for circulation. There is so much information put forth, whether it is signage detailing where in the museum you are, or a poster explaining about the exhibit. It is a bit of a sensory overload and it left adult users feeling claustrophobic, hot, and overwhelmed. For a child with a smaller attention span, the arrangement can be seen as better so that way there is always something to do and it keeps even the youngest user - who may not understand the scientific principles entertained.

The circulation between exhibits worked well, each one had a clear entrance and the exhibit led users to a distinct exit into the next area.

The problem with circulation came from within the exhibits themselves. When experiencing the museum as a guest navigating within an exhibit was very overwhelming. There was a lot of information to look at, a lot of visual stimulation, and guests found themselves backtracking through an exhibit in order to see everything. So most of the exhibits were not

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very efficient in their circulation systems. The exhibits that had very successful circulation were actually those with a shared entrance and exit and no entryways to other exhibits in the middle of the room. Those successful circulation exhibits were the Franklin Air Show, the Train Factory, and KidScience. The only other exhibit that maintained a successful circulation pattern was the Changing Earth exhibit which encompasses the Pendulum Stairs and is not that wide. It allows the guest to go from one end to the next without missing any information or having to backtrack.

Another space in the museum that had circulation issues was the traveling Spy exhibit.

It is a large 8000 sq. ft. room that the exhibit design team partitioned and created a maze of winding square rooms. Each room had exhibit material along the walls and then had an exhibit in the middle of the room. Due to the overwhelming amount of people allowed in at once to the exhibit, the room becomes overcrowded, loud, and difficult to navigate in. Most of the information was presented in written form, therefore users had to stop and stare at an exhibit for an extended period of time. This caused large gatherings of people in one spot and prohibited movement to other locations. Users felt extremely disinterested

in the material as well as claustrophobic. There was not a smooth directional flow from one room to the next, but rather a disorienting movement with no clear direction. Sometimes users were even unable to decipher where the exit to the room was located because of theconfusing nature of the exhibit and the large crowd.

was the main atrium. Upon entering, guests are ushered through a roped off ticket line that resembled an airport security maze. Across the atrium was the food stand, the membership booth, and to the left is the information booth.

All of these booths looked like afterthoughts in the design of the space and left the remaining room crowded and extremely loud.

Because of the assorted wings and the partition additions made to the space, users felt lost and confused as to where they were. The overcrowding in each exhibit space did not help my sense of orientation. Many times we had to consult the map to orient ourselves. One place in particular that was found very confusing was the basement and the outer space exhibit.

In order to access the rest of the floor users had to wander through the tightly packed exhibit and your pathways were interrupted by people, exhibits, and a need to get somewhere efficiently. There was a lot of bumping and near misses when it came to running into other people and children while in the basement. It was found to be irritating to backtrack through an exhibit to exit while many other people are trying to enter. It caused a lot of volume and confusion and added to the anxiety felt in the exhibits.

The presence of the food booth in the middle of the space made it messy, smelly, and changed the atmosphere from a science museum that also features an IMAX theater to an IMAX theater that also contains a science museum. Also, the actual entrance to the science museum is a bit confusing. There is no sense of guiding circulation. Once you found the sign that said “Science Museum” (above the membership and ticket signs) you end up walking towards the restrooms and the elevators which makes it appear to be an exit or secondary entrance, not the main entrance to the grand Franklin Institute Science Museum.

The other space that did not work well at all

The culture is one of a typical educational museum with a bit more hands on additions to keep all the information relevant as well as interesting for the myriad of visitors. The intention works very well, but as stated previously there is a lot of information and some exhibits are set up better than others.

One in particular that looked fairly new and had a nice balance between the amounts of information paired with the exhibits was the engineering exhibit. Everything was set up as a hands on activity that took the user through the basic mechanics of engineering with simple explanations that added the right amount of information. Another example was the train and locomotive exhibit that was designed to look like a historic railway station. The difference between the successful and less successful exhibits can be found in the presentation of information, the approach to circulation, and the amount of hands-on activities to complement and enhance the material. It is these factors that must be evaluated and worked into the design of the Capstone Sensory Museum.

“Education is learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know.”

-Daniel J. Boorstin

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imagery

_ sources

im _1 _ All rights reserved by The Franklin Institute Science Museum im _2 _ http://www.flickr.com/photos/thefranklin/7495719546/sizes/o/in/set-72157630406206438/ im _3 _ http://www.flickr.com/photos/thefranklin/7495682442/sizes/o/in/set-72157630406206438/ im _4 _

All rights reserved by The Franklin Institute Science Museum

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/thefranklin/9494309861/sizes/o/in/photostream/

im _6 _ http://press.visitphilly.com/releases/a-dozen-insider-tips-for-touring-philadelphia-s-art-culture-filled-benjamin-franklin-parkway im _7 _ http://www.flickr.com/photos/99117185@N00/7922863548/ im _8 _ The Franklin Institute Pamphlet Floorplan im _9 _ http://www.mediamerge.com/projects/franklin-3d-theater/ im _10 _ http://www.centercityteam.com/2012/08/08/franklin-institute-progressing-on-nicholas-and-athena-karabots-pavilion/ im _11 _ http://www.flickr.com/photos/thefranklin/7495671292/sizes/o/in/set-72157630406206438/ im _12 _ http://www.flickr.com/photos/thefranklin/9494163945/sizes/o/in/set-72157635044971694/ im _13 _ http://www.flickr.com/photos/thefranklin/9494142419/sizes/o/in/set-72157635044971694/ im _14 _ http://press.visitphilly.com/media/show/id/2806/indice/18 im _15 _ http://press.visitphilly.com/media/show/id/2806/indice/17

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information

_sources

3B _ Borun, Minda, Romola Bose, Liam Dougherty, Jeanie Ho, and James Jones, comps. The Franklin Institute

Customer Satisfaction Survey 2012. Report. Department of Research and Evaluation, Feb. 2013. citation 3

3B _ “Mission and History.” The Franklin Institute. Accessed September 27, 2013. http://www2.fi.edu/shared

/history. php. citation 1

3B _ “The Present Parkway.” Parkway Museums District: Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, PA. Accessed

September 29, 2013. http://www.parkwaymuseumsdistrictphiladelphia.org/About-the-Parkway /Present/39/. citation 2

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case study _ the sensorium

The Sensorium

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exhibit_ Sephora presents Sensorium Lucid Dreams from the Sensory World Meatpacking District 414 West 14th Street, Manhattan, NY

exhibit dates_ October 7, 2011 - November 27, 2011

designer_ Department of the 4th Dimension Creative Director Matt Checkowski Executive Producer Ron Cicero

producer_ Neverstop

size_ 3,700 square feet im_1

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he Sensorium: Lucid Dreams from the Sensory World was chosen as a case study for its ability to immerse users in a multi-sensory experience focusing on the olfactory system and the psychological impacts and reactions caused by fragrance. It has been called “an immersive

journey through the world of fragrance as an interactive exhibition exploring the emotions and instincts behind scent.”1 This exhibit displays the necessary factors to design an immersive experience that engages the user, stimulates reactions, and nurtures the experiential qualities exhibition design must embody. The whole museum/exhibition is a translation of the scent narrative into a visual and physical experience which allows the user to obtain a personal connection to the exhibited work. Using the sense of smell to trigger visual, physical, and mental reactions is unique to each individual user and adds to the quality of the interactive space. It is this “full body experience” that allows a user to truly understand the message and intentions behind an exhibit. This end result defines a successfully designed display of art, creativity, perfume, and sociological impact. The Sensorium’s implication of these tactics create an excellent case study for the future procurement of a Sensory Museum.

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“The

Sensorium...

offered us a tremendous opportunity to

reengage, educate & excite

about scent in an innovative way.”

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ephora, the leading specialty beauty retailer, and Firmenich, global leaders in fragrance and flavors, collaborated in 2011 to create the world’s first “pop-up scent museum” entitled The Sensorium. This ground-breaking, multi-sensory fragrance museum geared to stimulate the olfactory system, was driven by the need to introduce consumers to new and innovative ways to think about scent.2 The Sensorium was a dynamic experience that explored the emotion and instinct of scent through interactive experiences, compelling film, narratives and three-dimensional art.

“Fragrance is such an important part of our business, and our clients are always searching for the newest and most unique offerings,”

said Sharon Rothstein, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Sephora. “The Sensorium™,

created with the experience, knowledge and insight of Firmenich, offered us a tremendous opportunity to reengage, educate and excite about scent in an innovative way.”3 The clientele also wanted to create a museum that delved into the realm of scent memory formation and the impact of fragrances on a person’s life. Both Firmenich and Sephora are industry leading companies that invent and market products that shape cognizance of the human persona in regards to external and internal body image perception. “Firmenich has a history of inspiring industry partners with the magic inside fragrance through our Sensorium,”

said Debra Butler, Vice President of Creative Marketing for Firmenich. “We are thrilled by the opportunity to work with Sephora to share the Sensorium dream with the people in a way that will educate about scent as well as illuminate its emotional impact on our lives.”4 The collaboration between the D4D design team and the “alchemist visionaries” at Firmenich united creative minds amongst all fields to design “a truly unique, interactive experience:

two interconnected environments, First Scent and Lucid Dreams, which aim to delight, surprise and engage visitors through the magic and beauty of scent.” 5

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ephora and Firmenich aimed to target younger consumers ages 18-34 that they feel have walked away from the fine fragrance category and have been sucked into a media rich and saturated market of cheap and common products. The intent of the Sensorium was to “strip away the traditional marketing

that relied exclusively on “seduction” and engage this audience in the art and science of finefragrance.” 6 Both companies had to remarket the concept of perfumes and fragrances as an art form without the use of ads, influential media, or illusions. In doing so, this project required a high-end budget in order to meet the technological requirements of the design.

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“We aimed to reshape the modern consumer’s relationship with fine fragrance by presenting them with original scents, not popular or commercial brands, in an environment that encourages and rewards discovery & experimentation.”7 The goal was to reengage and captivate the consumer through the perfume making process as imagined by four world class perfumers and their dreamt fragrances. “We wanted to create an experience that led you around by your nose, visualized the invisible, and sparked a new kind of magic for fine fragrance.”8 3C _96

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ephora’s Sensorium was located in New York’s famed meat-packing district, around the corner from Sephora’s flagship store.

The museum’s exhibition dates coincided with the opening of this flagship store and both companies were able to market their products and brand through the exhibition. Apart from the exhibits proximity to the sponsor’s leading store, the location of the exhibit in the meat packing district, did not affect its content. This type of pop-up museum which relies heavily on an artificial exhibition construction is designed to be located anywhere and therefore has an indistinct relationship to the surrounding site and context of the city in which it is inhabiting.

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n the spirit of scent memory formation and discovery, the olfactory narrative this museum displays was designed to re-think the fragrance understanding while providing an immersive and “4D” experience to users.

The perfumery designers at Firmenich and the concept development designers at The D4D, wanted to reintroduce the concept of art within science to a new market that reacts to sensory stimulation, simple media, large graphics, and cognitive understanding of a product. They decided to market perfumes and fragrance products without the frills of advertisement and give users a product unblemished by superfluous marketing tactics.

“We discovered that there was an exciting story to tell about perfume; one that hadn’t been communicated in an industry that is overloaded with celebrity sponsorship, junky fragrances that are too heavy, and marketing that hasn’t evolved in 30 years. We wanted the true artists —the perfumers— to share their unregulated passion, unfettered by brands or positioning, because we knew it would resonate and connect with people in our sensory-scrambled world.”9 There was a need to explore the emotions and instincts associated with scent through an interactive and immersive multi-media design. im_6

The exhibition focuses on these scent memories, tactile experiences, the history of perfumery, and its connection to our

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perception of beauty and the world. The use of the First Scent and Lucid Dreams components solidifies the partner’s belief that scent is intuitive, innate, and most often a subconscious reaction that forms memories, connections, and reactions to product, places, and events. The museum itself focuses on six distinct encounters with fragrance that begins with the history of perfumery: how it is made, how the concept of scent became part of everyday life, how we think about and interact with scent. It then dives into the brain’s primal reaction to fragrance and how it helps us form intelligent and cognitive responses; while then asking the question, “What would life be like without scent?” The pop-up exhibit features sensory deprivation chambers that provide firsthand accounts of people living without a functioning olfactory system which also relates to their inability to taste and connect to things that people subconsciously experience and most times subconsciously react to every day. Then the exhibit looks into the chemistry behind scent extraction and how the combination of fragrances into one “scent” can generate specific responses and trigger unique reminiscent experiences.10 Then comes the evocative visual scent relation through lucid dreaming, followed by a fragrance bar at the end of the tour to smell unmarked and un-branded fragrances which focuses on discovering preferences through emotion rather than marketing results.

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exhibit_

design team_

First Scent

First Scent Content Animator -

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Ken Pelletier First Scent Director of Photography - Keith Dunkerley First Scent Editor - Leander Rappmann

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exhibit_

Lucid Dreams design team_ Lucid Dreams Physical Lead Designer -

Elena Manferdini

Lucid Dreams Content Lead Designer -

Ken Pelletier

Lucid Dreams Interactive Lead Designer -

Gautam Rangan

Lucid Dreams Designer-

Justin Lui

Sound Designer -

Patrick Cicero

Soldering and Technical Assistance -

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he two exemplary models for the mission and concept behind the Sensorium are found in the featured exhibits, First Scent and Lucid Dreams. First Scent takes the user into a small, dimly lit room with two wall-sized projection screens featuring clips which are meant to trigger collective emotion and a personal connection or imagination to that particular scent. The imagery focuses on auditory and visual stimulants to evoke aromatic reactions and let the viewer bring forth personal history with everyday smells and the associations they have made with them. The six aromatic experiences the exhibit focuses on are entitled 6:01 am, Bacon & Biscuits, Spring is Back, Summer Vacation, Weekend Splendor, and Warm Embrace.

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ucid Dreams is the design team’s second feature work, focusing on creating an individual experience relating to the actual act of smelling something. Users are brought into another dimly lit room, this time with four projection screens featuring the words Creation, Hope, Wonder, and Floating. Each of these screens has a high-tech, glowing, flower like structure set upon a pedestal that beckons the user forward like a moth to a flame. Much like someone would bend to smell a flower in a garden, the designers entice visitors to the museum with a glowing ball infused with fragrance, which when smelled creates a catalyst reaction on the screen based on the strength and unique sound by the physical act of smelling.12 The images are kaleidoscope visuals which relate to the blended smells imbued within this flower. The length and movement of the “dreams” relates to the distinct sound created while breathing and aims to function as a subconscious formulation of an aromatic reaction.

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Lighting The lighting effects implemented in the design of First Scent only make use of the ambient lighting acquired from wall-sized projection screens. It allows the user to become completely immersed in the visual experiences intended for the users to see.

In Lucid Dreams, the set-up is also a dim room lit by four vertical screens, but they are accompanied by ambient lighting from the glowing flower structures and theatrical LED spotlighting to emphasize the surreal, illusory, and dreamlike state in the exhibits content.

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Fixtures, Furniture, Equipment During the production and design of First Scent and Lucid Dreams, The Department of the 4th Dimension team worked on the visual experience with the custom designed perfumes, to ensure the visual and auditory elements were a perfect fit for each scent and would combine in a journey of heightened perception. The technical production of the interactive elements involved significant research and development including an examination of wind velocity from the physical action of smell and other triggers before landing on an auditory solution.13 A foreword by the Interactive Lead Designer in his portfolio depicts the development of the

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Lucid Dream construction as shown here:

“Lucid Dreams features 4 adjacent interactive sculptures designed to create a dreamlike, synesthetic experience for the visitor. The exhibit is a reactive environment that changes as the visitor smells the perfumes. I worked to prototype and construct the installation over two months. I developed the sensor system and software to visualize the sound of the visitor breathing as he or she inhales the perfume. I used

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the minimum sound library to process the audio input and identify the sound and shape of a sniff.

I designed the circuits to manage the sensor input using the Arduino microcontroller, and I built a system to visualize the input as rich procedural animation. Elena Manferdini produced the lasercut rear-projection fabric and the sculpture that houses the sensors. Justin Lui constructed the cables and the supportstructures for the sensors.�14

Color

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The principal color scheme of the museum reflected that of its sponsor, Sephora. Advertising media, signage, and the exhibits themselves displayed either a black or white dominant hue with accents of color which related to the displayed media content.

The actual museum part of the exhibit depicting the history and science behind perfumes were displayed mostly in white with varying accent hues reflective of the products or information displayed. The immersive experience parts in First Scent and Lucid Dreams used dim lighting to create the allusion of a black room with the only color emitted from the projections and accent lighting created to enhance user responses to the interactive sensory experience.

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The creation of this exhibit was focused on the experience The D4D and Firmenich teams wanted to create. Therefore, the materiality of the displays is less pronounced in order to maintain the illusory and experiential quality to the exhibits. The design relies heavily on auditory and visual productions projected on large and simple screens in small dark rooms. The simplistic nature and lack of furniture or fixtures forces users to interact with the space in a controlled and uninterrupted manner. The designers let the aromas of the perfumes and the visuals of the projections create the finishes to the space. Materiality of the actual construction was not as much of a focus as was the content of the displays and the subsequent user reactions.

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Awards When the project was released in 2011, its design and concept were so innovative that the resulting product was nominated and recognized for its ground-breaking and revolutionary approach to a new sensory experience.

Some of the awards and accolades are listed below:

Notable Mention in Interaction for the Core 77 International Design Awards Nomination for Technological Breakthrough at the FiFi awards Gold Pencil at the One Show Design Awards In-Book Slice at the D&AD Professional Awards Award for Spatial Design at the AICP Next Show

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Juror Comments The Core 77 International Design Awards jury team provided comments regarding the design:15

“Deserves the notable simply for extending interaction beyond The Big Screen. Few engage with multisensory feedback beyond sight and sound, and even force-feedback – and particularly the complexity of scent – and so huge credit to them for this. Good to see them also breaking up the visual display with the custom built screen element. Not sure they really achieved true depth of understanding of scent, but a notable effort, and an experience most will remember.”

– Dan Hill

“There’s a delightful reversal here- breathing in, rather than reaching out to interact.”

– Julia Whitney “One, it’s about smell, which is never considered enough. Two, it joins directly the act of smelling with the representation of engagement, which is a great insight and also context-appropriate.

Three, it’s beautiful.”

– Matt Webb

Conclusion Overall, Sensorium provides an excellent example of how empowering a brand’s presence can be made by walking the fine line between education and entertainment. It also provides valuable information regarding how to best incorporate technology and all of the senses to create a truly immersive and interactive exhibit. The standards and concepts for which the pop-up museum was designed have laid the foundation for continuing to push the boundaries of experiential design while creating unique user experiences and letting them discover the power of our senses in mind, body, and spirit. im_24

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imagery

_ sources

im _1 _ http://www.core77designawards.com/2012/recipients/lucid-dreams-sephora-sensorium/ im _2 _ http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/206/097/206097862_1280.jpg im _3 _ http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/263/168/263168485_960.jpg im _4 _ google maps im _5 _ http://www.behance.net/gallery/Sephora-Sensorium-First-Scent-Lucid-Dreams/2679895 im _6 _ http://images.wookmark.com/21457_f87b5ce35bd37b64a7fcc36600f944c0.jpg im _7 _ http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6215/6242849864_8fb6263f5c_b.jpg im _8 _ http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6093/6242849908_99b3a926b5_b.jpg im _9 _

http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2011/sephora-sensorium-lucid-dreams-from-the-sensory-world/

im _10 _ http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjchecko/6242848766/ im _11 _ http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjchecko/6242469007/ im _12 _ http://agendanewyork.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/sensorium.jpg im _13 _ http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles16/373495/projects/2679895/05a2fa1861ee110c1529b2737eac06e8.jpg im _14 _ http://com.core77designawards.c77ad2012.s3.amazonaws.com/2012/files/2012/07/58444f208bf38a86a.jpg im _15 _ http://com.core77designawards.c77ad2012.s3.amazonaws.com/2012/files/2012/07/69974f208bfb9eb3f.jpg im _16 _ http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6035/6242334661_32cfa03718_b.jpg im _17 _ http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6228/6242330975_955c930601_b.jpg im _18 _ http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6228/6242330975_955c930601_b.jpg im _19 _ http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/XNemTYGPAEE/maxresdefault.jpg im _20 _ http://gautamrangan.com/index.php?/projects/sensorium/

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im _21 _ http://www.the-gild.com/news im _22 _ http://theperfumemagazine.homestead.com/~local/~Preview/fifi.html im _23 _ http://www.symbiosiso.com/files/ im _24 _ http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjchecko/6242471643/

information

_sources

3C _ Aziz. “Sephora’s Sensorium Builds A New Culture Of Fragrance Appreciation - PSFK.” PSFK RSS. Alexandra

Previdi, 14 Nov. 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.psfk.com/2011/11/sephoras-sensorium -builds-a-new-culture-of-fragrance-appreciation.html>. citation 10

3C _ Ozler, Levent. “The Sensorium: A Journey into Scent.” Dexigner. Dexigner, 19 Oct. 2011. Web. 08 Oct.

2013. <http://www.dexigner.com/news/24072>. citation 5, 12

3C _ Rangan, Gautam. “Sensorium.” Sensorium. N.p., 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://gautamrangan.com/

index.php?/projects/sensorium/>. citation 14

3C _ Rosenfield, Karissa. “The Worlds First Pop-Up Scent Museum Opens in New York City” 27 Oct 2011.

ArchDaily. Accessed 10 Oct 2013. http://www.archdaily.com/179015. citation 1

3C _ “Sephora and Firmenich Partner to Create The Sensorium™, An Immersive Journey through the World of

Fragrance, in New York City.” Multivu. Sephora, n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2013. <http://www.multivu. com/mnr/52623-sephora-and-firmenich-partner-to-create-the-sensorium>. citation 2, 3, 4

3C _ “Sephora Sensorium – Lucid Dreams from the Sensory World.” The Inspiration Room. N.p., 20 Oct. 2011. Web. 08 Oct.

2013. <http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2011/sephora-sensorium-lucid-dreams-from-the-sensory-world/>. citation 13

3C_ The D4D. “Lucid Dreams – Sephora Sensorium | Core77 2012 Design Awards.” Core77 2012 Design

Awards. N.p., 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.core77designawards.com/2012/ recipients/lucid-dreams-sephora-sensorium/>. citation 6, 7, 8, 9, 15

3C _ The D4D. “Sephora Sensorium - Life At First Scent & Lucid Dreams.” Vimeo. The D4D, 2012. Web. 08 Oct.

2013. <http://vimeo.com/30666277>. citation 11

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Iceberg

exhibit_ ATOMIC3 presents Iceberg Site of Place des Arts and Place des Festivals, Quartier des Spectacles of Montreal, Quebec

exhibit dates_ December 6, 2012 - February 3, 2013

designer_ Atomic3 Creative Director Felix Dagenais Lighting Desiner Louis-Xavier Gagnon-Lebrun

a r c h i t e c t_ Appareil Architecture Architect Kim Pariseau

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ceberg by ATOMIC3 was chosen as a case study for its ability to immerse users in a multi-sensory experience focusing on auditory and visual cues to relay the implications of human activity on frozen landscapes. Designers Felix Dagenais and Jouis-Xavier Gagnon-Lebrun are the creative minds behind design group

ATOMIC3 who strive to push their artistic development beyond the norm and to invent new ways of storytelling that sparks the imagination through interactive exhibit design.1

They have worked together for over ten years designing and creating urban installations that transform space and spark interactive and contemplative experiences. The Iceberg installation uses these design tactics and techniques to create an immersive work of art which relays a meaningful message.

This creative design narrative is an excellent example of using auditory and visual cues to immerse the user in an ephemeral experience that is self-controlled by individual interactions with the structure. This exhibit as a case study paired with the Sephora Sensorium provide stunning specimens of interactive and user

guided exhibits which encompass multiple senses to evoke desired user reactions. The rich and diverse background of both Dagenais and Lebrun informed and inspired the designers to illustrate an original narrative and add poetic dimensionality to their work which allowed them to create unique immersive experiences with light, music, architecture, and new technologies. 2

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he Montreal Quartier des Spectacles Partnership is a group that works to promote the cultural development of the art district in Montreal, Canada. Since its formation in 2003, it coordinates cultural activities, manages public spaces, and enriches the district’s cultural attractions, creating a visual identity within the area. The mission of the Partnership is “to contribute actively, in

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cooperation with public authorities and the various stakeholders active on its territory, to the cultural development and enhancement of Quartier des Spectacles, by integrating urban, social, and economic considerations into all its activities.”3 The activities that take place within the Quarter include enhancing the performing arts venues,

preserving the neighborhood’s cultural assets, organizing various cultural activities throughout the year, managing public spaces, providing the unique after-dark lighting the area is known for, and promoting the area as a tourist attraction.4 One event in particular that the partnership puts on every year is the Luminothérapie competition which occurs from December to February when the daylight hours are at their shortest.

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he Quartier des Spectacles partnership as well as the location of the Iceberg installation try to draw in all forms of users. The installation is meant to bring awareness to the general public of climate change and the effect of human activity on natural structures like the iceberg. All facets of the exhibit allow users to walk through the immersery experience from the tallest to the smallest of user. At the Icebergâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smallest points, only children are of the correct height to experience some of the structures. im_5 im_4

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he Iceberg installation was built in the open quad area of the Place des Arts.

It is a major performing arts center within the city. The site itself is in the eastern part of the city’s downtown between St. Catherine and de Maisonneuve Streets and St. Urbain and JeanneMance Streets. This complex creates the Quartier des Spectacles and acts as the city’s cultural hub containing such cultural relevant buildings like the Montral Symphony Orchestra, The Canadian Ballet, and the Montreal Opera. im_6

“For more than a century, Quartier des Spectacles has been Montreal’s cultural heart. Today, it is also a hub of economic, urban and cultural development, with many assets that are helping establish Montreal as a leading cultural metropolis. A vibrant creative zone, open to artistic diversity and cultural crosspollination, the Quartier has something for everyone, from digital-arts aficionados to fans of world music...Part of a unique urban fabric, the boldly illuminated Quartier des Spectacles is an essential destination for anyone looking for a thrilling cultural experience.”5

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architectural design_ Architect - Kim Pariseau Intern Architect - Arthur Boidin Support Team - Leticia Silva & Muade Crispin

exhibit design_ Lighting Design-

Atomic3 Sound Design -

Jean-Sebastein Cote Interactive Systems Design -

Philippe Jean

Technical Set Coordinator-

Guillaume Simard

Technical Sound, Light, Interactive Systems-

Alexis Rivest

Production -

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he design visionaries for the Iceberg installation which was the winner of the annual Light Therapy Competition in Montreal, took the opportunity to create an immersive experience which highlighted a narrative of a particular global issue. “Iceberg presents an allegory of global warming through a temporary architectural masterpiece situated on a vast public space during the winter season.”6 The approach developed by the architectural team is to integrate all the technical and functional elements in the repetition of a simple and inviting form.

This form is represented with a series of arches which are arranged at regular intervals. Each series of arches defines an enclosure of space integrated with technical elements designed to fully encapsulate the user in a unique sensory experience.7 The built intervals of the installation represent the narrative journey of an iceberg from its origin in the northern pole to its degeneration as a result of the increased effects of industrialization.

Icebergs are the result of centuries of shaping and evolution due to time and the elements.

As an iceberg interacts with its surroundings or other environmental conditions such as

“As water enters their cracks and crevasses, they resonate like giant pipe organs, the tones modulating and evolving as “From north to south, from the these 9monuments of ice slowly Place des Festivals to the Place des melt.”

Inspired by these naturally occurring Arts esplanade, the installation symphonies, the designers of Iceberg saw an follows the journey of an iceberg, opportunity to re-create icebergs as massive from its birth in Arctic waters interactive structures which produce distinctive The arches form a series of tunnels to its melting off the southern soundscapes. which invite visitors to enter, listen, and play coast. It features four “skeletons” this giant organ, where notes and light travel up representing the Iceberg at four and down musical passageways. As visitors different stages in its life. Four life explore the arches, motion sensors inside their movements, triggering changes stages: four different shapes and detect to the lighting and sounds and bringing the sizes, four illuminated spaces, iceberg to life. Whether alone or in a group, and above all, four distinct walking underneath an arch or standing in front of one, each visitor “warms up” the iceberg, soundscapes.”8 melting, they create distinct sounds.

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transforming its static presence into a dynamic and immersive symphony for both the ears and the eyes.

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Each of the four Iceberg structures change in size and shape forming a direct relationship to the evolution of a glacier. The construction gradually changes from a large series of arches which can fit multiple groups of users in both width and height, to a series of arches only large enough for children. This decrease in size calls to mind a floating glacier as it moves to warmer waters and melts. Similarly, each individual set is accompanied by a unique soundscape which translates the iceberg’s movement into warmer climates more densely populated by humans.

“In the north, visitors’ movements trigger sounds from nature, but as they move through the installation, the sounds become richer and more harmonious. As the iceberg glides south, nearer to inhabited coastlines, music emerges brought on by human activity.”11 im_9

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Fixtures, Furniture, Equipment The installation is a harmonious combination of LED lights, various soundscapes, motion sensors, and cold aluminum structures which work to bring the idea of an iceberg to life.

Each arch is equipped with a motion sensor that utilizes sound reproduction and sensory technology to trigger both auditory and visual effects when activated. The motion sensors also react to the speed and frequency of these triggers, hence the faster someone moves through the installation, the more seamless the audio and visual stimulants transition. The audio effects within the iceberg design were created by Jean-Sebastein Cote and coordinated by Alexis Rivest. They were inspired by the sounds that emanate from a melting iceberg as water and air infiltrate its cracks and crevices. These sounds string together to resemble a symphony of deep organ pipes. Each iceberg structure contains its own audio system which relate to the figural location of the iceberg on its journey from the northern poles to the southern shores.

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Lighting & Color Lighting designer Louis-Xavier Gagnon-Lebrun, used multi-colored LED lights to portray the various sequences of events that are represented within the iceberg construction. The structures glow blue and purple when they stand alone as solitary figures, uninhibited by human interaction. This is meant to represent the cold and rigid nature of a pure iceberg whose shape has yet to be altered from the results of human activity. The structures will glow red and pink when motion sensor arches are set off by human activity. This is meant to equivocate humans â&#x20AC;&#x153;warmingâ&#x20AC;? the icebergs and provoking a change in their structure from industry caused climate change.

Materials & Finishes The arches were constructed as a series of aluminum ribs segmented into four distinct areas.

The aluminum is meant to represent the cold and harsh edges of ice in its most frigid and distinct form. They were finished with a polish to reflect both natural and artificial light so that even in the daytime, the exhibit would still retain its visual reflection of a grand series of ice sculptures. The use of this material was also suitable for its exterior setting during the winter which are the coldest and darkest months in Montreal. It had to be built to withstand the elements of snow, sun, wind, and rain. im_10

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Awards Iceberg is a winner of 2012 LuminothĂŠrapie competition, an event organized by Montrealâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Quartier des Spectacles Partnership featuring interactive light installations encouraging visitors to embrace winter.12

Winner for the 2012 Light Therapy Competition

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Conclusion Overall, Iceberg provides an excellent example of using architecture, light, and sounds to immerse users in an environmental awareness concept. The designers of the exhibit successfully translated the narrative of a glacier melting from human activity into a piece of art which contains triggers completely controlled by the users of the structure. This case study provides valuable information which compliments that of Sephoraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sensorium and combines visual and auditory senses with the action of movement. These factors make it an experiential and interactive design that focuses on educating users of a global issues while entertaining through auditory and visual art. im_13

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imagery

_ sources

im _1 _ http://www.appareilarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/iceberg_.jpg im _2 _ http://www.appareilarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/iceberg_3.jpg im _3 _ http://www.appareilarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/iceberg_5.jpg im _4 _ http://www.appareilarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/iceberg_6.jpg im _5 _ http://www.atomic3.ca/projet.php?id=3 im _6 _ google maps im _7 _ http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8500/8253225509_320cbc1078_h.jpg im _8 _ http://essentiae.sugarplum-art.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/012013-IMG_7660.jpg im _9 _

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8500/8253225509_320cbc1078_i.jpg

im _10 _http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8502/8254302598_b6ff91bc55_o.jpg im _11 _ http://www.appareilarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/sdff.jpg im _12 _ http://essentiae.sugarplum-art.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/012013-IMG_7669.jpg im _13 _ http://www.lemayonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/atomic301.jpg

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information

_sources

3D _ “Iceberg - ATOMIC3.” ATOMIC3. Accessed October 15, 2013. http://www.atomic3.ca/projet.php?id=2. citation 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 11

3D _ “Iceberg ATOMIC3.” PlusMOOD. January 12, 2012. Accessed October 16, 2013. http://plusmood.com/

2013/01/iceberg-atomic3/?utm_source=feedburner. citation 5

3D _ UNIT. “Iceberg Contest.” APPAREIL Architecture. February 2012. Accessed October 15, 2013.

http://www.appareilarchitecture.com/projets/iceberg/. citation 6, 7,

3D _ “The Quartier Des Spectacles Partnership: An Ambitious Mission.” The Quartier Des Spectacles.

Accessed October 16, 2013. http://www.quartierdesspectacles.com/en/about/corporate/. citation 3, 4, 12,

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04

Topical Explorations

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everything that a museum does is ultimately for the public benefit. Understanding the publicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interests and concerns, likes and dislikes, needs and wants, is of critical importance in providing successful

services and developing successful museums. Museums are for people,

and the successful museum recognizes the opportunities that participation and involvement can bring to its work and the need to engage people ever more closely with the services it provides.â&#x20AC;? 1

O

ne of the most prominent design challenges a designer will face includes the involvement of human users and their subsequent interactions with the space. A space can be designed successfully but its true achievement lies within the ability to create an environment that the user can function in, appreciate, and be enriched by. Museums and exhibits are no exception to this and since the fundamental purpose of a museum is to provide for the people, extra and more specific attention must be paid to the relationship between humans and the artificial environments designers create.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Human environment interactions are based on our psychological processes in relation to our surroundings. Our environments are made up of physical stimuli (noise, light, and temperature), physical structures (dimensions, furniture, and hallways), and symbolic artifacts (the meaning or image of a setting.) Much of the research conducted on the human environment relationship has been based on four major theories: integration, stimulation, control, and behavior-setting.â&#x20AC;?2 Human Environment Relationship

It is a fair generalization to state that most buildings or interiors are designed with an ultimate user function in mind. There are many decisions in the design process that are made intuitively, bearing in mind how the users will view, interact, and react to the space. These innate decisions emanate from either conclusions from personal experience or general guidelines for interior design. However, the topic goes much deeper than this superficial understanding. There are many studies related to human-environment psychology and the subsequent relationships that have concluded in common theories relating to the correlation of principles associated with each. im_2

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topical explorations

Informal Learning Environments “Museum experiences are wonderful examples of free-choice learning; I have come to believe they are so quintessentially free-choice that they are so memorable. Humans, and quite like other organisms as well, actively seek to have control over events in their lives…this is why people so highly value leisure time – it’s often the only time in our lives where we can exercise considerable choice and control over what we do.”3 Despite the pretentious connotations associated with galleries, art or history museums, contemporary museums are significantly informal in the sense that (with the exception of tours) the experience is controlled by the user.

Stimulants may be created or led by a designer, but the user’s path through the museum is completely self-driven. There is no compulsion, no force allowed, needed or wanted. Visitors can explore the museum as they wish, learning at their own pace, in their own way, or not at all if they so choose. Museums offer as much as the user is willing to learn and experience with the material and environment provided. It is up to the designer to provide as much detail and thorough research as possible

to give all demographics a varied and unique experience. The exhibits must offer challenges and stimulating arguments or information to arouse and satisfy user curiosity, leading to continued and growing interest amongst visitors to ultimately prompt a renewed interest and repeat visit to the establishment.4 “Settings that provide sequences of experiences that build on one another are more likely to produce high-quality place experiences than those that promote conflicting patterns and sequences…Settings that contain many coherent cues that trigger off memories and fantasies will be more likely to provide rich place experiences than will those settings that have few cues.

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A setting that has some consistent themes to its form, materials, items, arrangements, and symbolism will be more likely to produce positive place experiences than one with no thread of identity.”5 “Well-designed exhibitions and programs – the careful use of color, texture, and lighting combined with skillfully written scripts and labels – are extremely successful at getting and focusing visitor’s attentions. Without questions, the realities of the museum, in particular the exhibits and objects visitors look at, the labels and guides they read and listen to, as well as the programs they watch and participate in, all influence their experience.”6

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Museum Visitor Typeology

There are three types of museum visitor, namely skimmers, swimmers, and divers. Skimmers are people who move quickly and display “exitoriented behavior”. This “exit-oriented behavior” denotes someone who appears to just be searching for an exit to either an exhibit or the whole establishment. They are often casual visitors using their leisure time to participate in what they consider a worthwhile activity without becoming heavily involved. Some skimmers will often times visit museums purely for social status. In other words, they are completing an activity that others find worthwhile to either say that they have done it and may not find any enjoyment out of the exhibited content.

Swimmers are those museum guests who show genuine interest in the museum experience and collections. They prefer a casual, headline approach to information display and respond strongly to situations that offer visual stimuli.

They will only fully engage in a few exhibits that happen to catch their attention and do not mind taking the time to satisfy their curiosity.

The third group consists of divers or people who will examine an exhibit more closely and pay more attention to the information presented.

They read all the text and labels, have no difficulty understanding the material presented, and closely examine the objects. They are often times the most frequent visitors to museums and require little enticement to come or return.

“Museums make efforts to serve all types

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of groups. Some endeavors include: tactile exhibits for persons with visual disabilities, docent guided tours, audiovisual devices daytime special activities, transportation options, exploration activities, docents with signlanguage capabilities, emphasis on first-hand experience, demonstrations.”7 Institutional facilities like museums aim to be as democratic in its appeal to the widest array of guests and visitors; they should show no preference or prejudice toward anyone and serve the good of the whole community. Since museums do not generally sell a product, the design of the space has to sell the establishment to the people. These diverse categories of users all chose their leisure activities and have influence on the activities of others, which in turn has an impact on the success of a museum in any region based on how well it can appeal to the demographic of the area as well as the tourist demographic the area attracts.

“People have reasons for choosing one type of leisure activity over another. Consciously or not, they are looking for certain kinds of personal criteria to be met. According to Marilyn Hood, there are six general criterion adults use in making decisions: being with people or social interaction, doing something worthwhile, having the challenge of new experiences, having an opportunity to learn, participating actively; feeling comfortable and at ease in one’s surroundings.”8

Learning Methods Humans are visual creatures. Even in the earliest stages of life, young children can only communicate through visual means and physical gestures. The expression “monkey see, monkey do” comes to mind when one references learning by sight or visual example.

Verbal and textual communication are taught or learned indicators of intelligent and evolving life forms. Some people are more dominant as visual learners whereas others can understand or grasp concepts analytically, verbally, or in textual format. This separation in learning methods and techniques derives from the complex functions of the brain.

“[The factor] affecting learning is the physiology of the human brain or brain function. Individuals learn in markedly differing manners depending upon the degree of dominance by one side of the brain or the other in their thought processes. The left side is normally dominant. It can translate perceptions into logical, semantic, and phonetic images; communicate via logic-analytical processing; control language and reasoning, reading, writing, counting, and digital communication. [Whereas] the right side acts in a more holistic manner.

It discerns integral understanding of complex patterns and structures – intuition; perceives the whole im_4

context from bits and pieces; responds to images, not verbal language; contains a holistic worldview; is appealed to directly through jokes, pictures, sounds, smells, touch.”9 In general, most people prefer active participation over passive observation regardless of which brain side function is more dominant. That is because although humans are primarily visual creatures, the other senses reinforce what is gained by sight. The sense of touch can reinforce, confirm, and add to the information gained through the eyes. Museums can often be portrayed as contradictory learning environments with the addition of “Do not touch” signs which are psychologically offensive because they deny basic human learning behavior and the correlation between sight and touch to reinforce a concept.10 “People have three principle means of gathering information, through: words, sensations, images – visual stimulus is the strongest, most memorable of the methods.”11 Learning, especially in a museum environment can be enhanced by coupling left brain analysis with right brain imaging to promote faster, more rewarding, and more effective results.

By aiming exhibit design at a complementary employment of both sides of the brain, the overall experience of entertainment and education can be enhanced.

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Behavioral Tendencies within Museums

An observational study of general human behavior tendencies in museums released the following results:12 -Most people tend to favor turning to the right if all other factors are equal. A possible explanation is that his relates to the dominance of right-handedness in humans.

-Once moving to the right, most people will stay to the right, leaving exhibits on the left less viewed.

-The first exhibit area on the right gets the most attention. Conversely, the first one on the left gets less notice.

-Due to fatigue and the nearness of an exit, more interest is concentrated that the beginning of an exhibition than at the end.

-The closer people are to an exit, the more they are drawn to it, and the less attention is given to the exhibits. Perhaps this behavior is a result of a subconscious desire to avoid traps. It is expressed as a reluctance to enter an area without visible exits.

-Exhibits along the shortest route to the exit receive the largest amount of attention.

-Humans lack the acute night vision of many species and therefore have an aversion to darkness. We are typically daylight creatures. Due to the inability to determine the contents and sizes in the dark, people avoid such places. Fear of the unknown as a survival reflex is probably the root motivation.

-Bright colors are visually engaging to most people. Although a person may not prefer bright hues, their eyes are drawn to the more brightly colored object or area.

-People react first to larger objects when they enter a space.

-Mental and physical over-stimulation or over-exertion creates a common condition called exhibit fatigue.

-The average maximum attention span for an adult audience is thirty minutes.

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Sensory Perceptions

Olfactoary Perception

The sense of smell or olfaction, is a complex sensory system of receptory neurons, membranes, and other anatomical parts which still remains largely misunderstood in the world of science. Olfaction remains a topic of abundant research due to its complexity and the intricate details that affect the sense of smell and the perception of olfactory stimulants. In humans, olfaction is often considered the least acute of the senses especially when compared to the sense of smell in animals and other mammals; this is due in part to the significantly fewer receptory neurons and odorant receptor molecules humans have.13 Many theories and classifications have developed regarding how the nose and brain work to interpret and classify odors according

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to human perception. Odorants have been divided into useful classifications such as pungent, floral, musky, earthy, ethereal, camphor, peppermint, ether, and putrid to aid in central representation of olfactory information.14

Since humans perceive stimulants uniquely, it has been challenging for scientists to adequately study and report on the olfactory system in specific terms. Odor perception and the ability to perceive odor is influenced by many factors pertaining to the individual such as age, smoking habits, gender, nasal allergies, eating disorders, psychotic disorders, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s.15 The ability to recognize and identify odors normally decreases with age due to the atrophy of sensory nerves.

“People between 20 and 40 years of age can typically identify about 50-75% of odors, whereas those between 50 and 70 typically recognize only about 30-45%.” “82% of odor acuity remains at the age of 20; 38% at the age of 60; and 28% at the age of 80.” 16

The perception of odors by humans results from stimuli that contains information such as odor intensity and odor quality.17 Detectable odors can have significant impacts on people by creating physiological impressions, affecting their moods and their reaction to an object or space. Humans associate odors with past experiences and as a result, form involuntary assessments to an odor such as like, dislike, or indifferent depending on the smell or the memory perception linked to the stimulant. im_6

Taste Perception

Taste perception occurs within the functions of the Gustatory System. Gustatory perceptions of taste result when taste buds in the tongue and throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus.18 The sensation of taste is very similar to that of smell in that both systems analyze and respond to a chemical solution of “flavors” which trigger positive, negative, and indifferent reactions to how something tastes.19 “Taste begins with sensation in the form of electrical impulses…Chemical stimuli activate the chemoreceptors responsible for gustatory perceptions…In humans, the chemoreceptors that detect taste are called gustatory receptor cells.

About 50 receptor cells, plus basal and supporting cells, make up one taste bud.”20 Taste buds on the tongue are divided into four main receptical areas that relate to and process the four most generalized types of stimulus tastes: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. The accepted theory for taste perception encompass the idea that taste is localized to specific areas on the tongue and that all flavors were the result of some combination of these four tastes. However, there is more to this theory than just where the tongue receives stimulation, it has to do with the physical reaction of the tongue, saliva secretion, and general mouth movement when in contact with taste stimuli.

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“Different regions of the tongue do have different thresholds. Because the tip of the tongue is most responsive to sweet-tasting compounds, and because these compounds produce pleasurable sensations, information from this region activates feeding behaviors such as mouth movements, salivary secretion, insulin release, and swallowing.

In contrast, responses to bitter compounds are indeed greatest on the back of the tongue. Activation of this region by bitter-tasting substances elicits protrusion of the tongue and other protective reactions that prevent ingestion. Sour-tasting compounds elicit grimaces, puckering responses, and massive salivary secretion to dilute the taste.”21

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Auditory Perception

Auditory perception is the ability to perceive and understand sounds.22 Sound exists in the form of vibrations that travel as waves through the air or through other substances. Ears detect these vibrations and convert them into nerve impulses, which are then sent to the brain where they can be interpreted.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is commonly thought that in the normal individual the auditory sense is the only one to function perfectly from the moment of birth, whereas other senses take some time to develop completely.

However, unless an individual can make sense out of what is heard, hearing is, for all practical purposes, nonfunctionalâ&#x20AC;ŚIt should also be pointed out that hearing and listening are not synonymous in the auditory process. Whereas hearing is basically a physiological process, listening is an intellectual one, requiring interpretation, analysis, integration, and evaluation.â&#x20AC;?23 The ear has two main facets of operation, namely the behavior of the mechanical apparatus and the neurological processing of the information acquired.24 The mechanics of hearing are

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straightforward and well understood, but the action of the brain in interpreting sounds (much like smells) is still a matter of dispute among researchers. The mechanisms of sound interpretation are poorly understood, due to the fact that it is not yet clear whether all people interpret sounds in the same way. Until recently, there has been no way to trace the wiring of the brain, no way to apply simple stimuli and see which parts of the nervous system respond in detail.25 The main research method available has been to have people listen to sounds and describe what they heard. The variability of listening skills and the imprecision of the language combined to make psycho-acoustics a rather frustrating field of study.26 It should also be noted that the ability to judge pitch is a variable that must be taken into account when studying auditory perceptions of individuals.

There are many factors that affect auditory perception beyond simply hearing sounds and noise vibrations. The brain is largely responsible for many processes that can turn a mass of incoming noise into something useful and understandable. It has the ability to differentiate between sounds and act as a filter for auditory stimulants to focus on as well as determine directionality and origins of sound.

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Tactile Perception

Tactile perception is the interpretation of information provided by skin sensations.

It involves a complex connection from the nerves that supply the skin to the brain, where different areas of the brain correspond to specific sites on the skin. This information can be critical for spatial awareness, the recognition of threats, and fine motor tasks.27 Tactile perception includes many facets relating to human position, perception, and interaction with the environment around them. The Somatosensory system is the term used for the sense of touch as it relates to detecting damage or potential damage to bodily tissues, determining body part positioning and where muscles are moving, sensing temperature changes, and feeling deformations, vibrations, and sustained pressure on the skin.28 The sensory receptors in the somatosensory system are located throughout the body rather than in a centralized location such as the other sensory systems of the body. The variety of stimuli receptors allow the body to respond to more stimuli in a myriad of ways.

endings (finger tips and palms) and therefore are particularly adept to offer considerable feedback on the surrounding environment to the brain.29 This is one reason infants and young children may grab at items of interest to learn more about them. Objects can provide sensations of texture, temperature, and

consistency that offer information about what they are and how they work. Tactile exploration within this system can also inform of the characteristics of external objects, resulting in a conscious perceptual experience of the stimulus and ultimately in object recognition.30

The sense of tactile perception starts to develop in the earliest stages of life and matures as humans grow from infants and interact with the world around them. There are two areas of the body that are well supplied with nerve endings (finger tips and palms) and therefore

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Visual Perceptions Color

Color in a poetic sense, paints the world around us, leaving impressions, and gives objects physical diversity and life. In a scientific sense, color is the result of light bouncing off a surface and into our retinas and reads as the response to photons emitted by the source. Color is nothing more than a visual perception caused by the mind. To people who are either colorblind or blind in general, color does not exist and the visual perception of the world around them is significantly different than those with regular vision. Treating color as an internal reaction by the brain to external stimuli brings about the paradoxical question of

“If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Similarly, “If no human eye is around to view it, is an apple really red?”31

If regarding the previously stated information, the answer is no. This is because how people with regular vision view an apple is not the way animals perceive the apple or someone who is color blind will perceive the same object.

“But the many ways in which we enjoy color, identify it, and use it to make life more meaningful are unique to humans.”32 im_10

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“Color is an emergent property of vision.

By this it is meant that color does not exist in the environment but only as a function of our brains. Our retinas are sensitive to light. This energy has different wavelengths but the visible spectrum is not categorized into blue, green, yellow, and red. The wavelengths of light reflected from objects in the environment simply from low to high.

The eye contains three different types of light receptors: one type most sensitive to short wavelengths, one type most sensitive to medium wavelengths, and one type most sensitive to long wavelengths. Neural circuitry within the retina compares the responses of these three types and begins the process of seeing color.”33 Even though the scientific theory behind the perception of color and the phenomenon of seeing in a wide spectrum of shades and hues is universal, one of the more unique debates stems from how different individuals perceive the same color and whether or not they are seeing the exact hue or shade as the other. Specific characterization of this phenomenon is limited by verbal and descriptive communication similarly to the way smell and taste descriptions are limited based on an individual’s vocabulary and the understanding of communicable ways. The descriptions, understandings and perceptions of color are also related to memory, recognition, and cultural influences.

“The experience of color is closely related to the experience of light and is also a matter of cultivation… The Inuit, for instance, have one word for red but thirty for various whites.”34 This shows that colors do not have any set parameters or standard for which they should be identified by. The theories involving primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries still apply to the pairing and complementing or clashing of colors. The slight differences within each general color range and the familiarity with a shade, increases the awareness of subtle changes in saturation, hue, and vibrancy of this brain cultivated phenomenon. Not only does culture affect the way color is viewed, gender also plays a significant role. To most people familiar with color, it is a common fact that women are able to distinguish more shades and hues than men. It does not necessarily mean they are able to see more colors, just that they are able to differentiate to more subtle tonal changes within a color. It is also attributed again to the fact that women have a better vocabulary for describing color than men.

In general, people see about one million colors. This comes from the cone receptors in the retina which see about 100 variations of the hues red, green, and blue. The brain then perceives all color combinations of these three hues exponentially to create one million different ways to view the world around you.

Some women are even lucky enough to see 100 million colors due to the presence of a repeating fourth red cone.

“Even though one of the largest intercultural constructions is the agreement about what characterizes each color, there is still a large amount of individual opinion about the subject. Color has in its abstraction an enormous psychological and associative potential, and even though it has been cultivated to the extreme, the amount of individuality in experiencing colors is equally extreme. This points to the fact that color doesn’t exist in itself but only when looked at. The unique fact that color only materializes when light bounces off a surface onto our retinas shows us that the analysis of colors is, in fact, about the ability to analyze ourselves. That color is a construction, dependent on the individual, also becomes clear when we look at color constancy, which is another interesting aspect of our color perception. Scientific research shows that our experience of the colors of specific objects often is constant despite significant changes in ambient light.”35

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Lighting

Discussing how humans view and understand color also opens up discussion of the wider field of vision and lighting. Visual perception in the realm of exhibits, spatial relationships, surfaces and graphic treatments is governed by how they are lit. In the highly artificial environment of an exhibition, the designer uses lighting to interpret displays and to shape visitors’ perceptions of their experience.

“Interpretive lighting design relies on understanding the human perception and some physiological considerations. Once the receptors in the human eye have adjusted to a general light level they can discern very small differences in tone and accent. However, eyes and brains are not designed to accommodate sudden changes in light.”36 Most of the information in our visual world is generated by changes in visual stimuli. This means that we only react to the recognition of something changing. Depth perception, environmental placement, contextual understanding and evolution of a space are only detected through the variations in visual stimuli.37 “Lighting design concerns human comfort. Together with questions of air quality, temperature and humidity the illumination of the exhibition environment plays a vital part in the visitor’s experience. Lighting conditions affect the way in which an exhibition structure is perceived, the effectiveness with which it communicates, the rendering of form and color and the legibility of graphics…Exhibition lighting is best understood contextually…with reference to scale of exhibition space, its orientation, materiality of floors and ceilings, the variety of incident and reflected light and, most importantly, to the nature of the exhibited artefacts themselves.”38 im_12

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imagery

_ sources

im _1 _ http://www.jespergarde.com/index.php?showimage=181 im _2 _ http://layovertips.com/minneapolis-layover/ im _3 _ http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/smap/collection_index/wendy_mcmurdo_lifestyle_affects_appearance.aspx im _4 _ http://eric-blue.com/2013/08/02/the-creative-breakthrough-lessers-give-up-masters-are-stronger/ im _5 _ http://blog.esl-languages.com/en/learn-english/what-to-do-in-london/ im _6 _ http://glasspetalsmoke.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html im _7 _ http://forwomenhealth.net/health/be-healthy/ im _8 _ http://www.hearingservicesofnashville.com/2013/04/what-does-hearing-loss-sound-like/ im _9 _ http://www.shapiroplasticsurgery.com/blog/are-your-hands-aging-you im _10 _ http://www.wallpapermojo.com/index.php/tag/hayden/ im _11 _ http://spoki.tvnet.lv/profils/orgazmo im _12 _ http://www.miamisci.org/blog/

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information

_sources

4 _ Ambrose, Tim, and Crispin Paine. Museum Basics. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2012. 26-27. citation 1, 5 4 _ Falk, John Howard, Lynn D. Dierking, and Willard L. Boyd. “Audiences and Learning.” In The Museum Experience, 23-26. Washington: Whalesback Books, 2002. citation 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,

4 _ Falk, John Howard, Lynn D. Dierking, and Willard L. Boyd. “Designing Exhibitions.” InThe Museum Experience, 28-34. Washington: Whalesback Books, 2002. citation 3, 12 4 _ Falk, John H. Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2009. citation 3, 6 4 _ Kopec, David Alan. “Foundational Theories of Environmental Psychology.” InEnvironmental Psychology for Design, 19-23. New York: Fairchild, 2006. citation 2 4 _ Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, et al., editors. Neuroscience. 2nd edition. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer Associates; 2001. Olfactory Perception in Humans. Available from:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11032/

citation 13, 14, 16, 20, 22

4 _ Powers, Wendy. “Odor Perception and Physiological Response.” The Science of Smell Part 1, Iowa State University. Accessed November 01, 2013. http://www.extension.

iastate.edu/publications/pm1963a.pdf.

citation 15, 17

4 _ Page, Thierry. “What Is the Process of Olfaction?” Odotech: The Odor Management Blog. December 12, 2010. Accessed November 05, 2013. http://blog.odotech.com/bid/

56315/What-is-the-process-of-olfaction-odor-perception.

citation 18

4 _ “Definition of Gustatory Perception.” Lexic.us. Accessed November 10, 2013. http://www.lexic.us/definition-of/gustatory_perception. citation 19 4 _ Dowdey, Sarah. “How Taste Works.” How Stuff Works. October 25, 2007. Accessed November 10, 2013. http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/taste1.htm. citation 21

4 _ Liden, Daniel, and Jenn Walker. “Auditory Perception.” WiseGeek. November 14, 2013. Accessed November 20, 2013. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-auditory-

perception.htm.

citation 23, 28

4 _ Elsea, Peter. “Hearing and Perception.” Hearing. 1996. Accessed November 14, 2013. http://artsites.ucsc.edu/EMS/Music/tech_background/TE-03/teces_03.html citation 24, 25, 26, 27

4 _ “Basic Somatosensory Pathway.” BioLine Nueroscience. Accessed November 14, 2013. http://www.bioon.com/bioline/neurosci/course/bassens.html. citation 29, 30 4 _ Ackerman, Diane. A Natural History of the Senses. London: Phoenix, 1996, p 253. citation 31, 32 4 _ Dernie, David. Exhibition Design. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006, p136. citation 38 4 _ Elíasson, Ólafur. “Some Ideas About Color.” In Olafur Eliasson: Your Colour Memory, by Ólafur Elíasson, Ismail Soyugenc, and Richard Torchia, 76-81. Glenside, PA: Arcadia

University Art Gallery, 2006.

citation 34, 35

4 _ Hughes, Philip. “Section 7: Lighting.” In Exhibition Design, 130-152. London: Laurence King, 2010. citation 36, 4 _ Siegfried, John. “The Emergent Perception of Color.” In Olafur Eliasson: Your Colour Memory, by Elíasson Ólafur, Ismail Soyugenc, and Richard Torchia, 70-72. Glenside, PA:

Arcadia University Art Gallery,2006.

citation 33, 37

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05

Existing Site

The City

P

hiladelphia is a cultural and economic metropolis with a defining role in American history, located on the southeastern tip of Pennsylvania in the Delaware Valley.

It is the second largest city on the east coast; contains the third most populous downtown in the country; is the fifth largest city in the country with a 2010 census city population of 1,526,006 and a regional population of 6,103,428; the thirteenth most internationally-visited city in the nation; and directly in the middle of two other densely populated cities – New York and DC.1 The city goes by many nicknames common to both locals and visitors such as Philly, City of Brotherly Love, The City that Loves You Back, Cradle of Liberty, and The City of Neighborhoods.

This thriving city is known for its arts, food, and culture with the largest collection of public art and murals in the nation, its historic prominence as the nation’s first capitol and role in the independence movement. It is home to many colleges, museums, and proudly bears many national “firsts” such as the first zoo, hospital, university, and urban park. The arts and culture of the city are highly influenced by the presence of nature within and around the city. Fairmount Park is one of America’s oldest and stands as the largest landscaped urban parks in the world.2 Another characteristic feature of the city is its planning on a rectilinear grid system composed of large avenues and intersected by smaller two and one-way streets.

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Demographics Demographically, city data charts reveal that the population of Philadelphia is composed of inhabitants of the following categories: 41.6% Black alone, 36.9% White alone, 12.6% Hispanic, 6.4% Asian, 1.9% two or more races, and 0.9% of other races. Of these figures, approximately 47.2% of the population are male and 52.8% are female with a median resident age of 33.5 years compared to the Pennsylvania median age of 43.3 years.3 Philadelphiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s socio-economic range can also be compared to the median state income values. In 2011, the estimated median household income in Philadelphia was $34,207, whereas the average for the remainder of the state totaled to $50,228.4 Of all families in Philadelphia, 18.4% of families live below the poverty level and of those families, 47.4% were female householder families with children under 5.5 With that being said, the unemployment rate in July of 2013 was listed as 10.8%, 3 % over the state average of 7.8%.

Weather Philadelphia experiences summers that are typically hot and muggy, mild fall and springs, and mildly cold winters. The average daily temperatures in the summer months range from highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s; fall and spring months see temperatures ranging from upper 60s to mid-30s as the seasons transition into the colder or warmer months respectively; those winter months see temperatures ranging from the low 40s to the low 20s.6 The average annual rainfall for Philadelphia is 41.4 inches and an annual snowfall rate of 20.4 inches and 117 days out of the year experiencing rain. Each month receives an average 3inches of rainfall and the winter months experience anywhere from 3-6 inches of snow.7 Average winds in Philadelphia, as measured by the Philadelphia International Airport, have been gauged at an average of 10mph per month, with a 33% average wind probability and an average northeasterly wind direction.8 im_2

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Architecture The City of Philadelphia features outstanding examples of style and period architecture from almost every era since the creation of our great nation. It boasts works from Colonial-era carpenter architects to Modern-era architects like Louis Kahn. The downtown area of the city is divided into various sections based on the grid system which was developed early in the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s planning. This grid system made expansion and organization of the city easy and helped to define diverse neighborhoods

and sections that lie within. The lower parts of the city are some of the original sections such as those that lie closer to the water front and were characteristically constructed as row homes with narrow facades and long lengths due to the British taxing laws that taxed based on the amount of square footage the front façade occupied.The presence of the row home and the generally low lying construction of the city, historically categorized Philadelphia as a low skyline metropolis which for most of its

development sprawled out horizontally rather than vertically. Until the 1980s, City Hall was the tallest building in Philadelphia (and remains the tallest masonry structure in the world) due to an ordinance that stated no other building in the city could be built taller. After the 80s, Liberty Place replaced City Hall as the tallest building in Philadelphia and thus opened up city architecture to new heights within the Center City neighborhood.

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Neighborhood

O

ld City Philadelphia contains the characteristic row homes and brick construction of the earliest days of the city. It is the oldest section of the grid, founded in 1681 by William Penn and therefore its outstanding features include many historical landmarks and as a neighborhood, has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places for city architecture. Today, Old City remains a hub of activity ranging from historic sites, hotels, dining, shopping, various entertainment venues, residences, and businesses. It is located on the far eastern portion of Center City closest to the Delaware River and the Ben Franklin Bridge. Old City is gridlocked by Spring Garden Street in the North, Walnut Street in the South, Delaware Avenue in the East, and 4th Street in the West.9 The demographic makeup of Old City is divided amongst a population of 9,564 people according to 2012 census reports.10 Of that population, males make up about 5,000 of the total number with an average age of 39 years and women make up the remaining 4,500 with an average age of 38.4 years compared to the Philadelphia average of 32 and 35 years respectively. Race-wise, about 75% of residents are white, 12% are Black, 8% are Asian, and the remaining are reported as Hispanic and other.11 In 2011, these residents were recorded having a median household income of $68,747, compared to the Philadelphia average of $34,000. im_6

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Commercial

Zoning

Residential

Pier 9

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D

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Street

elaware Avenue (also known as Columbus Boulevard) is the northsouth thoroughfare that runs farthest east and closest to the Delaware River in Philadelphia.

The street was first constructed back in the late eighteenth century as an irregular footpath connecting the city to the docks and ports of the Delaware River.12 Since its creation, the road has since evolved from a muddy footpath to a six-lane avenue that stretches all the way from the Betsy Ross Bridge in the north, to the Walt Whitman Bridge in the south. The roadway still retains its ports, docks, and marinas, but since the movement of industrialization outside of the city, efforts have been made in the recent decades to re-inhabit the waterfront and make use of empty industrial buildings and lots. This movement has been spearheaded by the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation to revitalize the waterfront and contribute to the “Philly Green” movement. Many entertainment venues such as clubs, restaurants, casinos, and outdoor parks also line the waterfront. More and more high-end residential condos and apartment buildings are also being built along the river for the prime horizontal and vertical real-estate in the area.

The area of Delaware Avenue that Pier 9 is located is at the intersection of Race Street and Delaware Ave at the base of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and adjacent to the Race Street Pier. Directly across the street is a Holiday Inn Express, next door is the headquarters for the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation and an adaptively reused pier of condos, and a little further south is the Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing. The Holiday Inn is the tallest building around Pier 9 with ten floors, but the most ominous and dominating structure is the Ben Franklin Bridge.

The Pier’s current zoning regulations makes it a C3 for general commercial districts. In order to develop the building, 10% of open area is required, the building’s current height of 46 feet cannot exceed 65 feet, and the gross floor area for a renovation is not to exceed 550% of the lot area. It will require two off street loading spaces, on site handicap parking, and general parking will have to be provided at alternative locations.

The Master Plan for the central Delaware also requests the implication of 38 feet between the edge of Delaware Ave/Columbus Boulevard in order to accommodate planting, multi-use trails, sidewalks, and a flex-zone.13

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Site Analysis Diagram

Traffic Patterns Pedestrian Paths Public Transit Locations Sun Path Views

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T

he existing site conditions of Pier 9 create a variety of design issues that must be addressed and responded to in a creative and effective manner. The site itself is located off the roadway, jutting about 200 feet into the Delaware River. It functions as a building peninsula for its previous use as an unloading and storage pier for ships, so any future construction must take into consideration the safety concerns involved with being surrounded by water on three sides.

With three main fields of view it is critical to note that the north side of the building is open to the newly built park, Race Street Pier and the Ben Franklin Bridge beyond, to the east is a view of Camden through an uninterrupted waterfront, and the south side of the building faces another newly remodeled condo building and a view of the southern Delaware River. The only questionably negative view is the street facing view of the Holiday Inn hotel across the way. The roadway is three lanes at this point and therefore has the potential to handle large but steadily moving volumes of traffic, so the noise factor from that is one to take into consideration. Another potential source of noise is the Ben Franklin Bridge

Site which is consistently busy with traffic going to and from Philadelphia and New Jersey.

Any new construction within the Pier would have to address the lack of adjacent parking.

However, there are multiple public lots located along the road on either side of the building which also serve the marinas and the Pennâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Landing Park. The short distances and ease of access to these lots do not make parking for visitor transit to and from the site detrimental to the overall experience, but rather enhance the future plans for the revitalization of the waterfront as a park. For those that wish to take public transportation, there are three bus stop locations along the roadway within close proximity to the site, one of which is directly in front of the building.

In regards to daylighting, a feasibility study on the pier revealed that

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pier 9 has been analyzed for its potential to provide ambient lighting levels by daylight alone.

Depending on the ultimate

configuration of window and wall area, there is the potential for the pier to be adequately lit by daylight only for approximately 90% of the annual daylight hours for a daylight autonomy of 90%.

The clerestory windows alone have the potential to achieve daylight autonomy of up to 45%. Daylight autonomy is the percentage of day lit hours during which desired light levels can be achieved with day light alone.â&#x20AC;?14 The wind conditions at the pier are subject to both the average wind directions and speeds as outlined in the general Philadelphia wind conditions but would be noticed more due to the lack of any wind barriers and a clear plain for wind generation over the river.

existing site

5 _157

imagery

_ sources

im _1 _ http://www.daniellemarks.com/images/philly%20nbhds%205.gif im _2 _ http://www.climate-zone.com/climate/united-states/pennsylvania/philadelphia/. im _3 _ http://www.climate-zone.com/climate/united-states/pennsylvania/philadelphia/. im _4 _

http://www.climate-zone.com/climate/united-states/pennsylvania/philadelphia/.

im _5 _ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Philly_Street_Commons.jpg im _6 _ http://www.mattjh.com/philadelphia/Philadelphia-CenterCity.jpg im _7 _http://sparchs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Philadelphia-Zoning-map.jpg im _8 _ google maps im _9 _ google map and analysis diagram by Julia Larson

5 _158

existing site

information

_sources

5 _ Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, “Feasibility Study of Pier 9: Delaware River Waterfront Company.” Last modified April 17, 2012.

Accessed November 28, 2013. http://issuu.com/pennadmin/docs/pier_9_small. citation 13, 14

5 _ CIA World Facts, “Climate Zone Philadelphia.” Last modified 2010. Accessed November 28, 2013. http://www.climate-zone.

com/climate/united-states/pennsylvania/philadelphia/.

citation 6, 7,

5 _ Kyriakodis, Harry. The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, “Delaware Avenue (Columbus Boulevard).” Last modified 2013.

Accessed November 28, 2013. http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/delaware-avenue-columbus-boulevard/.

citation 12,

5 _ Onboard Informatics, “City-Data.” Last modified 2012. Accessed November 28, 2013. http://www.city-data.com/city/Phila delphia-Pennsylvania.html. citation 3, 4, 5, 10, 11

5 _ Philadelphia City Archives, “Philadelphia Neighborhoods and Place Names.” Last modified May 20, 1998. Accessed

November 28, 2013. http://www.phila.gov/phils/Docs/otherinfo/pname2.htm .

citation 9,

5 _ Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, “Philadelphia’s Official Convention & Visitor’s Site: Choose Philadelphia.” Last

modified 2013. Accessed November 28, 2013. http://www.discoverphl.com/meet/choose-philadelphia/. citation 1

5 _ Philadelphia Travel, “Philadelphia, PA.” Last modified 2011. Accessed November 28, 2013. http://www.inventpa.com/. citation 2

5 _ Winderfinder, “Wind & weather statistics Philadelphia Int. Airport.” Last modified November 27, 2013. Accessed November

28, 2013. http://www.windfinder.com/windstats/windstatistic_philadelphia_airport.htm.

citation 8,

existing site

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06

Design & Technical Criteria

im_1

Fixtures, Furniture, Equipment Museums require an individual set of furniture, fixtures, and equipment in order to accommodate and accentuate its functions.

Typically, a museum will not contain the same tables and chairs or fixtures more commonly found in more hospitality, commercial, or educational spaces. Most furniture and fixtures will be custom designed for the museum concept and the content within.

chairs. The museum café will need to accommodate flexible dining situations with easily maneuverable seats and tables that allow for a moveable and multi-purpose environment.

The museum café and the museum exhibits will feature more stationary and permanent fixtures in order to create and delineate an efficient circulation and product viewing configuration.

Another factor for museum exhibits is that they must be designed universally and holistically.

The museum will however need to provide seating within and around the exhibits, most likely in the form of benches and accessible

“All cases must provide viewing access to people who are short or seated as well as to those who

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are standing. Cases must not present a safety hazard to any visitor.”1 Equipment necessary in a museum will integrate more technological aspect. Motion sensors, visual/lighting systems, auditory systems, simulators, and other equipment types will be obligatory for optimizing the immersive sensory experience this museum will embody.

Interior Building & Construction Systems

Sustainability

Since museums can be defined under a wide variety of conditions, their building construction and interiors are comparatively unique. Preexisting museums make use of wood and metal frame constructions with an assortment of interior finishes dependent on the content of the museum. This museum features a pre-existing metal framework of trusses that will most likely continue to be used due to the tensile structure strength and the location of the building over water. Timber construction would not be appropriate due to the natural properties of wood when exposed to moisture. It would also not be beneficial to construct a new structure with timber due to fire ratings. For a museum environment that can include indirect paths and crowded exhibits that may contain flammable items, it is imperative that the surrounding structure be as flame retardant as possible and maintain minimum fire ratings of one and two hours.

New museum projects have the benefit of adapting their own green practices from the design stage, throughout the construction state.

Non-toxic paint, salvaged materials, LED lights, green water systems, and resilient flooring are common options for a sustainable museum to adopt. For museums already in operation, many practices can be carried out to ensure a sustainable approach to the future. These practices include, but are not limited to: the regulation of artificial lighting in the presence of natural daylight, moderate regulation of the air systems to keep a clean and circulating air pattern to ensure both health and quality, utilizing solar energy to power exhibits and control auxiliary functions, recycling materials from outdated exhibits and adaptively re-using the spaces to minimize waste of resources and money.

Materials As a general rule of thumb, any situation that experiences frequent tactile contact or areas of high traffic needs to be designed with durability, maintainability, and clean-ability in mind. With that said, museum exhibits, especially user interactive displays must be built with resilient materials that can withstand the wear and tear of daily activity and usage of hundreds of people and still be brought back to an appropriate appearance. They are typically constructed using wood, MDF, plastic, foam, plaster, metal, synthetics, or even recycled material if the design/exhibit

calls for it. Many designs are also advocating for sustainable and re-useable materials that allow old or outdated exhibits to be upcycled into a new product. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The range of

Reducing the amount of emissions from the exhibit construction is also of concern especially in regards to the connecting adhesives and paints used.

materials available to exhibition designers continues to increase as new suppliers and material databases offer more options than ever before. Not only are there many new manufacturing processes and technologies, but the materials are produced in quantity and their high quality and reliability have opened up a whole new realm of possibilities to designers.â&#x20AC;?2

The fire rating of materials is imperative as a general rule since most museums house valuable collections and the displays must be checked frequently. Besides fire retardancy and a materialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aesthetic properties, the designer must check its durability, order times, price, sheet size, ease of maintenance and assembly time, and the skills of contractors involved.

design & technical criteria

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Ergonomics, Anthropormetrics, Proximetrics For a museum that aims to immerse the users in an interactive environment, all factors of human dimensioning and comfort levels need to be taken into consideration. Grip strengths, seated reaches, standing reaches, viewing sightlines, mobile ability, directional adaptability, and average depth perception are just some of the many human mechanical conditions that must be accounted for within the design of exhibits.

Some important guidelines to consider as outlined by the Smithsonian Institute Accessibility Program are as follows:

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Essential information in exhibition label text must be accessible to people who have difficulty reading English. Label design must present main exhibition copy legibly for all visitors. Such exhibition label information must be available within the galleries in alternative formats (e.g. Braille, audio) for people who cannot read print.

Items in exhibitions (e.g. artifacts, graphics, props) must be visually accessible to people. Items essential to the exhibitionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main theme must be accessible to people by tactile examination (e.g. touching artifacts, reproductions, models) and/or comprehensive audio description. Items must not be placed in locations such that they create a hazard for visitors.â&#x20AC;?3

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im_2

im_3

im_4

design & technical criteria

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design & technical criteria

im_5

im_6

design & technical criteria

6 _167

Lighting Lighting plays a significant role in the design of a museum or exhibit. The ways in which displays must be lit or the overall design concept for a set-up and its lights will guide the design of the space in order to accommodate the necessary lighting systems. Light systems control not only the visual levels within a space but they highlight areas of importance, denote circulation, and dictate how users perceive both the built and exhibited environments.

im_7

im_8

Lighting design for institutions such as museums can draw parallels between exhibition lighting and stage or theater

“In both, lighting is adjusted to emphasize changes in mood and tone, and important dramatic elements are highlighted or banished to the shadows when necessary. Surfaces can be bathed in colored light, dramatic sequences can be created with video projections, and objects can be modelled with angled lights.”4 lighting.

light to dark spaces in order to make circulation through different exhibits easy on the eye and comfortable in order to obtain

“The visual perception of exhibits, spatial relationships, surfaces and graphic treatments is governed by how they are lit. In the highly artificial environment of an exhibition, the designer uses lighting Factors that must be considered when selecting to interpret displays and to shape the lighting for an exhibit are the human visitors’ perceptions of their experience. eye and how an eye detects light changes or It plays a central role in exhibitions and perceives lighting effects. The designer needs every scheme is considered from this to consider and be aware of transitions from perspective.”5

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design & technical criteria

seamless transitions between spaces.

There needs to be a distinguishable difference between ambient light and accent light.

Ambient light can be defined as an artificial system that provides ample amounts of light so people can see or it can be related to the amount of natural daylight infiltration in a space that eliminates the need for supplementary lighting. Accent lighting in the case of exhibitions, could also be referred to as spotlighting due to its relativity in highlighting and placing emphasis on certain areas, displays, or objects. Either exhibition or ambient lighting can be manipulated to create hierarchies and sequences of importance or equivalencies.

Lighting must be sufficient to enhance user experiences in navigation, viewing purposes, and in the event of emergency egress. All textual information should also be able to be viewed clearly and appropriate lighting should be used to aid in the experiences of those with sensory disabilities.

im_9

“The relative contrast between the exhibit and the background gives the display its drama and focuses the visitor’s attention on the set-up. The designer has the scope to create a tightly focused or ‘contoured’ pool of light on the exhibit, or create a wider beam that lights the area around it.”6

Colored lighting also plays a large role in the viewer’s perception of an exhibit. Assorted types of colored lights will render materials differently thus manipulating the reality of the exhibits color properties. Feature lighting that is used to accentuate a particular area is left to the designer’s discretion. The development of LED lights have made feature lighting easier and more flexible.

New control technologies have also enabled designers to create programmable illuminated surfaces that can change as per the designer’s intentions.

In a conservation exhibit such as a gallery or historical artifact museum, sunlight and natural daylight are generally omitted as they are harmful to the subject matter. Artificial light is generally preferred to conserve the artifacts because certain lights can be used that emit relatively no harmful UV rays that could deteriorate sensitive items. In immersive or interactive exhibition design, both natural lighting and artificial lighting are used to benefit the effects and perception of an exhibit as seen fit by the designer in regards to the existing space, the concept of the exhibits, and the resources available.

design & technical criteria

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Acoustic & Visual Control

Thermal Comfort Criteria

In order to control sound in large and populous areas, it is necessary to take into account the materials being used and their affiliated properties. Factors must be examined such as a materialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hardness, reflectivity, sound absorption, texture. The use of foam, acoustic ceiling tiles, drop ceiling elements, or fabrics on the walls that separate the environments can minimize this. Textiles and heavily textured surfaces tend to break up and dissipate sound waves, therefore therefore acting as appropriate tools for aiding in acoustic controls. Acoustic barriers must be installed where ever possible within the museum to break down noise in a high traffic area.7

Thermal comfort criteria deals with the levels of air circulation and the subsequent effects of large volumes of people in a space. Air circulation within any space is necessary to prevent stagnant or stale air from infiltrating the interior environment. In museums or exhibits with high amounts of traffic and activity, it is extremely essential to have a sufficient ventilation system to remove smells, remove any airborne germs, and bring in fresh exterior air. Not only is the circulation of clean and fresh air a crucial aspect to the health and well-being of museum users it is vital to the preservation of articles exhibited within the displays.

Another relevant factor within thermal comfort criteria is the physical temperature within a space. The presence of large numbers of people in any enclosed space will have effects on the temperature of the area. Human bodies are natural incubators of warmth and sources of proximal heat. Therefore, the subsequent temperature of the area will increase with the more bodies present. Thermal controls must be integrated into the air systems of museums in order to regulate the room and exhibit temperatures due to human presence or external atmosphere factors to either cool the room down when it is too warm or heat it up when too cold.

Visual control between exhibits is also a central factor that must be designed in order to keep viewers focused on one exhibit at a time. These controls must be applied to better centralize user attention on the specific displays. Visual divisions in space can be achieved either through solid physical structural barriers or the more poetic and implied barriers formed with lighting, relationships to solid and void, color separation, texture, or with a play on visual transparencies.

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im_10

design & technical criteria

im_11

Wayfinding & Signage Wayfinding and signage are two of the most essential aspects to museum design next to lighting. Both factors guide user circulation throughout the assorted rooms and levels of a museum. Circulation routes within exhibits and even the museum itself must be easily accessible and identifiable and must be well-lit, clearly defined, and easy to follow.

graphics direct visitors to the exhibition itself and help them to identify distinct spaces within it. It is important that the graphics can be read and understood from a distance and are sufficiently bold and noticeable to be seen in crowded areas.â&#x20AC;?8

â&#x20AC;&#x153;[Wayfinding graphics] are intended to tease and entice visitors but they also serve the practical purpose of showing them where to go. Good wayfinding

Often times designers create a signage hierarchy that is consistent throughout the space in order to universally relate and tie the whole design together.

Signage must have high degrees of textual contrast in regards to color and therefore must always maintain a high level of legibility and readability in order to appeal to the widest audience in universal design. Signs will delineate both direction, location, and information pertaining to exhibits. It will need to display all the factual and textual information relating to the displays and should work alongside other media such as sound clips, video projections, and the arrangement of a display. Scale and proportions of signage is another design challenge that must be analyzed and designed to best fit the requirements of the museum or exhibit.

design & technical criteria

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imagery

_ sources

im _1 _ http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/1295356832-mmi-01-redesigned-lobby.jpg im _2 _ Time Saver Standards for Interiors im _3 _ Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Design im _4 _ Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Design im _5 _ Building Construction Standards for Interiors im _6 _ Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Design im _7 _ Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Design im _8 _ http://www.domusweb.it/content/dam/domusweb/en/news/2013/08/30/lightopia/gallery/02-03_Lightopia_Maurer.jpg im _9 _

http://www.propellor.ca/propellor-design-images/spatial-exhibition-design/museum-exhibition-design-velocity8.jpg

im _10 _http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Barbara-Kruger-Installation-1-retouched.jpg im _11 _ http://www.hirshhorn.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Barbara-Kruger-Installation-1-retouched.jpg

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information

_sources

6 _ Hughes, Philip. “Section 6: 2-D Design Skills.” In Exhibition Design, 100-128. London: Laurence King, 2010. citation 8

6 _ Hughes, Philip. “Section 7: Lighting.” In Exhibition Design, 130-152. London: Laurence King, 2010. citation 4, 5, 6

6 _ Hughes, Philip. “Section 9: Sound.” In Exhibition Design, 162-68. London: Laurence King, 2010. citation 7

6 _ Hughes, Philip. “Section 10: Materials.” In Exhibition Design, 170-76. London: Laurence King, 2010. citation 3

6 _ Majewski, Janice. “Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition Design. “Smithsonian Accessibility Program: 1-44. citation 1, 2,

design & technical criteria

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07

Programming

NAME

QTY

S.F.

TOTAL S.F.

ADJACENCIES

PRIVACY V (VISUAL) A (ACOUSTIC

LIGHTING

ENTRY/ VESTIBULE

1

150

150

LOBBY, TICKET KIOSK,

-

NATURAL (DAY) ARTIFICIAL (NIGHT)

LOBBY/ ATRIUM

1

1,000

1,000

VESTIBULE, COAT CHECK, TICKET/INFO KIOSK

-

NATURAL & ARTIFICIAL

TICKET / INFORMATION KIOSK

1

100

100

VESTINULE, LOBBY, COAT CHECK

-

ARTIFICIAL

COAT CHECK

1

100

100

TICKET/INFO KIOSK, LOBBY

V

ARTIFICIAL

STORE/ GIFT SHOP

1

500

500

LOBBY, EXHIBITS

A

ARTIFICIAL

PUBLIC RESTROOMS

6 (3:MALE, 3: FEMALE)

300

1,800

EXHIBITS, CAFÉ, LOBBY, GIFT SHOP

V, A

ARTIFICIAL

EXHIBITION SPACE

-

-

21,100

CAFÉ, LOBBY, GIFT SHOP, RESTROOMS

A

ARTIFICIAL

CAFÉ W/ ATTACHED KITCHEN

1

1,000

1,000

GIFT SHOP, EXHIBITS, STORAGE

V, A

NATURAL & ARTIFICIAL

LECTURE/EVENT SPACE

1

600

600

EXHIBITS, LOBBY

A

NATURAL & ARTIFICIAL

STORAGE

3

1,000

3,000

DELIVERY DOCK, EXHIBITS, CAFÉ, GIFT SHOP

V, A

ARTIFICIAL

ADMINISTRATION OFFICES

3

300

900

EMPLOYEE LOUNGE, SECURITY OFFICE

V, A

ARTIFICIAL

SECURITY OFFICE

1

150

150

ADMIN OFFICES, EMPLOYEE LOUNGE

V, A

ARTIFICIAL

1

400

400

ADMINISTRATION OFFICES, PRIVATE RESTROOMS

A

NATURAL & ARTIFICIAL

EMPLOYEE RESTROOMS

2 (1:MALE, 1: FEMALE)

200

400

EMPLOYEE LOUNGE, ADMIN OFFICES, SECUTIRY OFFICE

V, A

ARTIFICIAL

JANITOR CLOSET

1

100

100

-

V, A

ARTIFICIAL

WORKSHOP

1

1,000

1,000

EXHIBITS, DELIVERY DOCK, STORAGE

V, A

ARTIFICIAL

MEDIA ROOM

1

100

100

DATA RM, MECH RM, ELECTRICAL RM

V, A

ARTIFICIAL

DATA ROOM

1

200

200

MECH RM, MEDIA RM, ELECTRICAL RM

V, A

ARTIFICIAL

MECHANICAL ROOM

1

150

150

DATA RM, MEDIA RM, ELECTRICAL RM

V, A

ARTIFICIAL

ELECTRICAL ROOM

1

50

50

MEDIA RM, DATA RM, MECH RM

V, A

ARTIFICIAL

STORAGE, CAFÉ

V, A

ARTIFICIAL

EMPLOYEE LOUNGE LOCKERS

W/

DELIVERY DOCK

1

100

100

CIRCULATION

30%

14,100

14,100 47,000

TOTALS

7 _176

programming

EQUPIMENT/FURNITURE

FINISHES

PERCEPTION

REMARKS

-

HARD, DURABLE SURFACES, TBD

WELCOMING

SECURITY CAMERAS

LOUNGE CHAIRS, DISPLAY STANDS

HARD, DURABLE SURFACES, TBD

INTRIGUING & EXCITING

SECUTIRY CAMERAS

RECEPTION DESK, COMPUTER, PRINTER, CHAIRS

RUBBER FLOORING

WELCOMING & INFORMATIVE

SECURITY CAMERAS, CASH REGISTER

ATTENDENT DESK & CHAIR

CARPET

-

RACKS, HANGERS, BAG CUBBIES

SHELVING, DISPLAY STANDS, PURCHASE COUNTER

CARPET

INVITING, INTRUIGING

SECURITY CAMERAS, CASH REGISTER

PLUMBING : TOILETS, URINALS, SINKS

TILE

-

BABY CHANGING STATIONS, HANDICAPP ACCESSIBILITY

BUILT EXHIBIT EQUIPMENT, PROJECTORS, COMPUTERS, CHAIRS,

HARD, DURABLE SURFACES, TBD

EXCITING, FUN, INFORMATIVE, STIMULATING

SECURITY CAMERAS

TABLES, CHAIRS, PURCHASE COUNTER, REFRIGERATOR, SINK, MICROWAVE, TOASTER

HARD, DURABLE SURFACES, TBD

RELAXING

SMALL, ATTACHED KITCHENETTE TO PREPARE PRE-MADE FOODS

CHAIRS, PODIUM, PROJECTOR

TBD

EDUCATIONAL

SECURITY CAMERA

SHELVING

HARD, DURABLE SURFACES, TBD

-

SECURITY CAMERA

DESKS, CHAIRS, COMPUTERS, FILE CABINETS

CARPET

-

-

DESK, CHAIR, SECUTIRY MONITORS

CARPET

-

-

COUCHES, TABLES, CHAIRS, KITCHENETTE, LOCKERS

CARPET

RELAXING

-

PLUMBING: TOILETS, URINALS, SINKS

TILE

-

-

UTILITY SINK, SHELVING

HARD, DURABLE SURFACES, TBD

-

-

TABLE SAW, SCROLL SAW, LASER LAB, WELD STATION, SHELVING

HARD, DURABLE SURFACES, TBD

-

-

DESK, CHAIR, COMPUTERS

CARPET

-

-

COMPUTERS

CARPET

-

-

HVAC

HARD, DURABLE SURFACES, TBD

-

-

CIRCUIT BREAKER

HARD, DURABLE SURFACES, TBD

-

-

UNLOADING DOCK EQUIPMENT

HARD, DURABLE SURFACES, TBD

-

SECURITY CAMERA

programming

7 _177

Adjacency Matrix Major Adjacency Secondary Adjacency No Adjacency

7 _178

programming

Blocking Diagram

Lobby/Atrium

Restrooms

Gift Shop

Exhibits

Storage

Offices

Cafe

Utility Rooms

Circulation

programming

7 _179

08

Building Analysis

Building

Municipal Pier 9 121 North Columbus Boulevard Philadelphia, PA

Size

The building is a 1 story construction listed at around 97â&#x20AC;&#x2122; wide and about 500â&#x20AC;&#x2122; in length with a gross square footage of 47,000 sq. ft. a mezzanine is required in the future renovation of the space, giving the total square footage an indefinite and unknown number at this phase of planning.

Architect & Designer

Municipal Pier 9 has no listed architect and designer as the project was commissioned by the city of Philadelphia as a part of their efforts to create piers for commerce after World War 1. It was owned by the city and operated by the United Fruit Company and used by national and international ships carrying fruit, salt, and general cargo.1

im_1

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building analysis

Style/Concept Analysis Pier 9, built at the foot of Cherry Street in 1916, was one of the first piers in this Philadelphia waterfront building campaign, and stands today as a document of this era of rapid port expansion.2 Construction was finished in 1919 after war delays caused a lack in materials and available workers to complete the structure quickly.

The design selected for this pier, reflected the decision to provide a facility which offered the flexibility of use necessary to accommodate varied cargoes. The neoclassical facade, found on both the Delaware Avenue and the waterfront ends of the pier, gives an appearance of permanency and importance to an otherwise strictly functional structure. Two symmetrical arched openings, providing access to railroad tracks on the pier, dominate the reinforced concrete facade.3 â&#x20AC;&#x153;The engineer designed the substructure to support a second deck, in anticipation that the port might decide to add another story in the future. The fundamental design of Pier 9 reflected only slight innovation over that of single-story piers built a decade earlier.

However, Pier 9 was the last single-story cargo pier built by the city. After 1916, the city focused on the construction of large piers which reflected changes in cargo handling methods.â&#x20AC;?4 im_2

building analysis

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Structural System “The structure of Pier 9 consists of an existing 100 foot wide by 535 foot long pier with a one story steel frame and concrete structure supported on a grid of timber piles. The pier is constructed with a concrete deck that spans over 27 solid concrete [beams] spaced approximately 20 feet apart.

These in turn support the steel superstructure and the roof. The bents are entirely supported by 12inch to 14-inch timber piles. The building is not currently served by any utilities.”5

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building analysis

Materials – The building has concrete masonry facades on both the east and west head houses of the building. The north and south facing sides are steel framing and sheathing construction with clerestory windows. The floor plate of the pier is constructed of concrete piles and a concrete substructure which is in various states of deterioration and corrosion along the length of the building. The existing roof cover is an elastomeric membrane that is

not properly attached at its perimeter and the existing wood sheathing seems to have been left unprotected for an extensive amount of time. Most of the building’s structure is in some form of deterioration and disrepair. Extensive amounts of rehabilitation to the structure must be addressed before any additional renovation construction can be completed.

“Rehabilitating this 94-year-old structure requires a comprehensive approach to reversing decades of deferred maintenance.”6

im_3

The proposed end product for this building will use the entire existing site to accommodate a full museum program. Spaces will be created for both functionality and aesthetics. Breaks will be made in the façade to accommodate the eastern views of the Delaware River and allow for maximum daylighting opportunities.

im_4

Additions will be made to the lengths of the building to account for suitable egress pathways and alternative means of egress to ensure a safe and occupiable space. Since the space is all on one level and the height of the trusses are tall enough, a mezzanine will be used to break up the spaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s verticality and add standard building

functions to an alternative level. This grand height will also be used in accentuating exhibit, lobby, and cafĂŠ spaces. The proposed project will also preserve the integrity of the existing structure by highlighting the repetitious steel framework that creates the buildings numerous bays.

building analysis

8 _185

im_5 & 6

8 _186

building analysis

im_7

im_8

building analysis

8 _187

8 _188

building analysis

im_9

Existing Structure

Solid vs. Void

Repetition building analysis

8 _189

Building Code Analysis Museum of the Senses Address_ 121 N. Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia, PA, 19106 Owner_ Delaware River Waterfront Corporation Project Name_

Architect_ Julia Larson

May 2014 Number of Stories_ 1 w/ mezzanine Total Gross SQ FT_ 47,000 sq.ft.

Date of Completion_

Applicable Building Code Information

C3, General Commercial Districts Fire Code_ IFC 2012 Building Code & Date_ IBC 2009 Energy Code_ 2012 Zoning Ordinance_

Construction Classification

Type_ Type IIA Fire Rated_ 1 hour

8 _190

building analysis

Use Group Classification

Low Hazard storage_ S-2 Proposed_ Museum_ A-3 (Assembly) Current_

Accessory Occupancies_

Café & Offices_ B (Business) Gift Shop_ M (Mercantile) Storage_ S-2 (Low-Hazard Storage) Wood Shop_ F-1 (Factory Industrial, Moderate-Hazard)

Fire Protection Requirements

*All areas sprinklered

Exit Access Travel_ 250’-0” (with sprinklers) Dead End Limit_ 20’-0” Exterior Walls Load Bearing_ 1 hour Fire Exit Enclosures_ 2 hours Shafts and Elevator Hoist Ways_ 2 hours Exit Access Corridors_ 0 hours Tenant Space Separations_ 2 hours Smoke Barriers_ 30 minutes Incidental Use Areas_ Storage rooms over 100 sq. ft.: 1 hr. or provide automatic fire-extinguishing system Occupancy Separations_

A-3 occupancies require 2 hr. separations from classes B, M, & S-2 B occupancies require 2 hr. separations from classes M & S-2 M occupancies require 3 hr. separations from classes S-2 & F-1 F-1 occupancies require 3 hr. separations from classes A-3, B, & S-2

building analysis

8 _191

Occupant Load per Space Functions Accessory storage areas, mechanical equipment room (S-2) Gross SQ FT_ 3,500 SF/Occupant_ 300 gross Number of Occupants_ 12

Assembly Un-concentrated (tables and chairs) (A-3)

Business Areas (B)

Gross SQ FT_ 22,600

Gross SQ FT_ 2,750

SF/Occupant_ 15 net

SF/Occupant_ 100 gross

Number of Occupants_ 1,507

Number of Occupants_ 28

Mercantile Basement and Grade Floor Areas (M)

Fabrication and Manufacturing Areas (F-1)

Gross SQ FT_ 500

Gross SQ FT_ 1,000

SF/Occupant_ 30 gross

SF/Occupant_ 200 gross

Number of Occupants_ 17

Number of Occupants_ 5

8 _192

building analysis

Means of Egress

Sanitation

Total Occupants_ 1569

Total Building Occupant Count_ 1569

Egress Width per Occupant_

Stairs_ 470.7”

Females_ 784.5

Others_ 313.8”

WC Male_ (6.276 total) 1.569 = 2

Number of Exits_ 5 at 94” ea.

Urinals (67% of Male WC) _ 4.707 = 5

Males_ 784.5

WC Female_ 12.069 = 13 Lavatories Males_ 7.845 = 8 Lavatories Female_ 7.845 = 8 Drinking Fountains_ 3.138 = 4

Building Limitations

Service Sink_ 1

65’-0” total allowable height No historic registry Gross floor area is not to exceed 550% lot area – building is one story and therefore only 100% coverage which is in compliance, mezzanine will not affect the floor area limitations building analysis

8 _193

imagery

_ sources

im _1 _ http://issuu.com/pennadmin/docs/pier_9_small. im _2 _http://www.scottfrederickphotoblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/5330951432_f899e2bbdc_b(pp_w900_h597).jpg im _3 _ http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8453/7981225238_01501e1d8c_o.jpg im _4 _ http://issuu.com/pennadmin/docs/pier_9_small. im _5 _http://issuu.com/pennadmin/docs/pier_9_small. im _6 _ http://issuu.com/pennadmin/docs/pier_9_small. im _7 _ http://issuu.com/pennadmin/docs/pier_9_small. im _8 _ http://issuu.com/pennadmin/docs/pier_9_small. im _9 _

8 _194

http://issuu.com/pennadmin/docs/pier_9_small.

building analysis

information

_sources

8 _ Gates, Kellie Patrick. Plan Philly, “Study on the future of Pier 9 begins.” Last modified October 6, 2011. Accessed November

28, 2013. http://planphilly.com/articles/2011/10/06/study-future-pier-9-begins citation 1

8 _ Copass, Cloantha Wade. City of Philadelphia municipal piers 3, 5, 9, and 11 : documenting the development of

Philadelphia’s early twentieth century port. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1992. http://archive.org/stream/

cityofphiladelph00copa/cityofphiladelph00copa_djvu.txt (accessed November 28, 2013). citation 2, 3, 4

8 _ Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, “Feasibility Study of Pier 9: Delaware River Waterfront Company.” Last modified April 17, 2012.

Accessed November 28, 2013. http://issuu.com/pennadmin/docs/pier_9_small. citation 5, 6

building analysis

8 _195

09

Conclusion

A

s the research portion of this thesis documentation draws to a close, the evolution and growth of this project has become very apparent. What started out as a travel museum has developed into an experiential museum focusing on sensory perceptions and reactions to stimuli. The idea of â&#x20AC;&#x153;moments rather than monumentsâ&#x20AC;? remains, but the accompanying focus on travel has broadened into a project of more relatable situations.

The design goals initially outlined in this research will stay consistent during the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design development phase, until the project has been completed in May of 2014. These goals will remind the museum project of the original inspiration and passion felt for an exhibition of the senses.

photograph by Julia Larson

_ to design a museum that explores sensory experiences, focusing on

moments rather than monuments _ to educate the public while providing a vibrant and entertaining atmosphere _ to offer exhibits that isolate and explore each of the five senses to capture and relay moments.

9 _198

conclusion

photograph by Julia Larson

An experiential museum is necessary for this city in order to further enrich the culture of the area. Old City and Penn’s Landing have long records as integral pieces in the history of the city. Pier 9 is especially in need of revitalization in order to attract more visitors to the scenic waterfront. The development of this project would work in tandem with the waterfront re-development initiative taken up by the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation to enhance the Philadelphia coastline and bring local and out of town visitors to yet another part of this culturally diverse city. A museum attraction will draw visitors of all demographics to the waterfront. It has the opportunity to become the feature attraction of the waterfront development with neighbors such as Race Street Pier and The Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing.

Users will be able to experience a museum aimed at both educating and entertaining.

Exhibits will focus on informing the public of how each of the senses works, how they relate to one another, and how humans are constantly relying on them in daily life. This educative atmosphere will be fostered in a stimulating, creative environment that allows users to not only be shown or told the information, but they themselves will apply the lessons learned in interactive, sensory stimulating environments.

To tie back to the original inspiration for this museum project, exhibits will feature a temporary theme of travel and the narrative of sensory experiences within. The museum will im_7

feature five designated areas for the exploration of each of the five sensory systems and the perceptive results from external stimuli.

The proposed theme of narrative travel through the senses will allow users to experience what it is like to stand in the London underground, feel a train rush by, and hear the announcer say, “Mind the Gap!” or to try and decipher

announcements being made in foreign languages, or to brave strong winds and inclement weather while skirting the edges of a cliff. An experiential project not only presents a topic to be learned, but it provides an opportunity to better understand the functions of the human body and how humans retell the narrative of an experience.

conclusion

9 _199

10

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Julia Larson I NT D - 4 8 7 C a p s t o n e R e s e a r c h & P r o g r a m m i n g Fall 2013