Interactive Museum Design

In recent years technology, today at the centre of our daily life, has also become a protagonist of the cultural industry, an area that up until some time ago was loyal to “tradition”, more and more are in fact interactive museum design projects use the latest technologies to create exhibition itineraries able to satisfy the 5 senses whilst stimulating both the learning and the emotional involvement. The major museums in the world have greatly innovated in this regard.

At the Multi-Sensory Museum of Yokohama in Japan, visitors can learn about Nature, from the forests to the pole, from the desert to the sea, and the animals that live there through the support of cutting-hedge technologies able to recreate these environments making the visitor really feel “inside” the represented worlds. Users have the impression of travelling around the world thanks to a top a top-down view obtained with a large curved screen. For instance, when you get to the section dedicated to the land of penguins, you will feel like being at the pole, not only for the images that surround these animals but also for the temperature that goes down to -20 degrees.

Back in Europe, the National Maritime Museum of Denmark in Helsingor exhibits the Danish maritime history through a path built seven meters under the road level that goes around the docklands. This scenic set-up is based on interactivity, getting visitors fully engaged thanks to an emotional scenography and innovative video projections that interpret the sense of discovery.

Also in Italy we have excellent cases of multimedia exhibition set-ups, think for example at the Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia where visitors are provided with a series of tools that create a sensorial journey into the Venetian art. Along the Gallerie’s rooms there are touch-screen monitors with multimedia contents which can be accessed via Smart Phone Apps or through tablets positioned next to the main artworks. Visitors, from adults to children, will therefore be able to take advantage of thematic routes created for all audiences. Also blind and deaf visitors will be able to enjoy the exhibition thanks to the use of tactile tools and non-visual perception enhancements.

Today the goods contained in a museum are likely to be appreciated by the public proportionally to its storytelling skills, thus making interactive multimedia techniques and design technologies the key factor for the successful museum set-ups of the future.

 

Image:
Maritime Museum of Denmark
“Globalisation LR”, Thijs Wolzak