Public, controlled area

MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES

General
Entrance Cafe, bar
Orientation Restaurant Visitors'
Cloakroom Shop entrance A museum is a public collection of objects testifying to human
Pay desk Conference rooms cultural development. It collects, documents, receives, researches,
we
interprets and communicates these through display.

The following museum types can be categorised according to the

Exhibition area Library origin and nature of the items in the collection:
Permanent exhibitio s Lecture hall
Temporary exhibition~
Art gallery: Collection of works of fine art (including craftworks
Delivery of
works of art and graphics).

Cultural history museum: Collection of devices, weapons, clothing,

Private area written documents etc. which show the cultural development of a
geographically restricted area (ethnological museum, open-air
museum, local history museum).
Administration Catalogues
Director Copy room
Ethnology museum: Works from the cultural heritage of traditional
peoples and lost cultures.

Ll-Lib_m_ry----~~ LI_Ar-ch-ive----~ Science museum: Collection of educational and display material

connected with scientific and technical themes.

MUSEUMS AND
Lighting
ART GALLERIES
There should be no direct daylight falling on museum objects as

D
General
Restoration this could cause damage. Therefore display rooms should be Display rooms
and conservation
workshops Delivery of provided with flexible lighting systems: no permanently built-in
see also:
works of art lights, no fixed wall and ceiling lights. Lighting,
pp. 501 ff.
Guidelines for lighting:

Very sensitive display objects 50-80 lx

0 Functional scheme Sensitive display objects: 100-150ix
Less sensitive display objects: 150-300 lx
''
North'-
/
/

/South UV radiation must not be exceed 25 W/m 2 •

/

It must be possible to completely darken all display rooms. In

public rooms where no items are displayed, e.g. entrance area,
Exhibition cafe, library, a greater amount of daylight is desirable.
Exhibition

The lighting calculations for museums are highly theoretical:

f) Indirect lighting filtered through 8 Lighting of display from rooflight the quality of lighting is decisive. American tests can be more
suspended glass ceiling facing north informative.

Room climate in the store and the display areas

The ideal temperatures in the store and the display areas are
_._.._ 15-18°C in the winter and 20-22°C in the summer. Except as
Exhibition short peaks, in the summer 26°C should not be exceeded. Stores
should not therefore be located in uninsulated attics, for example.
Exhibition

Because the reproduction of insects is very limited under 15°C,

above all for science and ethnography collections a temperature
e Indirect lighting filtered through
suspended glass ceiling
e Side lighting from north of 12-13°C is optimal.

Screen Photo and film material is relatively chemically unstable and the
material should therefore be stored cool and dry at temperatures
under 16°C (ideally at approx. 5°C).

The relative humidity in the store and the display areas depends
on the displayed and stored materials: the optimal values are
for wood 55-60%, canvas 50-55%, paper 45-50% and metals,
max. 40%. It is important to avoid short-term variations in relative
humidity: the variation within one hour should not exceed 2.5%,
or not more than 5% in one day. Seasonal variations should not
;------ 1 0 . 0 0 - - i f-----10.00_______, be more than +5% in summer or -5% in winter. The changing flow
0 Well-lit display room according to
0 Uniformly lit gallery with light of visitors in museums leads to continuous variation in the climatic
parameters.
Boston tests according to S. Hurst Seager

207
 MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES
Display Rooms

The decisive factor in the layout of display rooms is the

relationship between the collection and the way it is to be
displayed (display concept). There are the following basic types
of layout --7 0 - 0:
0 Open plan f) Main and side rooms (core and
Open plan --7 0: large and visually autonomous items on display,
satellites)
free circulation, function rooms in basement.

Core and satellite rooms --7 f): main room for orientation in the
museum or the exhibition, side rooms for autonomous displays
(themes/collections)

Linear chaining --7 0: linear sequences of rooms, controlled

circulation, clear orientation, separate entrance and exit.

Labyrinth --7 0: free circulation, guided route and direction are

variable, entrance and exit can be separate.

0 Linear chaining G Labyrinth Complex --7 0: combined groups of rooms with typical features
of --7 0 - 0, complex organisation of collection and display
concept.
MUSEUMS
AND ART
GALLERIES
General
D Round tour (loop) --7 0: similar to linear chaining-.
circulation leads back to entrance.
0, controlled
Display rooms
Display concept Spatial arrangement

oriented on display items open plan -> 0

systematically oriented main and side rooms (core and satellites)-> f)
thematically oriented linear chaining ----t 0, round tour~ 0
complex oriented labyrinth-> 0. complex-> e
The size and height of the display and store rooms depend on the
dimensions of the works and the extent of the collection, but the
minimum height is 4 m clear.
9 Complex e Round tour (loop)

2.20-2.50
Picture/ 1.00---t 1.20-1.40
I
I Through
I ~ldthage
Distance: 1 (;!!/
T
0
according to
_ siz:_ o~i~u~ ~ __ _
I
~~:
Jii
0

'"
1-,
oo
1.20-1.40
!1.
~
"'"'
.-:I
a/A
ll_
90- - l ---------
m_in. passage
Width 'tf
I
I
I
H.OO--j f-1.oo--l View to the centr~ I
f) Light and shadow in display cabinets e Distance and light G Pictures on the wall: viewing and traffic ~ Space in front of display cabinet

~30-35-j

----~Picture _ _ _ __
Words on picture~
or board \ I
max. distance
to observer \ I
1.10mreadable \ I

rjJ!J Book

15'-20'--\+ r
E 6' 27' 33' 42' \I ~
E'J-------2.oo------+so+so+so+so--!H=E•tg27'
'fitg 0.1 10.5 I 0.6 10.75
12.00 11.50 11.00 1 50 'E'
I
f-1.00--1 J; 1
CD Field of view: height, size and distance 4l) Ensure labels/commentaries readable

208