Car Museum

The redesign focused on the circulation of the galleries, the lighting design, and the material selections. The museum is a family friendly destinations and a community institution.

Circulation in Museums

Circulation in a museum is one of the most important aspects that needs to be carefully studied. Successful circulation ensures exhibit and museum visitors view the entire collection by guiding them correctly through the displays. The visitors leave with a clear understanding of the aim of the collection. Circulation determines the visitor’s experience.

In the case of unsuccessful circulation, the vistor will most likely be disoriented. “This situation firstly affects their performances, such as resulting in the decrement of interest in exhibits, called museum fatigue, and secondly, causes unnoticed, missed exhibits and exhibit galleries/rooms.” (Yılmazsoy, 2005)

Circulation cannot be studied in isolation of other design decisions, since is so clearly dependent on other factors such as types of visitors and their habits, types of items on display, the narrative projected to the visitor, accessibility considerations, among others.

Significant investigations should be made into the collection. It is important to have a coherent idea of what the narrative of the exhibit is. This will inform decisions about curation, and by extension, circulation.

Tzortzi, K (2007). Museum Building Design and Exhibition Layout: Patterns of Interaction. 6thInternational Space Syntax Symposium, İstanbul. | Yılmazsoy, A. (2005). Visitor Behaviour in Museum Environments: An Analysis of Visitor Circulation Patterns in Sadberk Hamin Museum. Masters Thesis, BİLKENT UNIVERSITY |

Types of Paths

The possible type of paths devised for the visitor.

The choice will be determined by the collection exhibited and the sought after visitor experience. Star exhibits, The single path, Multiple path, Radial path, Areas of affinity, Fan pattern, map of orientation.

Following are the different elements that need to be examined to ensure successful circulation:

Hierarchy of access

Some displays are privileged over others and should be given more direct access, visibility and a rich network of connections.

“Interestingly, spatial hierarchy is closely interwoven with curatorial choices, meaning that the hierarchy of access and subdivision tends to correspond to the hierarchy of the works displayed.” (Tzortzi, 2007).

Visibility

Controlling visibility across the museum exhibition floor is a great resource for molding the visitor’s experience and connecting displays to each other.

“… rich cross-visibility- acts on the pattern of co-presence: it enhances co-awareness, rather than co-presence, and sustains a dense pattern of visual encounter; and this can be seen as the most primitive form of socialization.” (Tzortzi, 2007).

Gathering spaces

These are the spaces of social encounters and co-presence between visitors. These shape differs from one building to another, but the existence of this space can create a buffer zone around displays or galleries. It is also taken as the reference point in circulation, and therefore considered to be the integration point of the museum.

Long model vs. Short model

A shorter model allows visitors to create their own relationships between displays. It is less rigid and lends itself to more exploration and frequent breaks. A long model enforces stricter relationships between displays and guides the visitor to uncover what is already known. It is more rigid in its circulation, however, the visitor is more likely to emerge with a thorough understanding of the exhibits.

Technical aspects such as accessibility

Technical aspects such as accessibility of disability and elderly and children, this involves ramps, height of displays and locations of fire exits. Another aspect is the size of groups’ visiting the museum. If larger groups are expected around certain displays, then this should be considered in the dimensions of walkways and display location.

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