Monday, April 18, 2011

RR 13 : 4/18/2011

The Design of Museums

As the rest of the world began to shift and change to modernism, the design world of museums fell behind.  Throughout the 20 th century we do see a few museum buildings appear in modern design such as Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum. Its not until the 1990s that they start to get a new face other than that of neoclassicism.

Museum Design during 19th and early/mid 20th century carried the imprint of the Enlightenment:
  • Ordering of space
  • Systematization of knowledge
  • Owning of precious objects
Museum buildings really tied into the concept of history, advances of archaeology, and the understanding of art.  The building represented well, the purpose of a museum in representing the ancient cultures.  Museums were also a way to represent national pride.


http://askmissa.com/2010/01/13/free-concerts-at-the-national-art-gallery/
National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.


http://dillonlibrary.blogspot.com/2011/02/londons-national-gallery-lecture.html
National Gallery in London



In the 1990s the global economy boomed and having a tourist site such as a grand museum could in great revenue thus museums were a economic power.  Museum building types became the interest of architects, planners, politicians, and the public.  No longer was the architect expected to preserve concervative thoughts or respecr high culture, they were now to represent the modernity of contemporary culture. 


http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/guggenheim-museum-bilbao-landmark.htm
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain


http://www.xxlglass.net/references.php?tri=oui&option1=&option2=&option3=&option4=&option5=
One building of the Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea

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