Suzanne MacLeod

Making Museum Studies: Training, Education, Research and Practice

Overview Museum studies, as a concept is difficult to grasp. It is invariably discussed according to the pre-existing narratives which circle around the words and inform opinion, without providing,...

Museum architecture : a new biography

Abstract What do we really understand about museum architecture? How are museums made through design, but also through use? What are the motivations of those involved in museum projects and how is the physical stuff of museums implicated in the creation of professional identities and social relationships? Recent decades have witnessed an international explosion of museum building, expansion and renovation and the development of a sub-discipline in museum studies as museum professionals and academics have sought to understand the myriad issues involved in capital development. Despite the number of texts and events dedicated to planning successful capital projects, there has been little detailed exploration of the nature of museum architecture. Dominant understandings of museum architecture as the aesthetic outcome and activity of the architect continue to inform much writing about museum buildings, and the histories these texts construct about museums and how they are made, continue to influence professional attitudes towards capital development projects. This thesis utilises an architectural history of one museum – the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool – in order to explore the nature of museum architecture and the multiple ways in which it is produced. Driven by critical thinking around the social production of architecture, the thesis develops a biographical approach to unearth detailed histories of architectural change and development and provide glimpses of tangled stories of occupation and use revealing of social and professional relationships and of the politics and tensions behind architectural development. Drawing on research in museum studies, architectural history and theory as well as biography, autobiography and life writing, the thesis explores aspects of the subjects, methods and outcomes of architectural history and argues for detailed and nuanced histories of museum architecture which expand our understanding of how museums are made. Biography emerges as a route towards meaningful histories of change with the potential to provide some sense of the ordinary lives, the human bodily experiences that have made and remade the architecture of the museum throughout its ‘life’ and tell new stories of museum architecture necessary for the ongoing development and, potentially, radical remaking, of the physical stuff of museums and galleries.

New museum design cultures: harnessing the potential of design and ‘design thinking’ in museums

What is the current status of museum design research? How has the field progressed and how might we characterise contemporary museum design research? What are the barriers to the ongoing development of museum design and what role might research play in enabling museums to harness their physical, designed forms towards the production of meaningful, active, ethical and ongoing visitor experiences as well as the tangible manifestation of mission? This paper explores one very specific piece of research undertaken with colleagues from the Imperial War Museum North in the early months of 2014. The project proved highly productive, prompting a whole range of questions and generating new insights about the future of museum design research and its ability to make a positive and meaningful contribution to the ongoing transformation of museums into visitor-centred organisations. Most significantly, the project showed the value of design thinking and a research-led approach to museum development; harnessing the possibilities of museum design for a more fundamental thinking through of the visitor-centred visions, values, missions and making of museums.