Design Exchange
www.dx.org
- Relatively small museum with a focus on industrial and architectural design
- Three exhibitions typically on display
    - Two small, but free, exhibitions on the main floor
        - The museum's main floor is connected to large finance-related business buildings, which brings in some traffic from there
        - One might think the free exhibitions would be a great lunchtime attraction, but there was low visitor volume in the free exhibition on a Tuesday at noon (three individuals, myself included)
    - Main paid exhibition on third floor
        - *Zero* visitor volume in main exhibition (just me!)
- No visitor maps available, nor any floor layouts or anything of the sort on walls or panels
    - Museumis seems small enough that there wouldn't be any significant orientation or navigation problems; I don't think most people would be able to get lost in the space
    - Signage was enough to find one's way around, though some signage was confusing or difficult to interpret (see photos)
- Main exhibit currently "What has architecture done for you lately?"
    - Exhibition was designed and developed in-house (and will be traveling to various museums afterwards)
    - Exhibition was laid out into distinct, separate subspaces (roughly half a dozen), each with its own theme: "Architecture + Environment", "Architecture + Economics", "Architecture + Health", etc.
    - Subspaces were laid out such that there was only one path through the exhibition (i.e., prevented any possibility of missing a subspace, and also allowed for sequentiality)
    - Individual subspaces large enough to allow for individual exploration (vs. deterministic sequence of experience via the layout)
- Types of media/content used in exhibition:
    - Objects, artifacts (esp. architectural models) w/ labels
    - Slideshows (the old kind, with the mechanical motor that rotates a carousal)
    - Lighted LED + glass displays
    - Pithy quotes and statements in large type on walls
    - Posters
- Valiant attempt at interacting with the visitor
    - Part of the exhibition involves the visitor writing their thoughts on a post-it note and putting it up on a large wall of "thoughts" (there were none, until I put one)
    - Another part involves the visitor taking labelled ping-pong balls, and placing them in the most appropriately labelled bucket
    - Intriguing, tendentious thoughts and questions on walls, (seemingly) intended to inspire/fuel debates and discussions

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