Albertopolis Exhibition Road Redevelopment Designing the V&A museum hoarding

The planRedevelopping the area

V&A initially was known as the Museum of Manufactures, first opened in May 1852 at Marlborough House, but by September had been transferred to Somerset House. The V&A has its origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851, with which Henry Cole, the museum’s first director, was involved in planning. After this stage the collections covered both applied art and science.

The Natural History Museum is also one of three large museums on Exhibition Road of Albertopolis.It is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 70 million items Museum gives life to five main collections: Botany, Entomology, Mineralogy, Palaeontology and Zoology.

Albertopolis includes another amazing Museum, the Science Museum and is one of the three major ones on Exhibition Road.

Redevelopment of Albertopolis was undertook by FuturePlan and is transforming the V&A by revitalising visitor facilities and redisplaying the collections. Using the best architects and designers, V&A comes into the 21st century and restores modern design and innovation to the brilliant museum.

The gallery will be a new home for a full programme of the V&A’s world-class exhibitions. A folded plate ceiling will span 30 metres and soar over the visitor despite being underground. Its design was inspired by the neo-Gothic and neo-Classic museological tradition of ornate ceilings, continuing the didactic role in promoting the art and craft of manufacture.

The structural form and geometry of the gallery ceiling seeps through to the pattern of the courtyard above, giving a perspective of the exhibition space below. The visitor will be aware of the gallery directly beneath their feet. In turn, the structural solution of the ceilings generates the paving pattern of the courtyard.

“We’re reimagining the dialogue between the V&A and Exhibition Road,” explains architect Amanda Levete, “and in doing so, creating a new public space in the cultural and learning heart of London.”

Albertopolis and Museums The plan and vision of the museum The development of the buildings

Development of an interactive touch screen for the hoarding

Research started with basic layouts of other hoardings that already exist. New, old, smart, bad and good. It was also important to research how old hoardings of V&A looked so they could help on the new one.

Besides the hoarding research we also started researching things that are more broad. Examples of advertising design, smart advertisement and fun ways to inform people about something new.

Based on smart and creative advertising the research got into the interactive design which is the most innovative way to advertise something today because people can play with it and actually try to understand what the product or the advert want to say.

Many examples of creative and interactive adverts exist but not many hoardings based on interaction.

After the research and gathering of interesting material we decided to develop our hoarding on interactivity and create an interesting hoarding that would actually gather people in front of it.

The idea of an interactive drawing screen came up. A screen that would have many artworks from V&A museum and gave you the chance to learn about it and do it in your own way.

The design of the screen is a rectangle full of small squares that each of them represent an artwork. There are also squares that show you the category of the artwork and in the middle is V&A’s logo.

The screen is 60cm x 100cm and is using the touch screen’s technology so is accessible to everyone, kid or adult.

You first choose the artwork you like and then one of the category squares enlarges to show you where the artwork belongs.

It opens the artwork in a large window and shows information and a larger image. Information like who created it, when it was created and where.

Then you either can press “Go Back” and choose another one or “Make it your Way” and proceed on drawing it in your own style.

“Make it your Way” opens a new window with a blank white space and with a choice of colour from the palette and brush size you can draw it and colour it. Then you may also share it on V&A’s Facebook or Twitter page.

Research and Ideas Development of the final idea How it works / steps

Albertopolis

How the Interactive screen will look in the street / Evaluation

Four touch screens will be embodied on the hoarding so everyone who passes will have the opportunity to do it along the street.

The rest of the hoarding was designed based on how the redevelopment of the museum would look like with straight lines and modern architecture structure. Inspired by that the hoarding also shows artworks from all the categories of the museum in a layout of straight lines that remind the future building.

After evaluating the idea of the touch screen we came to a conclusion that is an innovative way to draw attention but unfortunately the brief of D&AD wouldn’t accept anything imported on the hoarding because it had to be aluminium only.

Also touch screens in such a size would be really expensive so maybe reconsidering the idea we would made something more convenient and cheaper for the brief. It still remains a nice idea but maybe in the future is possible with cheaper methods.

http://albertopolis2013.gdnm.org/(A common blog with Kleanthis Michael)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb4ebc1_dkc&feature=youtu.be(How the screen works)

Hoarding idea and mock up Evaluation

Albertopolis

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