My Christmas Wish List

by Scott Mouton, LEED AP

Lyn Wood the president of  Hands On! contacted us here at Gyroscope to be a part of an article on the complexities of green design. I am hoping that this  conversation grows and that through it we can better understand the role, responsibilities and opportunities we have as designers.  

Over the course of our talk I realized that what was emerging for me was a wish list of of tools for communicating with with clients and visitors on the subject. So in the spirit of my son's Christmas wish list, this is what I'd like:

• An easy way to describe what criteria is being using to make design decisions (There are so many flavors of green and we don't know how to describe them)
• A way to frame our work as doing good rather than doing less bad.
• A way to quantify the impact of some of our decisions.
• A way for clients and visitors to understand the complexity but still be able to hold onto something as simple as "Green Design".
  

Over the next few weeks I'll be working through my thoughts on this. I would love to hear your ideas on what you think would help this conversation on "Green Design".

Image courtesy Library of Congresss, via Flickr.

Design for... Longevity

[Scott Moulton posting- a follow up to the Design for Change series]

Designing for change should have the end result of making exhibits that last longer so I thought I would give a couple strategies on designing for longevity.

Use simple solid materials that will take wear and can be resurfaced. Solid wood, plyboo, concrete, recycled glass countertops, all are highly durable and wear in ways that enhance the appearance of the material.

Use materials that are easy to replace, retouch or modify. "Patch and paint" can go a long way to refresh an exhibit. Damaged glass can easily be replaced with a call a local glass shop. Similarly there are sheet metal shops in every town with the ability to make some pretty complex parts.

Designing around the in-house capabilities of the museum is another key way to make an exhibit last. Is the shop more geared towards wood or metal work? How much experience is there with media or electromechanical interactives?

Design for Change: disposal strategies

[Scott Moulton posting... part 3 of a 3 part series]

Finally, once exhibits are no longer useful they need to be easily disassembled and recycling or repurposing. Complex assemblies with multiple materials glued together become trash where as a solid wood tabletop can easily be refinished and used for something else.

Designing for change will create adaptable exhibitions that better serve your visitors, give your exhibits a longer life span, and reduce waste.

Design for Change: what does this mean?

[Scott Moulton posting... part 2 of a 3 part series] This approach does not mean that everything should be built from 80/20 aluminum and live on casters. In fact, unlimited change ends up being terribly inefficient and often goes unutilized. The most important part of this design is deciding what sort of change should be embraced and which should be limited. Is it hourly change that floor staff will be making or seasonal change that the exhibits maintenance will be making? Kitchen type infrastructure can be reprogrammed to be an art studio or kitchen chemistry lab as long as the infrastructure is robust and kept neutral. A simple and well-built table is a background for the wide range of activities that can take place on top of it.

Tomorrow: Disposal Strategies

Design for Change: an introduction

[Scott Moulton posting... part 1 of a 3 part series]

Change is critical to making a museum a vibrant and relevant place. Hourly change, seasonal change and long-term change all can work to meet the shifting needs and interests of the visitor. Exhibits need to support the change required for visitor contribution, hourly programs, special events, the re-theming of exhibits, and a major reworking of an exhibit gallery.

One solid strategy for designing exhibits that minimize the use of natural materials and waste is to design for change. This strategy can be played out from the scale of the building to a tabletop exhibit...

Tomorrow: what does this mean?

Museum + LEED Friday: a better green?

Hi, Scott posting... I'm looking for a better way to describe "green design" specifically for museum exhibits. My problem with "green" is in part due to the way it seems to be flung around with such recklessly abandon. It is a adjective, it is a verb, it will make all your dreams come true. It has become a loose buzz word to describe something that I think could benefit from some specificity. "Sustainable Design" is a great description because it actually means something - to design objects and environments that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. (this is my attempt to paraphrase a slightly convoluted wikipedia definition) One of the greatest powers of this concept is the way it is applicable to divergent industries and disciplines. Architects, economists and biologists now have a shared set of values and language which is going to be critical in creating the type of change we need. The only shortcoming I have with "Sustainable Design" its that is tends to focus on what is being designed and it's environmental impact and ignores the way it will be experienced. Museum exhibit design is especially powerful because it includes both the visitor's experience and the object or environment. "Environmental Design" may come closer to describing this approach that includes what we design, how it is experienced, and our impact on nature. In my version of "Environmental Design" I am going to let the word environment slide in scale from the immediate all the way out to the global environment. The experience of our immediate environment is a complex overlap of our senses, culture, previous experience, and context. As exhibit designers, we work with these factors to try to create rich experiences. If you slide out in scale, the environment becomes the social space of a museum. Within this environment, the designer can be working with the factors that shape your immediate environment as well as social patterns and group dynamics to create the social experiences that distinguish a trip to the museum from something you can do at home. Finally, a designer is working in and impacting things at the scale of the natural environment. At this scale a designer has a personal impact by designing sustainably as well as a secondary impact when you consider the ways that museums provide experiences that can lead to insights that can lead to changes. This brings content into the conversation and connects back to the immediate environment of the visitor's experience. In this model the visitor's experience and sustainable design are driven by the same objectives: putting people at the center, focusing on their experience and making decisions mutually beneficial to them, the social environment, and the broader natural environment. Now to tell you the truth, "Environmental Design" doesn't work very well to describe all that. While it is helpful that I am able to distort "environment" to fit my meaning, it also means the word lacks the clarity needed. And "Environmental Design" does nothing to conjure the convoluted thought path I just went down. Do you have a good alternative to "green"? Or even a good defense of it? I'd love to hear all about it.