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On January 26, the Architectural League invited Joel Sanders and Seb Choe of Joel Sanders Architect (JSA)/MIXdesign to share their ongoing research work on the MIXmuseum, a research project launched in 2018 to investigate diversity, equity, and inclusion Design Consequences, and Access in Museum Environments (DEIA). Following the presentation, they spoke with panelists from the Brooklyn Museum; the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; the Whitney Museum of American Art; and the Queens Museum to discuss the challenges faced in making museums more accessible. challenge. The conversation was moderated by Ignacio G. Galán, assistant professor of architecture at Barnard College and Columbia GSAPP.
Although reports related to the MIXmuseum study will be released this year, JSA/MIXdesign has completed other reports centered on the benefits of participatory design processes.Last year, its report for the Queens Museum was titled a central atrium for everyone to use, Published and available on the museum website.
oneExecutive Editor Jack Murphy spoke with Sanders and Choi after their presentations to learn more about the lessons learned from this report and how broader accessibility concepts can inform Each provides the foundation for a better multi-sensory experience.
one: How did MIXdesign emerge from the work at JSA?
Joel Sanders (JS): For me, it all started in 1996 with STUD: Architecture of Masculinity, which sparked my interest in looking at the relationship between gender and space through what we now call a queer lens. Then in 2015, the national controversy over transgender people’s use of public restrooms prompted me to think more broadly about this social justice issue, considering not only gender but also the intersectional needs of people of different ages, races, religions, and disabilities.It all started with a co-authored paper published in Science south atlantic quarterly Developed into “Stalled!” – an initiative providing safe bathroom advice for everyone.
JSA subsequently established MIXdesign in 2018 as an inclusive design studio. We work with progressive clients to help them achieve their DEIA goals by studying the spatial impact of these issues. As well as working primarily as architects for institutional clients, we now also work with other architectural practices, which we actually find satisfying, and we are writing toolkits that can be applied to the specific site and cultural needs of our clients.
Seb Choe (SC): Stalled! as a derivative moment. We created a body of design research and posted it on an open source website, where many people found it valuable. Because of Joel’s scholarship and our office’s experience with such programs, the museum and college campus were a natural evolution.
Applied in “Stand!” This work requires specific case studies and participatory design. For our work with museums, we want to base our efforts on partnerships and participatory processes with specific institutions, integrating interdisciplinary research with the foundational, lived experiences these museums are experiencing.
one: Can you talk about the work MIXdesign did for the Queens Museum?
SC: Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services allowed us to expand the initial pilot study into a two-year participatory design process with Queens Museum staff and its community members. This process is centered around stakeholder and community engagement: we conducted surveys, hosted numerous public programs, and provided professional development training so staff could become more aware of accessibility practices.
Additionally, we recruited an interview cohort. The committee consists of 25 members who represent a cross-section of the museum’s diverse audiences, including native Spanish speakers, transgender and non-binary people, wheelchair users and seniors. They participated in a series of design workshops and focus groups. Together they identify barriers to entry and then develop spatial proposals or interventions that could address these barriers.
The results divide the building or user journey into different activities and spaces. At each step of the process, visiting groups made recommendations for the space, which were then iterated on by design proposals from Yale architecture and public health graduate students. The results are a report available to the public on the Queens Museum website. Rather than serving as an authoritative document full of guidelines, the report documents what emerged and attempts to be transparent about the process that produced the findings. It invites more inquiry and criticism. Each section ends with a coda asking: “What did we miss? Where is there room for growth and more research?”
JS: More broadly, what has changed for me as a senior architect who was taught to work in a certain way is that I feel like I need to unlearn almost everything I was taught to do. I am convinced by the power of participatory design. We talked to stakeholders, identified the issues, and then we as architects worked with the students to come up with “recommendations” that could serve as a starting point for the renovation of the Queens Museum. These solutions were not proposed by us as architects but emerged from a participatory design process. This process is what I am most proud of because it is the core of the report.
one: The Queens Museum report focuses on four non-gallery spaces: entrance, reception, wellness center and atrium. Has anything unique or surprising emerged in the process of how to improve engagement in these spaces?
SC: With the word “unique” in mind, one thing we’ve been thinking about is which advice is general and which is specific.This report is called central atrium for everyone Because this type of space can be found in many museums. This multi-use space is activated for events of varying scales; it’s a space that tries to be everything, but in the process, perhaps it doesn’t do any of it particularly well. For example, on a normal day, a school group would have nowhere to sit while traveling and the children would become overstimulated from all the light and sound. But then the museum might host an event like the Queen’s Museum Lunar New Year celebration, with more than 300 people in attendance. We addressed the rapid changes in programming through space recommendations, but it was also a question of staffing protocols.
JS: The participatory design process brings surprising insights and encourages us to think beyond functionalism. For example, in a focus group comprised of people with physical disabilities, discussion focused on making the atrium accessible through additional ramps. But what really stood out to me was one of the participants, a wheelchair user, who said, “You could add all the ramps in the world to this space, but I wouldn’t come back here.” Why?She said because “the way you hang art [high on the wall] At this point, I have to crane my neck. This is not because my neck hurts, but because it sends a message that I am invisible to you; the museum does not acknowledge my existence. This comment prompted Access Cohort to come up with a new idea: What if instead of having a single horizon line for wheelchair users, there were multiple bases and suspension heights to reflect people of different ages and sizes? What if visiting a museum was a multisensory experience that required us all to step outside of our accustomed ways of being in the world and have sensory and embodied experiences, even cultural experiences, that represented these different perspectives? It was truly an aha moment.
SC: From suggestions such as these, we understand that functionality and social accessibility are intertwined. Functional accommodation that provides accessibility for wheelchair users or people with low vision will not work if there is a lack of belonging in the first place. We were surprised to find that these two questions were related.
one: What is the museum’s response to this report?
SC: The Queens Museum is delighted to receive this report and to see our two years of collaboration documented, both for use as an internal resource and for public release. They began implementing some of the recommendations even before the report was completed. For example, one space had acoustic reverberation, which caused sensory overload for visitors and staff with sensory sensitivities. They resurfaced the floor using some carpet tiles left over from the event and closed off the wall that had previously been open to the main atrium. They also changed the restroom signage to focus on fixtures rather than gender, which was a relatively cheap change compared to changing the layout of the space. It’s useful to consider less resource-intensive options because museums are always asking us about low-hanging fruit they might pursue to start making improvements.
JS: I initially resisted the idea of “low-hanging goals” thinking they were just Band-Aids or quick fixes. I began to realize that my answers reflected the biases of my training: architects must undertake massive transformations to leave their mark. But the inclusive design process changed my mind. We now offer clients a range of recommendations – some are quick solutions, while others are more labor-intensive and require more time and money. It’s not about uniqueness, it’s about trying to solve systemic problems.
one: What are your museum clients’ most pressing needs?
SC: All of our museum clients want to improve their buildings so that their exhibitions and programs are more accessible and welcoming to diverse audiences. While this was a well-intentioned desire, putting it into practice required a great deal of introspection and conflict resolution, not only in how the facility was treated in terms of architectural intervention, but also in changing the way the museum made inclusive design decisions. It’s daunting, but requires them to rethink everything — staffing, protocols and language, even the way the writing on the walls is written.
The rethinking that many museums are undertaking to rethink their purpose must be considered within the context of a larger questioning of the ongoing underfunding of museums and the profound underfunding of arts and culture. Often, there are people in leadership and staff who have a vision but don’t have the resources to make it happen. The movement to unionize museum workers and decolonize museums as an institution as a whole is another important aspect. The museum began investigating their origins and considered returning the art and stolen loot. These are interconnected struggles and movements.
JS: Design recommendations alone are not enough: their implementation depends on changing institutional culture so that inclusive design values are fully integrated. This insight isn’t just for museums. We need to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Implementing inclusive design requires designers to think through a variety of practical, economic, governance and cultural issues. That’s where the rewards of the work come from. When you have a real customer, it becomes real. It involves working with real people in real spaces and real buildings. This is where the real work happens.
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