EXPLORIUM

ID
274

Parahita
Rachmani, Veronica Polinedrio,

Shannon
Senderling, Sara Watson.

EXPLORIUM

Explorium is a children’s museum
located in Victorian Square, Lexington, KY. Hands-on learning is used
to stimulate curiosity in the children. While most normal museums are
geared towards an older age group, Explorium focuses on the children
making it a great destination for family outings, and birthday
parties. Children’s museums are the fastest growing museums in
the country. The museum has been open in its current location since
1990. The focus of our analysis was to see how the design of the
space affects its visitors and how they occupy and behave once
inside. We focused on the preferential, behavioral, compositional,
symbolic and pragmatic aspects of the space. Within these categories,
we looked at how the elements and principles are used to achieve
these goals.

Preferential

Since the main users of the space are
children, organic lines are used in most rooms to make the space more
playful and relate to the exhibits. For instance, the curvy lines of
the wall and simulated river feature in the Kentucky river zone
emulate the organic line qualities of a river as well as the flow of
the streams. A curved glass wall that encloses the river zone follows
the path of the river. Across the glass wall, an admission desk is
also curvilinear and balances out the space. In addition, fluorescent
lighting fixtures is set in a curvilinear path, which echoes the
movement of the glass wall. Meanwhile, in the Horse exhibit, the
curvilinear entrance gate echoes a horseshoe.

There is no particular color scheme
used. Rooms vary in color palette and a large selection of vivid
colors is used throughout the space to draw kids into it. Some rooms
display a specific color scheme that relates to both natural and
man-made environments. For example, the Bubble Zone uses a cool
color-scheme, incorporating light blue, purple and grey to relate to
define an aquatic space. The Horse Exhibit uses earth tones that
remind of Kentucky views and nature.

Shapes are used accordingly to each
exhibit. For instance, signage in the Bubble Room is round to relate
to the shape of a bubble. The floor pattern in the River Zone echoes
the organic, snake-like shape of the river.

Scale is used to create unity and make
the space more user-friendly, especially for the children. All
exhibits are geared towards small human beings. For instance,
furniture, houses, and even the brochure/information stand are
miniature in scale. In addition, the Wonder Woods Zone, is even
smaller in scale since it is used by toddlers. However, some features
are made larger-than-life to make the space more playful as well as
make it easier for children to learn, such as the giant mouth and
giant brain.

Materials are geared towards the
safety of the users. Children are active; hence, carpet is used for
flooring because it is slip-resistant. Features in exhibits are made
of plastics and plywood because they are durable and easy to clean.
In addition, acrylic is used instead of glass to showcase fragile
displays, such as the giant dinosaur skulls. Acrylic is also used to
give a boundary in the Wonder Woods area so that parents can watch
their toddlers play.

The space has asymmetrical balance
because it is less formal and more playful. Features in all exhibits
are arranged asymmetrically and some zones that have neutral
color-scheme are balanced out by accent colors, such as in the Native
American zone, where the bright hues of textiles and dwellings stand
out from the dull space.

Unity is created by repetition of
color, scale, shapes, and line quality. In addition, purple, as the
brand color, is used on the existing walls, directions, signage, and
doors, to unify the space.

Behavioral

The space is designed to accommodate
its generally active users, which allows them to act naturally and be
less formal.

Large circulation space is beneficial
for active children and parents standing and watching them. The
Bubble Zone and the What’s New Zone in particular, have a lot
more circulation space than any other zones. The What’s New
Zone is a place where new exhibits rotate or new events are held,
such as the Building Blocks. These events usually attract a lot of
visitors; therefore, a larger space with free circulation will
accommodate these activities.

In order to control the circulation,
traffic patterns are defined by panel sections that divide each zone.
This allows more free, yet controlled movement in the space. These
panel sections as well as directions create linear rhythm through
movement of the visitors.

Directions on the wall, signage, or
even paintings also facilitate movement. For example, the Bubble Room
has painted fish on the wall that face one direction that move the
visitors through the room, again in a circular progress. The space
makes wide use of subliminal messages. The fish on the wall of the
Bubble Zone are such an example. A fun way to emphasize routes is
also the use of street signs, such as the ‘One Way’
symbol, North arrows and directions that actually state the distance
from one point to another.

Accent lighting is also used to direct
users into each zone and emphasize activities.

In addition, bright lighting is
delivered by the skylight on the second floor and general
fluorescent lighting, which allows for more loud communication. It is
needed because children are naturally loud and parents are often
trying to keep track of their kids by yelling.

Scale affects the behavior of the
users, especially children. Large-scale features, such as the giant
brain, help children to learn better. Meanwhile, the smaller scale
furniture allows children to interact better with features in each
exhibit and parents need to get down on the same level as their
children to be able to interact with them. The company provides steps
to some of the human-scale features to help children interact, such
as the sink in the Bubble Zone and the River feature in the River
Zone. Some features, however, such as the horses in the Horse Zone,
are built in life-size scale without steps because children need
adult supervision while interacting with the activity.

In terms of color palette, bright
color-scheme creates a more exciting and fun learning environment for
the children. The colorful palette creates a less serious space;
hence it encourages learning to occur.

Compositional

The Explorium Company occupies two
floor levels to let visitors make the most of their experience of
discovery. In order to allow visitors to easily view the exhibits,
most displays and features are placed along the walls or on panels.
For instance, the River feature in the river zone is placed along the
painted, curved wall.

The ceiling is exposed and painted
black so that the space feels more open but it does not take the
emphasis away from the activities. The use of track lighting adds to
the openness in the space. There are some geometric and organic
patterns on the floor for defining the space, such as in the Native
American and River Zone; however, the flooring, is generally solid
and does not have pattern to balance out the busyness of the features
and the colorful palette.

The existing building is human scale;
however, the features in the exhibits are mostly constructed in
miniature-scale to accommodate children. Furniture, as stated above,
is small and specifically designed for kids. Some larger-than-life
features, such as the giant mouth and the Dinosaur skulls bring
contrast and asymmetrical balance into the space. Most sections are
about 8’ X 8’ space geared towards a specific educational
activity. However, the Bubble Room and the What’s New Room are
larger compared to the other zones.

Overall, the two-dimensional floor
plan relates to the three-dimensional space. Souvenir stands are
placed along the entrance path to save space and bring more
circulation for entry and exit. In addition, paintings on the wall
relate to the subject in each exhibit. For instance, the wall of the
Bubble Room is painted with fish and the panel in the Dinosaur Zone
is painted with rock pattern. However, certain corners are empty and
do not relate to the adjacent space. Going through the space, we felt
that rooms should be more strongly related to each other, perhaps on
a topic or chronological basis.

Symbolic

The space represents the company’s
target users, which are children. Bright color-schemes, curvilinear
shapes of the features, and so on, are dedicated to entertain
children as well as their parents.

As far as entrance, visitors are
directed to the reception desk through the curved wall and pathway.
In order to get to the admission desk, visitors must walk through the
souvenir stands and mini shop. This is a good company strategy to get
children to see toys and get parents to buy them games.

The use of all colors on the color
wheel identifies that children use the space. However, purple seems
to be the brand color. Purple is used on the Explorium brand or logo,
main walls, restroom halls, exit doors, signage, directions, floor
tiles in the birthday and art studio room, and even the company’s
mission statement on the wall.

Together with the visual aspect of the
space, the auditory one is important to create a kid-friendly
environment. Children music is therefore played in the reception desk
area.

Pragmatic

In relation to the rectilinear shape
of the existing building, most partitions that divide the space into
different zones are rectilinear, especially on the second floor.
Rectilinear lines divide and define the space without taking up too
much room for circulation. This creates contrast with some of the
curvilinear features in the space. To bring more interest and variety
to the space, diagonal lines are used for the layout of some areas,
such as the Dinosaur, Native American, and the Earth and Science
Exhibits. The hallway in front of the entrance door is straight and
leads visitors directly to the space and emphasizes the signage on
the door.

Sufficient lighting from the skylight
and track lighting fixture helps visitors read better in terms of
displays, educational information and activities, as well as
directions and signage. Spotlight becomes accent lighting that
emphasizes displays, educational stories, and the activity itself in
each zone.

In terms of acoustic, carpet flooring
absorb some noise produced in the space; however, some spaces can
still be loud depending on the amount of users occupying the area at
the same time.

Hygiene and safety also become
concerns in this type of place, since children tend to touch
everything. In order to solve this, hand sanitizer dispensers are
mounted on the walls. Exit signs, fire extinguishers, and panic
hardware are installed to accommodate users during emergency. Rubber
mats are placed in the Bubble Zone to prevent visitors from slipping.

In conclusion, the space seems fairly
functional and well represents the company’s goals, concepts,
and fit its target users.

However, there are always some aspects
that can be improved.

First, redesigning the bathrooms to
fit with the rest of the composition in the space will bring more
unity and harmony. The restrooms are plain and empty since they are a
part of the existing building and were already in place when the
Explorium was constructed. The only connection to the space is their
purple doors. Some ideas about how to do this would be to make some
of the restrooms specifically for children. Fun themes and making the
facilities the right scale will be a better solution. Steps in front
of the sink should also be placed to benefit children. A family
restroom can be a good solution to consider as well. A lounge area
nearby will also provide a calm haven from the activity of the
museum.

Another change would be to adjust the
some of the souvenir stands along the entrance of the museum. The
displays are currently placed on both sides of the entrance from the
inside of Victorian Square. The displays in front of the curved,
glass wall need a more designated space, because they block the
architectural feature of the first floor and take the emphasis away
from the activity behind the glass wall.

Some features that are not
ADA-compliant become a main issue of the space. Except for the
elevator in the existing building, there is no elevator within the
museum space, which limits physically handicapped users to go inside
the museum or to move to the second floor. Some of the most
interesting zones are located on the second floor, such as the Bubble
Zone. In addition, some features and pathway do not have enough space
for a wheelchair to move around. Some circulation spaces are less
than 3-feet wide. For example, the pathway along the River Zone is
pretty narrow. Some of the features on the first floor would be
particularly hard to use. The river feature is on solid mass;
therefore, a person in a wheelchair would not be able to get close
enough to interact.

ADA issues really need to be addressed
to improve the space.