Stiftung Humboldt Forum – Intro Rooms

SHF | Intro Rooms for the Humboldt Forum

HOW DO YOU SEE THE OBJECTS AND COLLECTIONS?

Visitor access to the collections of museums  is formed by four entry spaces in the second and third floor of the Humboldt Forum. Goal was to create an introduction to the collections and selected objects. The spatial installation should invite visitors to explore the traditional, contemporary and artistic contexts of the objects on display while reflecting on ingrained viewing habits. 

RE-CONNECTING COLLECTION OBJECTS TO THEIR CONTEXTS

We designed four installations of large, layered screens. Each installation adapted to the layout of one of the four rooms. Each arrangement describes a curve. If further followed, the curves connect the visitors, the museum and the outside world.

The visual programming combines short, multi-language welcome sequences with sequences of object chapters. Each chapter places an object and thereby parts of the museum collection in a global, thematic, and artistic context. The visitors are invited to move around, change their perspective to explore the layered media – resemblant of the multitude of thematic perspectives and layers that any of the objects in the collection offers.

The experience is accompanied by a multi-channel sound installation that actively furthers the idea of changing perspective. Sound design and original sound bites coming from the screens interplay with the more atmospheric sound design from the ceiling.

The intro rooms now form waymarks in the building that playfully challenge visitors to repeatedly see the many different contexts and readings of the objects on display.

DEDICATED DIGITAL TOOLS FOR EFFICIENT AND FAST EXPERIENTIAL DESIGN

The installation could not have been designed without its visual content and vice versa. Recreating the four welcome spaces on a game engine platform while adding parametric design features enabled editing the position of screens while seeing and changing the animated visual content at the same time. This proved to be a fast and efficient approach to solving this experiential design challenge. It worked for designing on screen as well as using VR headsets for a 1:1 representation.