Museums: Contemporary Issues in Architecture

A Pathfinder

Since the 18^th century, museums have grown and expanded substantially in terms of their services and holdings.  According to the Grove Dictionary of Art Online, museums “are institutions primarily for the preservation, dispplay and study of works of cultural interest, but increasingly characterized by a broader range of social fuctions. ”[1] Since museums are regarded as educational and entertainment institutes and places for pursuit, preservation and presentation of art, history or science/technology, the architectural composition of museums change with diverse activitites. Therefore museum architecture becomes one of the most stimulating fields for architectural exploration and experimentation.  Museums offer the challenges of planning an entirely functional, efficient, and effective use of space, the creation of art in itself, plus the cultural monuments.  Museums embrace such a variety of purpose, approaches and achievements that conflicts arise in the realm of museum architecture. 

Purpose and coverage of this pathfinder

This pathfinder is created for museum studies and/or architecture students who are interested in museum architecture design and planning.  Its coverage will only concentrate on a few of the issues that are central to the problems facing museum architecture today, which are standards, interior design, environmental control and conservation methods, lighting, and security. The sources I have chosen are limited to those printed and online sources available in the University of Texas at Austin General Libraries.  The information is restricted to those published after 1940 because I define “contemporary issues” as discussion and/or trends in museum architecture after World War II.  I also excluded resources on specific museum projects and selected those on general rules or/trends.

Using this pathfinder will help you find answers to questions such as:
What are current trends in museum architecture?  What should be taken into consideration when designing a museum?    What are the standards of building a museum?  How might museums protect collections from damage? 

Catalog, indexes and databases conducted

I first searched UTNetCat, the online catalog for UT Austin for books on museum architecture and use a Subject Keyword Search by typing in the terms "museum architecture", "museum design", and/or "museum planning".  I found 155 items.

Articles from various journals were found by searching the following indexes online on the UT General Libraries website: Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, Art Abstracts, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, and Expanded Academic ASAP.  I also conducted searches in Architecture Database on DIALOG.  I searched these databases under the general terms used above and also in more specific aspects of museum design, such as “lighting”, “exhibition”, and “security”.   I also searched printed indexes, such as the Architectural Index, and Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts, using the general subject heading “museum” and sub-headings, such as “museum- lighting”.  Other reference resources, like dictionaries and handbooks, are excellent resources in providing trends, standards, or metric systems.  Also, bibliographies from books and articles found in this search are very useful in providing titles not found in the initial UTNetCat search. 

Note:

1. "Musuem." The Grove Dictionary of Art Online. Apt. 2000. Grove's Dictionary. Oct. 26 2000. <http://www.groveart.com/tdaonline/index.asp>

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Created for Information Resources in Humanities, Fall, 2000 by Ching Lien on 30 Oct. 2000.