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speech: 11 2013. Museum | 9783869220710 | speech magazine

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speech: 11

Museum

Publisher:speech:

ISBN: 978-3-86922-071-0

  • Paperback
  • English, Russian
  • 288 Pages
  • Oct 4, 2013
This issue of SPEECH: is devoted to the museum. Almost the entire world has been in the grip of a ‘museum boom’ in recent years. Museums of every stripe are going up not only in capitals and major cities but also in further flung areas. In many cases today’s museums are now more than just cultural centres to draw locals and tourists alike - they have also become centrepieces in a city’s architecture and quite often changes its townscape, too. New museums or old buildings that have been modernised and adapted to serve as them are capable of transforming the outward appearance of surrounding neighbourhoods and their way of life. Thanks to that, derelict or less prosperous areas and sometimes entire cities are able to acquire a new lease of life. At any rate a great deal of museums are set up in the hope of bringing about that kind of transformation.

In addition to the traditional roles of housing, displaying and promoting their collections in the late 20th century museums also were endowed with a large number of additional functions without which it would be impossible to imagine them today. Whatever its theme, a modern museum is not complete without a shop that is geared to it, a café, a lecture theatre and spaces for working with children that can easily be adapted to various other functions. As a result of that, as well as the constant expansion of their collections, the question of how best to modernise and enlarge historic museum complexes is every bit as topical as putting up new buildings. The ways in which these problems have been solved are no less astonishing in their diversity than the wealth of different architectural treatments of the brief when building anew.
This issue of SPEECH: is devoted to the museum. Almost the entire world has been in the grip of a ‘museum boom’ in recent years. Museums of every stripe are going up not only in capitals and major cities but also in further flung areas. In many cases today’s museums are now more than just cultural centres to draw locals and tourists alike - they have also become centrepieces in a city’s architecture and quite often changes its townscape, too. New museums or old buildings that have been modernised and adapted to serve as them are capable of transforming the outward appearance of surrounding neighbourhoods and their way of life. Thanks to that, derelict or less prosperous areas and sometimes entire cities are able to acquire a new lease of life. At any rate a great deal of museums are set up in the hope of bringing about that kind of transformation.

In addition to the traditional roles of housing, displaying and promoting their collections in the late 20th century museums also were endowed with a large number of additional functions without which it would be impossible to imagine them today. Whatever its theme, a modern museum is not complete without a shop that is geared to it, a café, a lecture theatre and spaces for working with children that can easily be adapted to various other functions. As a result of that, as well as the constant expansion of their collections, the question of how best to modernise and enlarge historic museum complexes is every bit as topical as putting up new buildings. The ways in which these problems have been solved are no less astonishing in their diversity than the wealth of different architectural treatments of the brief when building anew.

Museums have always been more than just treasure houses of culture and centres of education; they are also a source of prestige for national rulers, governing bodies of cities, notable politicians, public institutions or private collectors. That is the reason why so much importance is accorded to the architecture of museum buildings, as well as why the name and celebrity status of the architects who have designed them have a vital role to play in their marketing strategy. In turn, the design for a museum retains the strong appeal that this commission has always had for architects, for today it is in this field more than any other that they can give full rein to creative self-expression and frequently the architecture of modern museums competes with or even overshadows the exhibits inside.

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