Museum Buildings: Historic or Modern?

Is it best for a museum to be located in a modern or a historic building?

Modern buildings specifically built with the purpose of serving as a museum are best equiped to house artifacts. There is not the concerns of humidity, bad wireing, ventelation and other problems that often accompany an older building. Modern buildings are also designed to showcase artifacts so they are often easier to work with when laying out exhibits. I believe the Guggenheim and the Moma are great examples of well designed museums. The Guggenheim offers visitor a wonderful flow to the exhibits with it's archetecture. Visitors are prompted by the layout of the building to follow the art work in a spiral from the bottom all the way to the top. This allows visitors to see the art work in a specific order and there is no interuption in the experience as there is no need to leave one room to enter another. The Moma was wonderful just for its simplicity and space. The artwork is not crowded and there is plenty of room to take a step back and admire the artwork. For a Canadian example Canada's National War Museum recently built in Ottawa is a wonderful example of a museum building designed specifically to accomodate the needs of the museum and it's collection. It's large glass wing with high ceilings is perfect for displaying the large tanks and war equipment that would not be possible to be displayed in a regular building. Purpose built museums are wonderful for the safety of the artifacts and for the freedom that it offers the museum to be able to display the objects required to tell the story of the curators.





With this in mind there is also intrinsic value in visiting a museum that is itself an artifact from the past. An older building also places the artifacts in context especially if the building is tied into the history of the collection. Many small museums are housed in historic buildings. For instance the Dionne Quintuplet Museum in North Bay Ontario is housed in the origional farmhouse where the Dionne Quintuplets were born. The old farmhouse is set up to look the way it did when the Dionnes Lived there in the 1930's with origional furniture and items belonging to the family. The building is just as important to the story as the artifacts housed inside. As a visitor to the museum you are able to imagine the story of the Dionne Quints in a more realistic light as walking in their origional home gives insite into their lives. The Elden House, a local museum in London Ontario, is another example where an origional building was turned into a museum to tell the story of the origional owners of the home. Visitors to the Elden House are able to step into the past as the home is set up to look the way it did in 1850 when the origional owners occupied the home.

Both the purpose built and historic homes turned museum both have their own unique values. If only it were possible to build a modern museum large enough to house the historic buildings, preserving them, and allowing them to tell their story along with the other artifacts.