Being in London’s Design Museum is a refreshing, positive experience.
Spending time in the Design Museum mentally revitalizes visitors. Research has shown that when we’re in a museum where we feel comfortable, physically and socially, we cognitively refresh. Thinking that requires concentration, such as most knowledge work, depletes our brain’s processing power and leaves us mentally exhausted. Mental renewal is good not only for our brain’s performance, but also for socializing pleasantly with others, for example. Designing for cognitive restoration is discussed here.
The Design Museum artfully manages its social climate, indicating the sorts of behaviors that are appropriate via subtle nonverbal signals and physical nudges toward desirable actions. For example, it’s easy to climb its grand staircase via the stair treads on its sides, but the height of the built in seats in the middle of that staircase make it hard to travel up by stepping on those seats—which would disrupt people using those seats and violate all sorts of social norms — instead of using the steps.
Being in the Design Museum also makes us feel good physically, all while boosting our mental wellbeing.
- Interior spaces at the museum are flooded with natural light, so it would be hard to have a bad experience in the building—natural light’s ability to boost our mood and enhance our cognitive performance is well documented, and discussed in detail here.
- The use of unpainted wood in the public interior spaces with visible grain further develops the comfortable, pleasantly relaxing ambiance created by the natural light (for more on the power of wood grain, read this article). Seeing wood grain de-stresses us; the plentiful use of wood in the Design Museum calms visitors in the same way that the views of Holland Park available to those near the exterior windows do. Relaxing visitors may help keep sound levels comfortable in what otherwise might be a noisy atrium; there are few soft surfaces to absorb bouncing sound.
- The Design Museum is designed with lots of nooks where people can sit comfortably and survey the world around them—prospect and refuge at its best. “Prospect and refuge” is a concept familiar to biophilic designers – it is a view from a spot where a person feels secure, for example, because no one can approach them from behind without their knowledge, over a nearby area. For more information on biophilic design, read this article.
- The design of the spaces inside the design museum promote efficient use. Exhibits are arranged in a racetrack layout, which makes missing one difficult. Wayfinding, centered on the naturally lit atrium, is straightforward. Visitors can observe designers in residence at work, and those designers can visually isolate themselves with window shades, as they feel appropriate. There is also a space for public gatherings, or for visiting groups to assemble, in the midst of the staircase connecting the entry floor to the one above it – a practical use of the middle of a grand staircase.
- The space battles “museum fatigue” via seats for taking breaks scattered through the structure, some nearby refreshments, some not.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the Design Museum is the basic form of the repurposed building itself. Its unusual ceiling configurations, etc., align well with the design exhibits, which celebrate creative thinking, use of materials, etc. Through the creativity of its form, the Design Museum brings design creativity top of mind, while supporting the positive moods among visitors that make them receptive to exhibit-based lessons on the power of design.