Jan Lorenc, long-time SEGD member and principal of Lorenc Yoo Design (Atlanta) is one of the most well-traveled human beings we’ve ever met. The co-author of What is Exhibition Design? may also have seen more museums than anyone on the planet. His latest adventures included the Freyderyk Chopin Museum in Warsaw. See his blog postcard here. –P.M.K.

“The Adobe Museum of Digital Media (AMDM) is a unique virtual space designed to showcase and preserve groundbreaking digital work and to present expert commentary on how digital media influences culture and society. The museum is an ever-changing repository of eclectic exhibits from diverse fields ranging from photography to product development to broadcast communications. To inspire fresh conversation on the constantly evolving digital landscape, exhibits are overseen by guest curators, each of whom is a recognized leader in the field of art, technology, or business. The AMDM is a space unlike any created before. Because it is entirely digital, it is an ideal gallery for displaying and viewing digital media, as well as revealing the innovation and artistry within the work. It is open to the public 365 days a year and is accessible from anywhere in the world.” (via Graphics.com)

Be sure to check out the videos on the making of AMDM and on the upcoming exhibit. In the coming months, exhibits will feature video artist Tony Oursler (opening August 2, 2010), RISD President John Maeda, and Japanese artist Mariko Mori.

Images from Adobe website. — S.N.

The Museum of London has figured out a way to break through the museum walls and make the entire city its exhibition space. A new app developed by the Museum, with the creative agency Brothers and Sisters, brings the museum to the streets via iPhone screens.

First, it calculates your position in the city, then opens a map showing your position and the location of various sites where you can view historic images.

Touch a tag and a window opens, showing an historic image of the London Bridge over a frozen Thames, or scenes from Carnaby Street during the Swinging Sixties.

Tap the screen for information, or zoom in and out to view it better.

Streetmuseum’s best trick? If  you’re actually in the location, click on the 3D button and the app will overlay the historic image over the current site view through the phone’s camera. It’s like digital time travel. –P.M.K.

Images: Creative Review

Museums typically turn inward, focusing on the display of exhibitions inside and away from the world outside. With its design for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shenzhen, China, Forrest Fulton Architecture (Birmingham, Alabama) hopes to reverse that model. Its design uses an urban planning ethos to engage the 640,000-sq.-ft. museum with the city around it.

Four “blocks” connected by sloping “streets” will allow visitors to experience the collections while moving around the perimeter of the blocks, activating the interior streets and the facade. An interior “square” will provide access to all the collections, amenities, and community transportation.

The architects also envision that the building’s facade, a patterned-glass thermal wall in colors reflecting the Chinese culture, will mirror the conditions outside, changing colors in response to weather conditions.  –PMK/LGD

According to The Architect’s Newspaper, Denise Scott Brown is unhappy that her firm was not approached to design the renovation or, until recently, offered the opportunity to comment on the designs. She submitted a letter critical of the designs to the National Park Service and it is part of the public comment record on the project.

Quinn Evans Architects (Washington, DC) has designed a new glass entry to replace the ghost facade that VSBA (then Venturi and Rauch) designed in 1976. Plans also include a gift shop, staircase, and elevator entry to the underground museum that celebrates the life and work of Benjamin Franklin. Exhibits are being designed by Casson Mann (London).

A description of the project, as well as a public comment form, can be found on the NPS website.  – LGD/PMK

The Art of the Steal is an interesting new documentary about the moving (or “stealing” as the documentary asserts) of the world-famous Barnes Foundation museum and its $25 billion collection. While the documentary is a bit one-sided, it still brings to light one of the most famous and unique art exhibitions in the world. You have about 18 months to see the Barnes collection in its orginal location in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. In 2011, the collection moves to a beautiful new building on Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Boulevard designed by architects Tod William and Billie Tsien. –C.B.

The UK’s National Media Museum occupies seven floors in a former theater space in Bradford, West Yorkshire, providing visitors with three cinemas and permanent and temporary exhibits focused on photography, television, animation, and new media. While that sounds like a great repurposing of an underused space, it posed some distinct challenges for visitors finding their way to the attractions. That’s where Carter Wong Design (London) came onto the scene.

Initiially, wayfinding was part of a foyer development project aimed at improving the museum’s primary information point. But Carter-Wong’s analysis showed there were much more complex issues to be addressed. “The museum has a potentially challenging arrangement of spaces, with galleries formed at half-levels to the front and rear around the IMAX auditorium, which could create an awkward visitor journey,” says Creative Director Phil Carter. The foyer itself didn’t project the dramatic sense of arrival that was called for, and visitors arriving by car were confused about how to enter the building from the rear car park.

So Carter Wong completely overhauled the visitor circulation system with a bold wayfinding scheme inspired by the movie clapperboard. Superscaled, colorful chevrons behave as directional arrows, appearing on walls, totems, and glass-mounted decals. A new media wall inside the foyer promotes changing exhibits and events.

To avoid information overload on signage, Carter Wong stripped away the visual clutter in the main foyer and eliminated duplicate signs. They recreated icons for bathrooms, wheelchair access, guide dogs, and strollers, making the symbols more dynamic and user-friendly. Fabricator Bolton Signs crafted the signs from a durable enamelled material they developed for Rolls Royce industrial sites.

The museum’s future strategy coordinator, Dean Loughran, says the project met and far exceeded its goals of creating a world-class welcome for visitors, on a tight budget. With its renovated spaces and bold wayfinding and signage, the museum is ready for Act II. — P.M.K.

His job — one that often goes unsung in the museum world and, particularly if done well, unnoticed by the public — is to serve as a kind of mediator between the visionary (the grand dreams of curators and artists about how a show could look) and the practical (how the show will fit within walls, some of them load bearing).” — K.E. Jerome Neuner, director of MoMA’s department of exhibition design and a member of his staff

The flood of iPad-inspired applications is inevitable, of course. And it’s already started, way ahead of the devices actually being available for purchase.

Melbourne architects ClarkeHopkinsClarke, for example, has mocked up a wall of iPads that can be used in myriad ways in libraries, museums, or other cultural/public spaces. With their relatively low price tag and sophisticated, customizable features, an iPad array could be more flexible and less costly than a huge single LCD display, say the architects.

“Interchangeable wallpaper pattern [and] video is just the beginning, but imagin[e] a giant jigsaw that you can play using multitouch, an interactive aquarium scene, digital graffiti, interactive speaker wall, even a life sized digital bookcase for your iBooks!” We can, we can. — P.M.K.