The Russell-Cotes Museum

After combining both of the Feasibility unit and my dissertation I ended up with the idea of an exhibition about how were the Victorians living their everyday activities. I wanted to show how they used every room in their homes and how did this reflect their lifestyle. I thought that a museum will be the best place to do the exhibition. Because I’m interested in residential design and how a space can serve it purpose in the best way it can I decided I will look for an existing museum in Bournemouth that is somehow connected to the Victorian era. After a lot of research and visits I found the Russell-Cotes museum to be the best of them.

Client

My client is the Russell-Cotes Museum in Bournemouth. As the museum was donated
to the town and opened as an Art Gallery and Museum aft er the owners’ death,
the part of the council that is in charge of the museum does its best to take care of the
building and improve it. As it is a well known place to visit by locals and tourists, the
museum management tries to make changes and add to the experience each year so
that even the locals have a reason to come back and visit it more than once.
After considering all the options, removing the cafe seemed like a reasonable sacrifi
ce to be made for the growth of the museum. What this will achieve is to create a
better connection between the reception and the original house.
I was given the tasked to come up with an idea of how to achieve their goals. Aft er a
number of meetings we decided that we need to create an entry area that introduces
the house and how it used to serve the family. That’s how I came up with the idea of
a timeline of paintings of the everyday life of the Victorians at home. The purpose of
the paintings is to visually explain and show how they used to live, their everyday activities
and how each room used to serve them. The reason why I am using paintings
is because the Victorians are famous for using painting to express their feelings and
problems, to show the through behind the door of the “Perfect home”.
As it’s almost summer, which is the busiest season for the museum, the construction
must start as soon as possible so the venue can be open for the beginning of the
tourist reason in June.

Intentions

This is a project for the transformation of an existing building that is a more than a century old. As it is located in the centre of Bournemouth just next to the beach it has the potential to be a popular destination for visitors and locals. As it is a graded II listed building is will be a
challenge to make any changes to the structure of the original building. However since it was build, there have been 2 new extensions. One of them is where the existing entrance is and the other one where the gallery is placed, which can be an advantage for this project because to
achive the clients and my aims we will need to make some structural changes as well
Th e building has its advantages and disadvantages. On one hand it is situated on one of the most beautiful areas of the town with a view of the coast. On the other hand, it’s an old building so the plumbing and the electricity are outdated.
Initially my intension was to change the house to its original layout which includes closing some doors that have been added through the years. In this way I will be able to use each room indivually in order to make the most out of the house.
Changing the museum in order for visitors to have a unique experience can be achieved by creating a better connection between the entrance and the original house as at the moment the entrance is in the new building on the left side of the house and the two buildings are in completely diff erent styles. In museums the connection between the entrance and the actual part that people have come to see is very important.
Th e entrance should give you the impression of what the museum is actually about and a better understanding of what you are about to see. After having the opportunity to have a meeting with one of the Russell-Cotes museum managers and having a look at some of the original floor plans I had a better understanding of how the whole building works.
In order to create a better communication and understanding of the museum I decided that by create an exhibition of paintings showing the everyday life of the Victorians at home will be a solution as people tent to understand better by visualizing. Therefore paintings rather than some form of brochure or text will be in much more help. The exhibition will be before the visitors enter the original house so that they will be able to explore through the timeline of paintings showing how the Victorians used to use the rooms they are about to see.
As the Victorians used to separate their home in two (one where the more public room were, usually at the front of the apartment or house and one where the more private rooms such as the bedroom were, usually at the back or on the upper floor) I decided I will separate the paintings in two - some for the more public rooms such as the dining room and some for the more private rooms which will be showing the bedrooms and the space that the Victorians used to hide from guest and visitors. As for how will the visitors
be going through the whole museum I decided I will place a wayfi nding system using a
colored line that will be placed on the fl oor and will be going through the whole museum and the exhibition. In this way I want to guide people which are the best way to go through the museum and show them what kind of a room they are currently at -
public or private.
My intentions weren’t just to create the typical exhibition of paintings. I wanted to create it in a diff erent and more interactive way. So I came up with the idea of a timeline of paintings. As the spaces that I will use for the exhibition has limited natural light I decided I will use the concept ‘Follow the light’ from my Feasibility unit and place a LED line going
under the paintings showing the way of the exhibition. To make a contrast the walls will be painted in black. As light can get people’s attention quite fast, adding it to the exhibition will help even more with attracting visitors and make it an experience
to remember. While getting to know about the museum and how it currently serves its visitors another idea came up to my mind. The museum is oft en used
as a wedding venue. However, only few of the rooms can be used. So in order to make this experience even more special for the couple I will
propose a refurbishment on the fi rst fl oor and turning the layout and purpose of the rooms back to its original fl oor plan. This will give the ability for the museum to be used as a “hotel” where the newly married couple and few of its guests can stay overnight.
I knew this will be hard to accomplish but given the tough that the museum will be closed while the exhibition is been added I decided to make the most of it and do some work on another part of the building.
I will be using all vintage furniture from the Victorian era in order to recreate the rooms in the best way possible. I want to create an atmosphere where people will feel just like if they have gone back in time. However this has the disadvantage of the museum having to be closed for this period of time which again will have to be considered and discussed
with the museums managers.

> To create a space where visitors and locals can experience a new way of understanding a museum.
> To create a space in Bournemouth with an unusual experience where people
can learn and remember.
> To design it in a way that will be interesting for people from all age groups.
> To increase the visits of historical places such as museums.
> To demonstrate the potential of an old existing building and to prove how it can be turned in something more than the new buildings in Bournemouth.
> To show that not everything new is better.
> To create a unique experience for the visitors and the locals of Bournemouth.
> To show how the Victorians did use their homes and what was their everyday life at home.
> To show how our everyday life has change and how we use our homes today.
> To create a better understanding of the museum and a better connection between the entrance.
> To save one of the last Victorian homes.

Location