Space design for connected place memory: a design framework for harnessing spatial context to support informal museum learning

For museums, exhibitions are a principal conduit for delivering informal learning, yet published knowledge and opinion in the fields of exhibition design and museum studies include no substantial principles for the design and assessment of exhibition space beyond basic recommendations on viewing conditions and space provision. This thesis is principally concerned with the role of space in museum exhibitions. Space is the first layer of information visitors encounter on their journey through an exhibition. It is also the primary container for exhibition content and a key factor in visitor experience, the design of exhibition space no doubt exercising an influence over museum learning. Empirical research into exhibition space is limited to tracking visitor's movement and behaviour. It rarely considers visitor’s cognitive engagement with exhibition space, or how this might support or detract from museum visitors’ interaction with exhibition content. Drawing on aspects of constructivist educational theory, spatial intelligence studies and mnemonic loci learning, the thesis proposes a framework for understanding how design might develop connected place memory to support informal learning in museum exhibitions. An interdisciplinary weaving of theoretical sources, supported by interviews with working designers and detailed analyses of exhibition areas in three museums informs the discussion. The interviews indicate that exhibition designers have tacit understanding of the role of exhibition space in supporting visitors’ informal learning, but that they need knowledge‐based design frameworks to better understand and address the relationship between exhibition space and spatial learning. The thesis argues that the concept of connected place memory and its four integral elements - orientation, space cuing, organisation and staging - offer exhibition designers valuable criteria for planning the spatial characteristics of new exhibition areas and for evaluating and revising those of existing exhibition spaces. It contends that exhibition environments with vivid spatial characteristics make fewer demands on museum visitors in respect of spatial orientation and memory, allowing visitors to devote more of their attention to exhibition content. To exemplify the value of the design framework for creating connected place memory, the final section of the thesis uses 3D simulation to redesign three existing suites of exhibition spaces in three different museums. The framework provides a theoretical foundation for the design of exhibition space in support of visitors' learning experience and exhibitions' educative role. It may also contribute to the design of other interior environments where informal learning or vivid recall of the spatial environment and its contents is an aim.