This was actually a topic that I suggested and discussed with Corn for the March Conversations (my dept meeting that has now taken up an adapted Open Space Technology format). However, I think that although he’s the right guy to discuss it with, it wouldn’t be a great Conversations topic because the topic is quite niche.
Basically, the topic started out with me trying to find out what Corn (who is trained in interior design) might be interested in, and how it could relate to NE. So I started thinking about the architectural and interior design of the various NE-related spaces that we have e.g., the Singapore Discovery Centre, Army Museum, as well as the layout of this year’s Total Defence exhibition.
I always feel that while we spend alot of time on the content (mainly written), we don’t really spend much time on the form that it is presented in, as well as the space in which it is presented. In fact, to quote Marshall McLuhan, “the medium is the message”, the medium in which the message (content) is presented does have some relation in how the message is interpreted.
So what does this all mean? Well, in my discussion with Corn, we figured that the design of SDC doesn’t really lend an emotional or physiological dimension to the message. As such, it’s a wasted opportunity for further driving home the NE messages, on a more tactile level?
To give an example of how a space, or design of the space can have messages, Corn gave the example of the Jewish Museum Berlin. Some of the key design features are:
1. The building has no access of any kind from the street. The entrance is located in an adjacent building, a museum of German history, through a staircase and tunnel embedded in a concrete tower that goes through all the floors of the German museum. This symbolizes that German and Jewish history are inseparable, violent and secret.
2. The Holocaust Tower, where there’s only a small opening at the top for light to come in, which reminds the user of how the Jewish holocaust victims felt.
More info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Museum_Berlin
Then tonight I was reading some articles off BNET about office makeovers and how they can boost productivity, job satisfaction and profitability. Included was an image gallery of good and bad office design. This got me thinking again about the design of NE spaces and how we could have built the Army Museum on the grounds of an actual old army camp, like the 1SIR camp at Guillemard Road. The rich tradition and history in the camp itself would be interesting enough. Similar to the Midway Museum in San Diego which I visited.
Well, don’t really know what to make of it, but I guess it’s good to document it in my blog as an idea for the future.
