Vertical Spaces
As opposed to yesterday when I was able to discuss how a museum works with, around, and uses old buildings/structures as part of their exhibitions, I think I’ll transition to just talking about how museums use their architecture in general. Not every museum we visit will be housed in a beautiful historic location like that of the Brooklyn Historical Society. Today we saw a very modern museum, MoMA. What struck me today was how MoMA uses it’s extremely high vertical spaces. Not only does the architecture stand on its own as a modern piece of art, but it is used in a way that highlights large-scale objects that you may see simply sitting on a floor or up on a platform normally.
Two of these such objects were the bright red Formula 1 Racing Car that hung vertically as though driving down the high wall in the education center atrium area. David mentioned that to figure out if the car would actually be able to get to its final location, a model was made from cardboard that could easily be maneuvered through the museum itself to that destination. I thought that was clever and wondered if the same was the case with the second object, the bright green Bell-47D1 helicopter hanging above the stairwell that leads from the 3rd to 2nd floor that people on multiple floors can view at once. The helicopter and the car both give life to the space and I wonder which came first — the object that needed a place to be hung, or the space that was just asking for something to be installed? Either way, MoMA uses these vertical spaces wisely and in a fun and innovative way showing the movement these objects would normally have. Helicopters are meant to be in the air, and you know that car would be speeding down that wall if not securely fastened.
