Playful museum design: Bringing the display to reality and bringing the reality to display

Abstract

Lots of museums in Indonesia have very low visits. Considering their function as sources of knowledge to accommodate studies, education, and recreation purposes at the same time, museums should be fun and educating. This article aims to explore the concepts of a playful museum design to attract more visitors. The study employed qualitative approach using survey and case study. It proposes the use of the unusual and non-everyday building and spatial forms, the sequential flow, and scale arrangement to animate visitors' emotional tensions through flowing and dynamic circulations, bright and contrast colors, and spatial spontaneity. The museum brings in reality into display to allow visitors' hands-on experience and the display into reality to let visitors capture the feeling of what and how it took place in the real world. The playful design breaks museums' monotonicity.