What

This project looks at how a museum can look cultural sustainability and inclusive design. In particular, it looks at some ways in which accessibility can be improved without invasive changes to protected buildings.

Fetsund Lenser (Fetsund Booms) is a museum and cultural heritage site. In the latter half of 2024 they will be performing a major project to increase the accessibility of their site.

The museum claims the site is home to northern Europe’s largest surviving timber boom structure. As a converted industrial site with over a century of history, almost all the buildings and structures which make up the museum are protected. This makes improving site accessibility a challenge.

The product which resulted from this process is a card game, which aims to give players foundational knowledge of what a log boom is.

Why

Museum design and cultural sustainability is a field in constant development. Many museums today want to make their exhibitions available to more people. However, there appears to be many museums, particularly smaller ones such as those built around cultural heritage sites, which can have challenges related to accessibility.

By applying my knowledge of product design, system design, and inclusive design, I hope to influence museum design theory. I would also like to apply some game theory or play into the project as I believe play is important regardless of the users age.

I also aim to provide a different view on what inclusive design and accessibility could entail by going beyond the typical focus of physical accessibility into factors like comprehension and cultural implications.

How

The primary methods for this project were desk research, observation, and design probes.

Using system design tools such as system mapping and design probes, the project would use systems theory for gathering insights related to the site itself.

The museum I collaborated with is a partially open-air museum. Due to this, the use of design probes was a much more viable method to gather information on and from visitors.The information would be primarily qualitative. By doing the probes in-person I would also be able to ask for clarifications and reasonings for the participant’s responses.

While the initial description for this project approached this with the intent of creating a museum exhibit from the ground up, I secured a collaboration with the organization Museene i Akershus (MiA, Akershus Museums) and their site Fetsund Booms.