It was surprising for me when first searching some museum websites to discover that it was not always an easy task to find the map of the museum. There were always lists of the exhibits in the museums but not always a layout of the exhibits. Another surprising aspect for me was that amongst the museums that did contain maps, they did not have as specific of an overall organizational method than I expected. For instance, they would have sections of specific types of animals, but not a floor dedicated to a certain species. To further explain, I would expect the top floor to contain mostly open ocean exhibits in an aquarium and the bottom floor to contain ocean’s edge exhibits.
I am going to focus on the Monterey Bay Aquarium for my museum map. This museum is exceptional because it is located on the Pacific Ocean and does an amazing job of really connecting its visitors to the creature’s natural habitat. The museum map features four main categories: The Ocean’s Edge, The Open Sea (Special Exhibitions), The Open Sea, and The Splash Zone. Both Open Sea exhibits are located on the right side of the museum, but on the first and second floor. I would assume that this strategy allows for those that are interested in the Open Sea exhibits to be able to explore both floors since they have been lead upstairs already.
The subcategories include: Ocean Travelers, Seabirds, Jellies, Vanishing Wildlife, Viva Baja, Sea Otters, Cannery Row, Great Tide Pool, Mission to the Deep, Octopus, Touch Pools, Monterey Bay Habitats, Aviary, Penguins, Splash Zone, and Kelp Forest. I feel that the layout of the museum was spread out in terms of things that were similar. For instance, the octopus and the jelly exhibits were on opposite sides of the museum, and the sea otter and penguin exhibits were not near each other either. I think that the purpose of this is to get the visitors to further explore the museum and end up seeing things they might not have visited had they been in the same vicinity as the type of animal they were interested in.
An alternate way of organizing the museum would be to pair the similar species in adjacent exhibits. This way visitors could compare the two more closely and get a better idea of what makes them unique. But overall I think the museum does a wonderful job of showcasing how beautiful and majestic the open ocean is and all of the animal lives that need protecting today.
I appreciate that you decided to analyze the layout of a living museum, rather than one from the range of traditionally-recognized art and artifact variety. I really love aquariums, unlike one of my friends, who boasts an uncanny ability to troll all the exhibits. Anyhow, after looking at the map, it seems that it is rather dispersed. Despite the categories derived from living environments, I still feel that there is a strange mixture of animals. I find it odd to find birds, and octopuses within the same space. I can see how this may generate incentive for visitors to explore different parts of the aquarium, but I think there are more obvious organizations that would generally make more sense, such as octopuses in the tentacles section, and penguins grouped with other mammalians. My biggest concern is for the sea otters, who seem to be strangely isolated by the eating area. Yes, in the end, these living exhibitions serve as windows for observation. However, for the otters to be alone in that spot seems to truly put them as display objects, and less integrated into the space. Poor things. 🙁
Good choice for going with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I remembering visiting that place when I was a very young kid. It is interesting to view and aquarium as a museum, but I guess after reading your post it does meet the qualifications of being exactly that. Im going off of memory here, but the touch pools were really fun because you got to pet baby rays. I like your idea of pairing, it seems like a practical measure to take especially when they want to let people see the difference between the similar species.