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Programme, Function and Fabrication : Exhibiting the Domestic Interior

Milligan and O’Connor’s chapter reinterprets the programme and functional characteristics normally associated with an analysis of the performance, use and purpose of a building through its changed states, conditions and occupation. In this chapter these conditions are reimagined as an interior exhibited in a museum where an existing interior (attached to an architectural structure) is bequeathed to an institution and deemed to be culturally significant due to its aesthetic or fame of its inhabitant. New approaches to programme and function are required after the interior is uprooted from its site and inserted into a museum space. Inevitable transformations and compromises are required as the interior transforms from a private/pubic place and functioning building to programmed exhibit. Inevitably both a shedding of old ‘original’ functions occurs and new programmatic considerations are added to fit the museums context. The chapter examines problematic issues of authenticity, reinvention and fabrication that expose limits on [re]‘building’ and subtle deception requiring delicacy and balance. Investigations into contemporary and historical precedents illustrate key theoretical approaches and practical lessons- from theatrical dioramas, presenting architectural fragments, interaction and exhibition research that influence the chapter.

Closer alignment between exhibition designers, theatre studies, museography specialist, architects and interaction experts is required to integrate recent developments in social media and open source software in transforming museum experiences. Whilst these have been matched to viewers and objects, (e.g. RFID tags, arduinos and smart phones) these are yet to be applied to exhibited interiors.

One of 38 international interior researchers and accepted through a rigorous double blind peer review process. Other contributors are Myerson. J., Sparke.P., Massey. A., Preston. J., Rice. C. and Dernie.D.