Hi Jeremy,
Thanks for taking us through your group’s thought process. It’s interesting how many variables can play in designing a low-energy, secure keeping place for artefacts.
You’re making significant progress! Part of the design process is starting broad and converging into a few design options. A decision matrix is a valuable tool to help you evaluate and prioritise a list of design considerations. Check these examples from previous top reports on how the students defined and scored their design criteria which landed them in their final design. Another helpful tip from the Big Tricky Questions: Explained (resource available on the Challenge website) is to look at how you can enable our partner organisation to quickly prototype and test the feasibility of your idea without spending a lot of money. Regardless of the scale of your proposed project, a successful prototype might lead to future development and investment.
It sounds like you’re leaning towards the systems thinking approach if you also think of designing the product and the room. The good news is that you can be as innovative and creative as you can be for this challenge. Whichever approach you take, the only expectation is that we want to see how you justify your design and document your assumptions (if there are any) based on your understanding of the project context and the design criteria you’ve set.
Unfortunately, we can’t provide any more photos aside from what’s available at the gallery. The project brief mentioned that their collection is growing and is of varying sizes. In this context and at this stage, you may assume that their current preference is not critical in your proposed design. Think of how you can factor modularity in your design, knowing the range of dimensions of the artefacts. You may want to suggest a few configurations/sketches that you think they may enjoy, including recommendations on how the cabinets can be easily maintained. You may also wish to expand your research on museums’ best practices to support your recommendations. I suggest you apply the same approach to the storage of the artefacts.
The vision of a collective hub on country is to start small and grow. You can read more details in this brief.
I hope we have provided you with enough information to help your team move forward.
All the best,
Jean
Jean Aquinde