I am a fan of design to meet program needs.
Here’s how it works: We decide what we want to do, what our activities will be, and the kinds of interactions we hope to encourage. We have goals for who the users will be and when they are going to be invited into our spaces. We decide what our messages are and the story we want to convey. Then, after we’ve got those plans, that’s when we turn to the architects and designers to start making decisions about the physical spaces and units and panels and benches and “interactives” that we want to use to tell our story. This is when we can start having an intelligent conversation about what the rooms might be like and the stuff they will be filled with to get us to our goals.
Now the really great thing is that having started with the program, then working through the exhibition, the possibilities are greater for further program development in exciting new ways — There are opportunites for creative uses of the spaces that just would not have been there if the starting point was limited to an “exhibition”.
If you want to see a few case studies, take a look at my presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/joannafisher/gallery-201
