Exhibition-SeriousFun-AtchitectureGames-01
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SERIOUS FUN - ARCHITECTURE & GAMES

Architekturzentrum Wien

The Architekturzentrum Wien (Az W) in the MuseumsQuartier is the Austrian architecture museum in Vienna. It shows, discusses and explores the ways in which architecture and urban design influence and shape the daily lives of each of us. In addition to the permanent exhibition, the museum also hosts temporary themed exhibitions. Mélanie van der Hoorn, independent curator specialized in the perception, presentation and communication of architecture, developed the concept for an exhibition about architecture & games for the museum.

The exhibition ‘Serious Fun, Architecture & Games’ shows, on the basis of three themes, how designers and artists use architecture in game applications or toys, how people relate to architecture in games and how games can be used as stimuli to interact with architecture. The exhibition invites you to marvel, play and reflect. As a deeply expressive form of popular culture, games convey how we perceive our built environment and testify to the different ways we imagine it.

With the exhibition concept and the exhibits as a starting point, we have made a spatial and graphic design that is situated in the monumental exhibition space of the Az W; an elongated space of approximately 350 m2 with striking details such as brick vaults, a weathered wooden floor and large windows. In the design we emphasize the length and height of the imposing space. The grid of lines on the floor follow the orientation of the space and forms the game board on which the displays and exhibits of the exhibition are positioned as pawns. The set-up invites you to wander freely along the exhibits via the central footpath. The colour palette of the spatial displays and the graphics have been kept modest and form a nice contrast with the rough appearance of the exhibition space. Based on the essential features of each exhibit, we designed a specific display: floating video screens, a playable game console, a wall with screened prints of screenshots from a game, a display in which images from a game environment are projected with a carousel slide projector, integrated video cabinets, a dark tunnel where you can play an audio action game, and so on… Diverse media presented in spatial displays like pawns in a game!

DESIGN
Render-Serious Fun-Atchitecture Games-01
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client: Architekturzentrum Wien, Vienna (Austria)
curator: Mélanie van der Hoorn
project coordination Az W: Katharina Ritter
exhibition design: DWARS ontwerp
production: Architekturzentrum Wien
year: 2022