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Natural History Museum Vienna

Orientation, light & exhibition graphics

The heritage-protected Museum am Ring needed to be simpler and clearer to use for visitors of all ages. The design motto for the intuitive journey from ticket purchase to the individual object in the historical display cases is: reduce and accentuate.

The ticket container of the Natural History Museum.

With the new ticket container, an important function has been moved from the interior to the exterior. The result is a significant reduction in the load on the Kuppelhalle, especially on days with many visitors.

Signposts from the entrance and prohibited actions as pictograms.

The cupola hall before the redesign - with too many screens and various information carriers.

View of the Cupola hall, with 4 information carriers, new screens, labelling and signposts.

Light as a key design element

What was immediately noticeable during our analysis was that the light sources throughout the building differed significantly in terms of type, light intensity and colour temperature. Backlit surfaces at the shop and cloakroom entrances shone in cold 6,500 Kelvin, while other luminaires were fitted with extra warm white light. Info screens and light boxes shone too brightly and were out of line.

In cooperation with Andrea Graser, our lighting designer, we harmonised all the light sources to the warm white colour temperature. The light intensity now varies from 100 lux at the entrance to 50 lux in the domed hall and 30 lux in most of the halls. The dome in the entrance itself was relit so that the stucco and wall paintings are once again optimally visible.

Light object as signposts, Shop and floor plans illuminated information carrier.

Light objects as signposts, Lift, Earth & Humans and Cloakroom.

Less is more

All dispensable elements such as furniture, mobile and fixed information carriers and screens were removed. This brings the historical substance back into focus and creates spatial clarity. The most important main destinations now float in the room as suspended illuminated letters, supplemented by light boxes with overview information. Signposts are projected directly onto the stucco walls using gobos. There is therefore nearly no need to drill holes in the listed building.

Detail of a hand indicating the text “shop” in the information carrier.

Detail of the information carrier and projected signposts.

View of the staircase, where various projections show where to go.

Light object of zoology hanging from the ceiling shows the direction of the halls.

Woman looks at the floor plan on the second floor. Man walks towards the toilet, which is marked by the pictogram projected onto the wall.

Detail of a hand indicating a pictogram of the floor plan.

The way into the halls of the collection

In history, the rooms were only labelled in Latin letters and with little contrast. This made them easy to confuse. Now, numbers, colours and icons on the site plans and in the rooms themselves show what can be seen where. Plans with the route also show the current location in the long room corridors.

Sälen mit Saalbeschriftungen im zweiten Stock.

A woman walks through the various halls where the room numbers can be seen.

Signposts to the different halls on the first floor.

Systematic organisation and labelling up to the object

Together with the museum’s design team, we developed a consistent design, organisation and labelling system for the collections. Here, too, we used light as an accent to aid orientation. A light box with the main text and lead object clearly indicates the start of the collection in the introductory display case. The systematic structure organises the many objects in a scientifically correct and clear manner.