technical specifications
Temporary Exhibitions Gallery:
Size: Need a minimum of 300 sq m and 3.5 – 4 metres clear hanging space
Interior Fabrication: Wall areas need to be able to take large works, e.g. 10 sq m painting, large pieces of sculpture. Walls need to be clad so we are able to screw into, and fill and paint – need to take repetitive fixing (exhibitions changing every 6 – 8 weeks). Need to have a screen system to give maximum flexibility within the space – need to have the option to break it down for one or more uses at a time. Also need to consider door heights, widths and floor loadings.
Lighting & Power: Need to have the ability to completely black out, ideally no daylight, but depending on where the gallery is located, could consider some windows which could be uncovered when showing non-sensitive material. Lighting in the gallery needs to be low voltage, on tracking and dimmable to allow for maximum flexibility – needs to go as low as 50lux. Need to consider working lighting, whilst setting up in the gallery and emergency lighting. Also need internet / telephone connections, and a continuous track of 240V electric.
Environment: Need to be able to provide an environment where temperature and humidity can be controlled to a high level – stable with minimum fluctuation – needs to be incorporated within the build.
Security: Needs category 1 security status – as stipulated by UK Museums Security Advisers. Need provision for alarmed cases.
Preparation & Storage Space: Need to have sufficient space for storing crates, cases and plinths etc. of about 40 sq m with the same climate controls as gallery, and a prep area for basic exhibition work – need to access direct from the gallery.
Education Suite & Stores:
Size: Need a minimum of 69 sq. m for the activity room, which needs to be fully equipped for a variety of wet / dry or object-based workshops / sessions.
Also need provision for:
- Daylight
- Maximum efficiency of space
- Good access from the lift – if not situated on the ground floor
- Network connections
- Access to nearby toilets for children.
- Storage Space & Preparation Area: Need to have sufficient space for a store of the education collection, around 50 sq m. This material is used for education sessions, and needs to be as near as possible to the activity room - where the sessions will be run. Some of the collections are also taken out to schools – so access needs to allow for easy movement of materials to car parking. There is also a requirement for a store for art materials, adjacent to the Education Suite of 10 sq m.
Museum Take-Away Storage / Office:
Size: Storage / office for the Museum Take-Away collection - which operates a loans service to schools and others - needing a minimum of 45 sq m, sited ideally on the ground floor, and with easy access to parking / loading for teachers, etc. The Outreach Assistant who administers the collection needs an office space within the store.
Storage areas for the Education Suite and Museum Take-Away need to be suitable for museum objects, but do not require the high specification required elsewhere.
Stores (including open access archives, visible storage):
Overall Area / Size: Approximate floor area of the current collection storage is 225 sq m, and the case store is 50 sq m. Ideally, this needs
to extend to a minimum of 400 sq m (not necessarily on the ground floor), including an additional 150 sq m for open archive / study area.
There must be no routing of water pipes through the stores.
Stores: These are for storage for museum collections that can be seen by members of the public by appointment. They will be used on a regular basis by curators and volunteers. It may be possible to identify one of the stores to create more public access.
They have the following requirements:
- No daylight
- UV filtered, low temperature, dimmable lighting providing good working light
- Air handling system to clean and filter the air, eliminating solid and gaseous pollutants
- Air heating system with capability of controlling relative humidity and temperature in stores provide a constant temperature/rh with as little variation as possible. This should be in the range of 40 – 65% rh (with a maximum fluctuation of 10% in a 24 hr period) with temperature within the range 16 to 24c (with a maximum fluctuation of 4 degrees over a 24 hr period) meeting MLA guidelines for government indemnity. For some stores e.g. costume, a higher specification may be required
- Good access e.g. doors/lift to facilitate moving large and heavy objects
- Load bearing capacity (especially for human history store) but no store needs to be located on the ground floor for access
- Security alarm cover and network connections.
Visible Storage: There is the potential to provide visible storage for some collections in the form of display areas/cases in public areas, with high density display of museum objects, accompanied by minimal interpretation. Collections identified for this include the following:
- studio pottery, pastille burners (in form of ceramic cottages), Chinese ceramics, eggs/shells, a selection of geology, and there may be other suitable items.
Display would be in the form of secure cases with easy access for work on collections (ideally access doors opening from non-public area – e.g. might line walls/corridors adjacent to stores). This could also link more directly to storage areas, with a glimpse into them and thus indicating what is stored e.g. glass-wall type display (MAK, Vienna) of Arts & Crafts chairs fronting Arts & Crafts store, or wall of wall-mounted signs, linking to Human History store.
Open Access: This will provide greater public access to paper-based collections that cannot be on permanent display due to their vulnerability to light.
This could potentially include:
- The Emery Walker (Arts & Crafts Movement) Library, Arts & Crafts Movement archive
- Collection of fine art prints and drawings, Cheltenham prints and photographs
- Cheltenham playbills and Edward Wilson and Antarctic Archive.
These collections would be stored here, with a percentage visible to visitors through drawers that open, and some display areas. The archive would be open to all museum visitors, and also might be used to show small groups (up to 20) items not on show.
The following requirements have been identified:
- The room would need to be fitted out to provide secure but accessible storage including some display, and facilities for working with groups
- Conditions as for closed stores except one area of natural daylight
- Environmental conditions for paper 13 –18c and rh 55 to 65
- Room may be occasionally closed e.g. for group visits, closure should not impact on public circulation route.
Workshops: Office/workshop for Environment & Conservation Officer and Technical Officer. These will be used for basic conservation work on collections, display/preparation for items going on display, packing for loans, including large objects e.g. paintings.
Requirements are:
- Daylight and UV filtered, low temperature, lighting providing good working light
- Covered by air handling and heating system to provide suitable conditions for collections
- Water supply
- Good access e.g. doors/lift to facilitate moving large and heavy objects in and out
- Security alarm cover and network connections
- Extraction for fume cupboard
- Safe storage for chemicals/hazardous materials
- Size required: technical workshop – about 50 sq m on the ground floor. Environment / conservation workshop – about 30 sq m and does not need to be located on the ground floor.
Offices:
Overall Area / Size: The current staff offices and administration facilities are situated on the third floor of the 1989 extension. We would like to centralise all of the office spaces – apart from the workshops for technical and environment / conservation – which would involve creating additional offices for the Education Team and Documentation Officer. For the Education Team we would require a shared office for up to four people of around 25 sq m. For the Documentation Officer, we would require an office that could accommodate the Documentation Officer and volunteers working on documentation, collections library / archives, within a minimum area of 25 sq m.
Toilet Facilities:
The proposed development will potentially remove 2 sets of toilets. These are the publicly accessible separate male and female toilets off the foyer, and another set used by schools and staff near the education offices. Collectively these comprise 2 female cubicles and washbasins, and 2 male cubicles plus one urinal and washbasins. Ideally these should be replaced with one unisex disabled toilet with baby changing/breast feeding facilities, one male toilet with 1 cubicle and one urinal, and two female toilets - one with at least 2 cubicles and one with baby changing/breast feeding facilities.