The team at Arup would help us evaluate our current traffic patterns, look at the proposed changes and flexible furniture coming in, and help think about pedestrian traffic as part of the project. The goal was to intelligently place the various components and their associated functions—ticketing, security, ASK team hubs—to help visitors navigate the space and understand their options. As we’ve talked about before, exactly how these components work together for the best possible visitor experience is something we need to determine through testing. Arup’s recommended placements are the first set we will test.

In an early pilot, we tracked visitor traffic patterns in our lobby using pencils and photocopies.

We had a feel for the general traffic pattern in the lobby because one of our early pilot projects involved tracking and timing visitors in the lobby to see what a typical entry sequence was like—where visitors stopped to speak with staff, what path most people take through the space, popular gathering points, etc. Happily, our conclusions matched up pretty well to Arup’s assessment of our existing patterns (score BKM).

Arup’s version after their own analysis was very similar to what we had found during the pilot.

As I mentioned in my last post, while we were originally aiming to test placement of each component, we ended up having to “fix” the location of ticketing in order to proceed with design. Naturally, this decision also affected traffic planning by limiting the number of variables. Arup was able to focus on how best to move people through the space to ticketing using the info desk, security desk, hubs, and benches as guides.

Info and security desk placement will help guide visitors to the center of the brick arcade, so they are lined up with ticketing when they enter the lobby.

A key component of a good visitor experience is clear choices; it’s important for people to see and understand their options. Think of all the questions you ask yourself when entering a museum for the first time–where are the restrooms, where do I get tickets and how much are they, what can I see, etc. Ideally architecture, furniture, and wayfinding, all work together to help visitors understand their options at key decision points. Our architecture is such that there is little (or no) line-of-sight from the main entrance into the lobby. This means visitors have two moments of orientation: one when the enter the revolving doors and one once they pass through the brick arcade. To help with this, Arup focused on clear pathways using security and info desks centered on the brick arcade to draw visitors over. Info is placed ahead of ticketing in case visitors have any questions before they commit to purchasing a ticket. The info and security desks are centered with the goal of drawing people to the center of the arcade so that they enter the lobby through the middle of the space. Once inside the lobby, ticketing is straight ahead.

Movable furniture in the form of power benches and hubs can help further direct traffic. Circles show areas of gathering spaces.

After ticket purchase the next decision point is what to see, so we are placing a new museum directory at a natural gathering spot beyond the point of sale. In another effort to make choices clearer, we moved our previous SHOP/ART/EAT graphic to the doors as we noticed some confusion around which door led to which, particularly since there are two entrance to the galleries. This is one way we’re using graphics to help communicate options; I’ll discuss this a bit more in a future post.

New graphics and adjustments to existing graphics help guide visitors. In the case shown here, our old “art,” “shop,” and “eat” are being moved from walls to the actual doorways. Additionally, they are reoriented higher so they are visible over people’s heads.

A big challenge for us is the fluctuating nature of the space—not only does traffic vary based on exhibition season, time, and day of the week, but we are constantly holding programs, performances, special events, and even film shoots in the pavilion and lobby. We have to be able to adjust set-up based on our needs of the day, but still help visitors navigate the space and this is really where Arup’s insight has been most useful. They have offered us several placement scenarios: a typical day, a busy lobby day (long queuing needs), a busy pavilion day (event), and Target First Saturdays.

Traffic patterns differ when we need more room for ticketing lines like on busy days or at Target First Saturday. The benches toward the brick piers are the key move here so we can create more room in the lobby proper.

Interestingly, the maximum number of hubs Arup ever recommends placing in the lobby is four, not the full six. Instead, they recommend deploying two hubs elsewhere in the building to take advantage of traffic patterns to special exhibitions and/or other gathering areas in the building for the purpose of reminding visitors about this “thing” they saw in the lobby. This got Shelley’s and my attention since we’ve always wondered a bit if the lobby is too early in the entry experience for really engaging visitors around ASK.

We’ll definitely try Arup’s route—two or four at a time—and see how it goes, but as I said, this is only a first set of placements to try out. We’ll need to adjust as we go and take time to land on the set that works for our varied needs.

Our heavily used plaza serves as a front porch for the community.

If you looked at our entry experience today, I think you’d find it lacks focus. We have an amazingly beautiful building and an enormously successful front plaza that draws people acting as a front porch for our community. We see people, especially now in the incredibly nice weather, using it to lounge, gather, and play. We offer free wifi in case you want to sit and work, but have you noticed something missing? There’s no art. Arguably, our fountain is designed by WET, so we could consider that an artful experience, but while many museums have art installed before you enter, we don’t.

Connecting Cultures provides the introduction to our collection, but located after ticketing makes it the “third click” in your visit.

As you move into the lobby proper, we’ve got a similar issue going on. There are some works on view in our lobby—notably our collection of Rodin sculptures, our American owls and lion, and The Rebel Angels. But, overall, when you come into our main lobby your experience is overwhelmingly one about “transaction.” Our current visitor desk is the biggest and most powerful symbol in the entry experience of the museum and we started to question what kind of message that was sending. Our incredibly successful introductory exhibition, Connecting Cultures, only begins after you pass the threshold of ticketing and then pretty far into the building itself. I’ve often used this analogy in my own industry…our entry experience is a little like “three clicks to the art” and if the museum’s primary function is the display of art, that’s a big issue—simply put, we think you should experience art much more quickly in your experience because that is the primary function of why you come here.

The front desk is the overwhelming experience of the lobby; it’s circular form confuses traffic patterns and the fixed nature of the desk is limiting.

When we looked around, it was clear that we needed to rethink that central desk. Installed during our 2004 renovation, the round desk was meant to service visitors from our south and north entrances equally, but in practice it became confusing to visitors who didn’t know how to orient themselves. Also, it became clear that because we couldn’t move it or change the configuration, we couldn’t easily accommodate more art—the desk became the elephant in the room.

As part of this project, we are replacing the current desk with ticket bars designed by Situ Studio. At our June start, we’ll be anchoring the ticket bars to our back wall, so we can pair it with large wayfinding signage, but the key is we can pretty easily change that configuration if it’s not working; something the fixed desk never afforded us. This means we can also now incorporate more art and do so in a way that makes it more central to the visitor experience.

There are so many factors when it comes to putting art in our lobby.  For this, I’m turning to Kevin Stayton, our Chief Curator:

Bringing art and people together is why we are here. Art can astonish and amuse; it can be stimulating and it can be moving. We think you should encounter art as soon as you enter the building. However, we have to balance the presentation of art in the lobby with a number of other factors: Will the artwork get in the way of traffic flow or, perhaps, be in danger because of it? Will it infringe on our ability to offer programs in the space, or to use the space for events like movie shoots? And, perhaps most important, does the space provide the right environment for the art? Will the work of art look good in such a large space and will it be safe from damage with the amount of light and the temperature fluctuations of a lobby environment? These are complicated questions that we are committed to tackling in order to make the experience of art an immediate one when you arrive. We think ALONG THE WAY, a monumental sculpture by the artist KAWS will be a perfect introduction to the Brooklyn Museum, and when you see it we hope you will too.

KAWS (American, b. 1974). ALONG THE WAY, 2013. Wood, 216 x 176 x 120 in. (548.6 x 447 x 304.8 cm) overall. Brooklyn Museum; Gift in honor of Arnold Lehman, TL2015.27a‒b. (Photo: Adam Reich, courtesy of Mary Boone Gallery, New York)

When you come into our lobby in June, you’ll find an exhibition by KAWS, which includes two paintings in addition to this enormous sculpture, to greet you. We’re now much closer to “one click to the art” and can’t wait to see how art in all its forms changes the visitor experience from the get go.