Memb Prototype (Student Project)

Designer: Lucia Pellegrini
Project Type: Student Project
School: Politecnico di Milano
Course: Master Thesis
Tutor: Francesco E. Guida
Location: Italy
Packaging Contents: Museum objects
Packaging Materials: Cardboard, foam, plastic

This “collection in a box” is the first prototype of the new museum model that I developed for my master thesis. The aim is to radically change the traditional museum concept and create a closer relationship between the public and the collection: the visitor can explore an online archive of the institution, assemble a group of objects and receive the real selected items in a box at home. Through this process the visitor can become curator and truly understands the meaning of a museum collection.

The first prototype was realized in collaboration with Memb (ethnological museum of Monza) and contains six objects from the collection concerning resilience, or rather facing life difficulties. Currently, the italian museum can't afford an exhibition space so it was a perfect case study to experiment with.

The cardboard box is inspired by the common packs used for shipping while the external label shows informations about the destination and the content. Inside the box, the bigger objects are placed in plastic foam protections (in modular shape so to easily assemble different sized items) while photos and documents are displayed in plastic envelopes. Each protection has a label to identify the object (for the visitor) and, on another side, shows more specific informations for the archiving by the museum personnel. The box contains also a personalized guide to use the box: instructions to handle the objects, a list of the items in the box (with a map of their position), instructions for the return and a label to arrange on the pack to send it back.

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