The impact of contemporary exhibitions in historical buildings: Retaining significance and authenticity during adaptation

Abstract

Historical interiors hold within them significance which provides us with cultural identity, as well as historical and aesthetic value, and their physical materials offer us a connection to the past. These interiors and their functions often become obsolete and need to acquire a new function that is more suited to our modern-day society. One such change in function which was identified to be steadily on the rise in Cape Town is the reappropriation of historical interiors into contemporary exhibition venues. It was noted that during this process many of these historical interiors end up as neutral contemporary white boxes, where the whole historical interior is replaced or concealed by a pristine white interior and this leads to a loss of its internal historical aesthetic value. To counter this and to retain the significant aesthetics of these interiors for ourselves and our future generations, heritage legislation offers a certain amount of protection through their respective guidelines and principles during adaptation. However, these guidelines do not offer concrete methods on the responsive adaptation of historical interiors into contemporary exhibition spaces. To address this problem and provide a substitute for the white box, alternative methods for the responsive adaptation of the historical interior into a contemporary exhibition space are highlighted and investigated. Through this investigation, this study aims to provide responsive approaches which interior designers may adopt during adaptation that respect, acknowledge and highlight the significance of the reappropriated space in the design of contemporary exhibition venues.