National Gallery of Victoria

The museum and collection

The National Gallery obtained an impressive new building from the authorities to re-arrange the display of their collections. The result was a tender for a huge number of showcases of various types. Designing architect Mario Bellini already having conceived the museum building, was also asked to create suitable museum concepts, together with a competent museum team.

The collections being very diverse, from paintings to objects in glass, precious metals and many other materials, this exercise proved to be complex and required the presence in the team of a qualified case manufacturer, with experience to reply technically reliable towards the created principle case concepts,

The assignment

The museum team had worked out a detailed technical plan with the designing architects, only roughly defining the shape and contours of the required cases. For nearly each type, a technical concept had to be created, and this working method had to be presented in the tender stage. The tenders were weighted to price and quality by implemented scoring methods.

All cases were equipped with non-reflective coated glass and back-painted surfaces to hide profiles. The bonding had to be carefully executed.

The requirement for accent lighting by fiber optic came was made clear during the prototyping phase, and it was executed by our lighting partner Luxam to a satisfactory degree. A number of cases needing active climate control.
Some of the larger cases were conceived to be sent off fully packed, which required a dedicated study.