As a sector, we are obsessed by the visitor route. At the heart of it, we’re passionate storytellers who want to ensure that members of the public understand the history of a place, experience some things before others and don’t miss that little room off to the side where we’ve put the best bits! So why are some floorplans so uninspiring?
I’ve worked in multiple museums, galleries and historic houses where the orientation map handed out to visitors was literally a photocopy of the original architect’s floorplan drawings. Yes, interesting in their own right… but often difficult to decipher – unless your visitors are architects, archaeologists or estate agents. Also, greying-out the rooms you don’t want visitors to enter is an invitation to rattle the doorknobs of locked doors.
As part of a NLHF project to transform Blackwell into a family friendly attraction and appeal to a wider range of visitors, I commissioned a brilliant local illustrator, Sophie Martin, to create a visual representation of the historic Arts and Crafts house in section and like a doll’s house. She executed the commission in such a clever way that brought the house to life in miniature. Sophie even made a black and white version that could be coloured in by visitors (young and old).