The Water Museum – property of EPAL, the national Portuguese water company – is a space that focuses mostly on the general aspects of the water, with an educational and scientific approach, while transmitting also some of the highlights of EPAL's history and legacy to society (unlike most traditional company museums that only explore the historical nature of the company itself).
The general concept for the permanent exhibition room is related to the idea of watercourse, to suggest the water flow and movement along a section of a stream. This idea is somehow materialized through the design of the custom exhibition tables (specially by the organic shapes) and also by the color scheme that unifies these tables with the floor.
On the ceiling, we designed a structure that provides the lighting for the room on the top side, and on the lower side, a mirrored panel creates a very appealing effect that helps the visitor to have an instant reading of the room, especially of the exhibition tables' shapes and contents.
The main target audience of this museum is mostly students (children and adolescents). For this reason, a good part of the exhibition is made on the custom tables (the tables stimulate the visitors' interaction and are also intentionally low for this purpose). The use of several infographics on the walls, is also a resource that makes the contents more appealing and easily to be understood by the target audience.
Design Director: Nuno Gusmão
Designers: Vanda Mota
Photos: FG+SG
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