MUSEUM SHOP IN THE KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM
Vienna, 1st District
1993 - 1995
TEXTPHOTOSPLANS
GMMK , Foto: Elisabeth Mayr-Keber , Gert M. MAYR-KEBER ZT-GmbH. Shop im Kunsthistorischen Museum 1993-1995

Due to the inferior capacity of the small shop set up when the café was built in the rotunda of the museum, a new shop was built immediately adjacent to the vestibule on the ground floor.

Because of the designated site on the lower ground floor of the museum, access to which was somewhat restricted, an 'out-post' of the shop in the form of a cashdesk-cum-sales counter together with a number of postcard racks and shelf units was situated in the vestibule. This clearly signposted the entrance to the shop, and monitors playing loop videos together with a neon sign additionally draw the visitor's attention to the shop. A neon rod indicates the way down to the shop area on the lower ground floor, drawing the visitor to the connecting flight of steps, from where the actual size of the shop and the range of items on sale can be seen.

The insistent language employed to ensure that the visitor is aware of the existence and location of the shop contrasts with the restrained design in the interior of the shop itself. Here artificial lighting is used decoratively, or as a method of guiding the visitor to the display cases, as well as in its conventional function of spotlighting the products on sale.