2022

The new Mafra Municipal Gallery and its inaugural exhibition.

Scope

Editorial, Exhibition, Identity, Signage

Client

Câmara Municipal de Mafra

The Municipality of Mafra launched a project for the installation of the new tourist office and Municipal Gallery, in the South Tower of the National Palace of Mafra, and P 06 studio was invited to develop the communication project for the space and the exhibition project for the first exhibition that would inaugurate the space. The space is made up of several interconnected rooms on the ground floor, which were completely renovated with an architectural project that equipped it with modern technical infrastructure to function as a gallery. The exhibition that opened the space was “Chinese Musical Instruments” curated by Enio de Souza.

The design project for the Gallery and Exhibition included the definition of extirior communication supports, interior signage for routing and information, communication of the tourist office also operating in this space, definition of reusable exhibition supports by the exhibition gallery and design of the communication of the inaugural exhibition.

The solutions for the intervention had as their first concern the fact that we were intervening in an 18th century Palace, a Unesco heritage site, with great restrictions imposed. The exterior and facade of the Palace could not have any intervention, the interior spaces have vaulted ceilings with great height and a palatial design in the stucco, stonework and carpentry.

The basic architecture project recovered all the materials and created a second covering wall plan in all rooms to enable the installation of technical infrastructure and serve as a renewable support for the installation of different exhibition contents.

Looking for solutions that respect the heritage were defined for the exterior 2 removable totems, with casters to allow storage inside and with detachable front and back panels that allow the renewal of communication. In the entrance hall, a light structure was installed to support the communication screens of the exhibitions, respecting the architecture of the palace and easy to disassemble without leaving any marks of intervention.

As the Gallery's reception also functions as a Tourist Office, a wall for communication and exhibition of tourist destinations and products was created. Communication and signage in the entrance spaces seek a sober visual language consistent with the architectural features.

For the exhibition project, it was necessary to establish typologies of needs to define a family of exhibition supports that were versatile to be used in the first exhibition and to be reused in future exhibitions.

The first exhibit consisted of Chinese musical instruments and informational wall texts. As general exhibition needs, it was defined: the wall plan for texts and exhibition of vertical pieces, which was contemplated in the architecture project, showcases of generic dimensions for the exhibition of smaller and fragile pieces, platforms of various dimensions for placing larger pieces, the floor plan for isolated parts with the definition of guardrails and benches for resting along the route.

This family of supports has a sober design to adapt to different exhibition aesthetics and is made up of materials that can be repainted and renewed for other visual proposals. Lighting solutions were incorporated into the showcases and platforms that could complement the lighting solution on the walls envisaged by the architecture. For the “Chinese Musical Instruments” exhibition, color environments and textures of Chinese visual inspiration were created to frame the instruments and involve the visitor. 3 colors and 3 textures were defined to fill the walls and exhibition supports, creating different environments and dividing themes.