When you are walking through Poole from the station towards the quay, a stunning facade comes into view, its glass and steel structure glinting in the sun. Set against the ancient buildings of the Old Town, the new addition looks modern and exciting.
It is the recently reopened Poole Museum, the structure providing an atrium below and a visitor terrace above with views of the old town and the harbour. The museum's distinctive new look should help to entice in locals and tourists, an estimated 4 million of which visit Poole each year.
Following a redevelopment that took 21 months and £750,000 of Heritage Lottery Fund money, it is not just the exterior that has been transformed. The inside of the old building has also been re-worked to reveal more of its fabric and there are new displays throughout.
Inside the atrium it is light, airy and uplifting. The work inside the old part of the museum (originally an 18th-century warehouse) continues the contemporary feel with exposed brickwork, wooden beams and neutral colours.
There are signs warning of low ceilings and uneven floors, but both of these problems have been dealt with sympathetically. The low beams are padded and covered in unbleached calico, which suggests an act of conservation, rather than health and safety.
The modern design continues with the cases and labels. Cased objects are mainly displayed on glass shelves with semi-transparent object labels stuck on the outside of the cases. The overall effect offers uncluttered views of well-lit objects and the labels are clear and concise. But the use of labels on the case exteriors appears easy to remove and perhaps high maintenance.
I particularly liked the round soundbite labels on the case for the 2,300 year old Poole log boat in the first exhibit. These provide the most important or interesting facts about the log boat, such as "this is the only log boat to be preserved in sugar". More of these soundbites would have been useful in the rest of the displays.
On the first floor, which covers Development of Port and Town and Ships, Boats and Trade, more than half of the object labels were missing from cases. This was frustrating, but I imagine that the labels were probably time consuming to apply and that time ran out before the opening.
On the second floor, where the themes People at Work, People at Play, People at Home and Community Life are explored, the lack of labels and the incorrect positioning of others was more perplexing.
Things might have changed, but when I visited, a text panel in the Markets and Shops theme, for example, seemed to suggest that the shop fittings to the side of it were from a chemist's shop in Poole that opened in 1911.
But the shelves in question had grocery items that looked to be from the 1940s displayed on them. I eventually found the chemist's furniture opposite this, but was left wondering where the grocer's products came from. Similarly, the reconstructed kitchen had no label to date it or its parts.
On this floor, some displays do not go far enough to bring the subjects into the present. There is a mention on a text panel of the many faiths in Poole today, but no objects representing them in the religion display.
In places, small additions could be made to show 21st-century Poole - a class picture of a modern school alongside the Victorian one, in the education section, or, in the Going Out section, one of the two mannequins in a modern going-out outfit instead of a 1930s one next to the 1920s evening dress.
Some of the display content assumes that the visitor has a modicum of local knowledge. In Development of Port and Town, there is a computer-animated image of the new Two Sails Bridge, but I was left unsure whether or not this was going to replace the old Poole bridge (also featured in the display). To assume any local knowledge is short sighted given the number of tourists who visit Poole each year.
On a more positive note, there are many audiovisuals in the museum showing archive and modern films and sound recordings. Most of these work well and add a new dimension to the displays.
But there is one showing images of maps of Poole through the ages that is poor. Some are blurred and the dates of the maps are often hidden in the top corner. I enjoyed the Wildlife and Habitats display which is housed in a shelter resembling a bird-watching hide. Video screens made to look like the viewing windows of the hide show local birds and animals.
There are a few excellent interactives. One is a Roman soldier with magnetic clothes and equipment, and another encourages people of all ages to experiment making patterns for tile floors inspired by the pattern books of Carter and Co (later re-named the Poole Pottery).
On the third floor of the museum, there is a stunning display of Poole pottery and other ceramics made and found in Poole. This leads into a comfortable visitors' lounge and the terrace.
Around the terrace's railings there are distances etched into the glass showing the distance from the museum to other landmarks, some local (the custom house) and some distant (the Great Wall of China). A nice touch, but giving the distances only in yards and miles was at odds with the modern design of the new museum.
Overall, there are some excellent displays and good use of audiovisuals and interactives. But the museum could be even better with more thought put into labelling and interpretation.
Julia Edge is a freelance arts journalist and was formerly the collections manager at the Horniman Museum in London
Project data
Cost: £1.3m
Main funder: Heritage Lottery Fund £750,000
Exhibition design: Poole Museum Service, Steers McGillan, Study Gallery
Architect: Horden Cherry Lee
Main contractor: Greendale Construction
It is the recently reopened Poole Museum, the structure providing an atrium below and a visitor terrace above with views of the old town and the harbour. The museum's distinctive new look should help to entice in locals and tourists, an estimated 4 million of which visit Poole each year.
Following a redevelopment that took 21 months and £750,000 of Heritage Lottery Fund money, it is not just the exterior that has been transformed. The inside of the old building has also been re-worked to reveal more of its fabric and there are new displays throughout.
Inside the atrium it is light, airy and uplifting. The work inside the old part of the museum (originally an 18th-century warehouse) continues the contemporary feel with exposed brickwork, wooden beams and neutral colours.
There are signs warning of low ceilings and uneven floors, but both of these problems have been dealt with sympathetically. The low beams are padded and covered in unbleached calico, which suggests an act of conservation, rather than health and safety.
The modern design continues with the cases and labels. Cased objects are mainly displayed on glass shelves with semi-transparent object labels stuck on the outside of the cases. The overall effect offers uncluttered views of well-lit objects and the labels are clear and concise. But the use of labels on the case exteriors appears easy to remove and perhaps high maintenance.
I particularly liked the round soundbite labels on the case for the 2,300 year old Poole log boat in the first exhibit. These provide the most important or interesting facts about the log boat, such as "this is the only log boat to be preserved in sugar". More of these soundbites would have been useful in the rest of the displays.
On the first floor, which covers Development of Port and Town and Ships, Boats and Trade, more than half of the object labels were missing from cases. This was frustrating, but I imagine that the labels were probably time consuming to apply and that time ran out before the opening.
On the second floor, where the themes People at Work, People at Play, People at Home and Community Life are explored, the lack of labels and the incorrect positioning of others was more perplexing.
Things might have changed, but when I visited, a text panel in the Markets and Shops theme, for example, seemed to suggest that the shop fittings to the side of it were from a chemist's shop in Poole that opened in 1911.
But the shelves in question had grocery items that looked to be from the 1940s displayed on them. I eventually found the chemist's furniture opposite this, but was left wondering where the grocer's products came from. Similarly, the reconstructed kitchen had no label to date it or its parts.
On this floor, some displays do not go far enough to bring the subjects into the present. There is a mention on a text panel of the many faiths in Poole today, but no objects representing them in the religion display.
In places, small additions could be made to show 21st-century Poole - a class picture of a modern school alongside the Victorian one, in the education section, or, in the Going Out section, one of the two mannequins in a modern going-out outfit instead of a 1930s one next to the 1920s evening dress.
Some of the display content assumes that the visitor has a modicum of local knowledge. In Development of Port and Town, there is a computer-animated image of the new Two Sails Bridge, but I was left unsure whether or not this was going to replace the old Poole bridge (also featured in the display). To assume any local knowledge is short sighted given the number of tourists who visit Poole each year.
On a more positive note, there are many audiovisuals in the museum showing archive and modern films and sound recordings. Most of these work well and add a new dimension to the displays.
But there is one showing images of maps of Poole through the ages that is poor. Some are blurred and the dates of the maps are often hidden in the top corner. I enjoyed the Wildlife and Habitats display which is housed in a shelter resembling a bird-watching hide. Video screens made to look like the viewing windows of the hide show local birds and animals.
There are a few excellent interactives. One is a Roman soldier with magnetic clothes and equipment, and another encourages people of all ages to experiment making patterns for tile floors inspired by the pattern books of Carter and Co (later re-named the Poole Pottery).
On the third floor of the museum, there is a stunning display of Poole pottery and other ceramics made and found in Poole. This leads into a comfortable visitors' lounge and the terrace.
Around the terrace's railings there are distances etched into the glass showing the distance from the museum to other landmarks, some local (the custom house) and some distant (the Great Wall of China). A nice touch, but giving the distances only in yards and miles was at odds with the modern design of the new museum.
Overall, there are some excellent displays and good use of audiovisuals and interactives. But the museum could be even better with more thought put into labelling and interpretation.
Julia Edge is a freelance arts journalist and was formerly the collections manager at the Horniman Museum in London
Project data
Cost: £1.3m
Main funder: Heritage Lottery Fund £750,000
Exhibition design: Poole Museum Service, Steers McGillan, Study Gallery
Architect: Horden Cherry Lee
Main contractor: Greendale Construction
