MUSEUM OF HISTORIC GARDEN

Permanent Exhibition - project paused

A permanent exhibition narrating the history of the country’s first public garden, housed in a historic building located within the garden itself.

Role & Scope
The studio was responsible for the museological and exhibition design of the project, as well as for the formation and organisation of the collection presented in the exhibition.

Context & Challenge
The project was commissioned by the Municipality of Athens and is located in a distinctive historic building of approximately 70 sq.m. within the Historic Garden. Over time, the building has accommodated a variety of uses: a royal retreat, the residence of the garden’s director, an archive, and later a botanical museum for the garden’s plant collection. It has remained closed since the 1990s.

The study addresses two key challenges. The first is to maximise the limited exhibition space in order to clearly and comfortably present the garden’s rich, multi-layered history. The second is the reconstruction—through a subtractive design approach—of the atmosphere of the building’s earliest phase of use and of the garden itself, dating to the late 19th century.

Museological Approach
The central museological concept is structured around thematic axes related to the design, creation, and defining features of the garden, such as sculptural elements and historically significant plants. Particular emphasis is placed on the individuals who left a lasting imprint on the garden’s form over time.

Information is carefully hierarchised for visitors: a small number of selected original objects take a leading role and are complemented by a wide range of tactile interactive stations and layered, “hidden” information. A deliberate decision was made to limit the use of digital media, ensuring that the small museum—operating with limited staffing and maintenance capacities—remains functional, sustainable, and relevant in the long term.

Spatial Design
The exhibition unfolds across the ground floor and upper level of the building, with the original staircase functioning as a transitional and experiential space. The ground floor presents the history of the garden during its royal period. The upper level, loosely organised into two rooms, explores the garden’s transformation into a public space and includes an area for long-duration temporary exhibitions, dedicated to sections of a new botanical collection that will be developed gradually over time.

Key gestures of the exhibition language include the use of early 20th-century postcards of the garden as wallpaper, the integration of all interpretive content into a continuous perimeter display surface, the highlighting of openings through period-inspired textiles, and the presentation of maps as visual artefacts in their own right. In parallel, tactile exhibits are designed to retain the aesthetic character of the original objects.

Outcome & Visitor Experience
The proposed museum experience forms a coherent and distinctive environment, in meaningful dialogue with the character of the historic garden. Rather than offering an exhaustive narrative, the exhibition provides an initial set of stimuli, encouraging further exploration and discovery along the paths of the garden’s history.