Übersee Museum

The museum and collection

This extension is situated opposite to the main museum building. It houses the main natural history collection. The new site was meant to enable putting additional collections on display, in such a way that the exhibition setup also functions as storage, hence the numerous shelves and drawer units. It was important to maintain visibility, but in an economical way. The extensive collections contain objects important to the fields of ethnology and natural history.

The assignment

Together with the architects, the museum team had worked out a detailed technical plan describing the desired look and requirements of the showcases, the storage cabinets, and other supporting facilities. 

As part of the security requirements, electronic locks with central notification were prescribed. This system uses magnetic contacts on over 600 doors, each contact being linked to a central unit.

The museum required a prototype to guarantee that the appointed supplier was able to fulfill the desired criteria. Each participant received a score for their prototype and presentation. Our swift and well-engineered proposal satisfied the requirements and we won the selection process.

The project: challenges & result

The main challenge was delivering a large quantity of specific cases and materials in a short timeframe.

A particular challenge was re-engineering existing hinge mechanisms to allow doors to be opened 90, 180 or 270 degrees depending on their position. This criterium was mandatory as the available space between the rows of stacked showcase cabinets was limited and the museum wanted to prevent staff bumping into doors.

The airflow system over filtering units was engineered for overpressure in the cabinets in order to avoid the penetration dust and particles. Therefore, special attention needed to be given to the seals. The solution was to apply silicone between the door notches by hand, and after the silicone had cured, to finely cut away any excess with a scalpel if required.

In partnership with the contractor for the locking systems, electronic prints were developed. The function of these was to send silent notifications about failures in locks or lock snappers.