The Future of Education

Museums are the living laboratories of Cultural Heritage of a nation, which are not only the centres of information dissipation and material preservation, but also a source of revenue generation for the government. The concept of museums dates back to 4^th century BC, with the first museum named “The Museum of Alexandria” of Ancient Greece which showcased the cultural indicators and acted as treasure trove of cultural traditions. The curiosity to know and gather extraordinary rare objects continued during medieval times to Renaissance periods, and the idea of collection and preservation was further developed into structured documentation of related philosophies. Thus, museums became centres of value addition in the 18^th and 19^th centuries for educating the society. Museums of the present are also seen as informal education hubs of learning aimed at dissipating information and inciting interest in the cultural past and present. Learning requires engagement of the learner, and it is essential to create an environment which lays emphasis on enhancing engagement of visitors as active partners rather than passive receivers. This facilitates learning, creating experiences and thus, transforms events into memories. Although the intent of layouts in museums is to enable the visitors to understand, appreciate and interpret original information correctly, but fulfillment of this intent can only be established if the relationship between the architecture of museums, displays, settings, visitor experience and learning is assessed. The visitors in museums belong to heterogenous groups in terms of their age, education, culture, profession and physical abilities, who have different levels of engagement with museum environment. This heterogeneity paves way for an exploratory research to examine visitor engagement to built environments of museums, so as to understand the design requirements which are specific to different visitor groups. This paper showcases the contribution of architectural design elements which can enhance visitor engagement, education as well as experience, leading to better utilization of Museums.