Transforming Open-Air Museums to Eco-Museums Through Visitor Experience Design for Sustainable Developments

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Summer 7-2-2026

Abstract

Nowadays, open-air museums are under pressure to transform, moving their visitors from passive observers of static, collection-centric exhibitions to active participants in dynamic, visitor-focused interactive displays. This shift, driven by technology, requires making collections more accessible and engaging for the public while enhancing presentation methods for sustainable development. Consequently, the techniques employed for interpretation become crucial in fostering a participatory experience for visitors, emphasizing the significance of their engagement with the museum’s exhibits and enriching the overall museum visitor experience. The research used a mixed use approach, combining both descriptive method that focuses on open-air museums, eco-museums, and visitor experience design and analytical method that focuses on the case study of Wadi Hitan open-air museum, proposed evaluation tool and the survey questionnaire. The research’s aim is to propose and validate a structured framework: the Museum Exhibition and Visitor Behavior Evaluation Tool (MEVBET), which is a set of evaluation criteria proposed by this research to help designers in designing, evaluating and rehabbing museums exhibits for enhancing the museum exhibition experience and visitor behavior. This tool aims to guide the transformation of conventional open-air museums into eco-museums by focusing on visitor-centered design principles that promote sustainable cultural heritage development management. Testing the MEVB-ET on Wadi Hitan open-air museum case study was chosen as the applied study evaluation on the museum experience design and visitor behavior, that will be a model for the assessment of design quality for open-air natural museums. Based on the results of the literature review, case study and survey questionnaire, a well-designed MEVB-ET will transform open-air museums from the way it is now to where it must be.

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS