A research note by Birgitte, Gala, Liza & Mantau

Keystrokes: 19101

Design Processes and Entrepreneurship

Spatial designs and Society

Spring semester 2015

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Abstract

This research note seeks to analyse the potential and the obstacles of the lobby and the outdoors, i.e. public area, of the Danish Rock Museum, which are free of charge. We investigate this issue by using the methods of SWOT analysis, Business Model Canvas and the concept of “third space” defined by Chris Lloyd and Edward Soja, which will be introduced further on (Rantisi & Leslie 2010). Through these tools we are able to examine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, as well as visualizing the parts that conform the above-mentioned area.

We consider that the free space may have two functions: ● A social centre for Musicon (the surrounding residential area) ● A freemium

The development of Musicon has to become a beacon, for the now excluded and problematic area of the southern Roskilde. In that sense, the public space might help in creating a social network and a common place that calls for togetherness. The successful output would be, that the locals would use it as a “third place”, meaning a different place than workplace or home, for purposes of leisure and socializing.

The second function of making certain areas of the Rock Museum free of charge is to create a freemium in order to attract different kind of potential visitors. The free areas would work as a teaser; i. e. people could get the basics of the Rock Museum for free, yet they would have to buy a ticket for the full experience. Thereby, our focus of research will be based on what has to be done and how has to be done in order to fulfil the two main functions of the museum’s free space.

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Introduction

The Danish Rock Museum, the brand new unit of Roskilde Museum, is meant to be an innovative museum that strive to show the importance of rock and pop music in the shaping of the identity of various youth generations since the 50s. Music will be the key to understand both International and Danish rock history and as a result, the history of youth that challenged our world.

In 2011 the Dutch studio MVRDV won, together with Danish COBE architects, the architectural competition to design the Danish Rock Museum, the Roskilde Festival Højskole and the Roskilde Festival's new headquarters. Located in the Musicon district of Roskilde municipality, these pioneer cultural spaces are supposed to positively enhance this area. Moreover, the three buildings are meant to symbolize band members, designed to create new experiences through their own identity, appearance and architectural energy. Under construction since spring 2014, according to the architect’s schedule (December 2012) the Danish Rock Museum is expected to be open in summer 2015 with a budget of 120M DKK.

Danish Rock Museum has been designed as a living space that will hold, among many, exhibitions, a sound laboratory, interactive installations, events, light & sound rooms, production facilities, a stage, a library, archive & research activities and a record studio. The aim is to challenge the concept of what constitutes a museum by combining the ideas of physical experience, variety, innovation, and museum as a free space to develop knowledge. Hence, the museum will be highly interactive in its form of communication - a rock laboratory for all generations and will experiment the limits of the classical museum concept in both form and content.

As said before, the museum wishes to explain through music how young people since the 50s have challenged and shaped our current society. Music, and specifically rock, are, according to this view, an essential historical factor in the formation of political

3 attitudes, new technologies, linguistics trends, media and last but not least, new venues. Still considered as one of the strongest cultural movements of the 20th century, rock is the point of departure of this new cultural contemporary museum that focuses on the rhythmic music as a global language of youth culture. Rock has been, indeed, a mirror of youth culture and has had a major impact on society. Thus, the interplay between music and youth culture is past, present and future. In few words, young music is considered to reflect larger societal trends.

The museum will present two main areas, covering an interactive presentation of Danish rock roots and history and a sound laboratory, where visitors experience music by themselves. The permanent exhibitions have been designed in order to be exposed following a theme-based path, in order to avoid the monotony of a chronological presentation, unattractive for the majority of the visitors. This theme-based system has, as main focus, the concepts of dance, fan culture, meeting spots, image and subculture, events and a sound lab. Thus, all of them go across time and encourage the attention of potential visitors. Thereby, the spatial design of each theme becomes vital in order to enter to new worlds from space to space. As a result of the explained pattern, from the very beginning there is a clear and constant interrelation between the content, the form and the spatial design of the museum.

Once its final completion, Rock Museum will become Denmark's first museum for young, about young people - a museum that through the music will convey the youth culture's impact on society. The museum, which has an extension of approximately 2,900 m2, will include the already mentioned exhibition areas and a large public, free of charge area – focus of our analysis.

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SWOT

We have chosen to use the SWOT analysis from Osterwalder & Pigneur (2010: 219) as it stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This analytical tool is used in order to identify the Rock Museum’s strengths and weaknesses, and to examine the opportunities and threats, which may affect the business. Furthermore, it analyses the organization and environment. This model helped us to identify changes that could be made to improve the business. On the basis of this model and the Business model canvas from above, we have come up with possible new actions the Rock Museum could adopt, towards hopefully creating a more sustainable type of business.

What might be worth mentioning or in need of an explanation, are the points of the area/place, the building and concept itself. Considering the area, it is a strength in a sense of it already being known as a place of activity and creativity. The area Musicon

5 is known for its skateparks both indoor and outdoor, creative art facilities, outdoor training facilities and “hangout spots”. Also the area is focused on the youth and has plenty of student housings. That leads us to why we put “students” as an opportunity, in terms of the students as a possible revenue stream and as a “life-creating” aspect. Since there already are a lot of students in the area and that there will be more with the folk high school coming, it could be beneficial to focus on attracting this particular target group. Returning to the considerations about the area, the public transportations is definitely a weakness, especially when the concept appeals mostly to a niche audience. Also, the area as being undeveloped is a possible threat - meaning that no one really knows, how this area will evolve. At the same term, it might as well be an opportunity, since it could evolve advantageously for the concept of the Rock museum.

It is fairly important that the place and area attracts people and possibly paying visitors, since we believe that it is doubtful that the museum will do so by itself. Even if it attracts paying visitors, most likely they will be curious first time visitors, attracted by the unique concept and the building - not returning, loyal guests, which should be generating the future sustainable revenue stream. This has lead us to an investigation on the opportunities and possibilities of the undetermined “free area”. This area has the possibilities of making the concept more sustainable and improve the entire business. Thus it is significant to find the proper balance of this area, to make it attractive enough to get people to the place, but still being able to work as a “freemium”, so the area itself should not fulfil to many needs.

Why, What, How

Why should there be a free area? As said in the abstract, the free space may have two functions. One is related to the creation of a social centre for the surrounding area that pretends to include all kind of possible visitors. The other contains the concept of the freemium. Both of them may

6 brand Roskilde as a cultural centre, making this specific area more attractive and vibrant as a community.

What has to be done? New channels need to be built towards visitors and attractive activities have to be planned. Some examples would be building an infrastructure, an expanded skate park or a music playground. Others might be bars, an outdoor stage, a pull up bar or outside fitness, cheaper take away food stands, a music flea market, summer chairs for events, a summer pool or a ice skating pool for winter, and of course, events related to the opening of new exhibitions (including free drinks, conferences, among others).

How can we implement the solutions/scenarios? Getting more funds from the municipality would be a must. Improve or have a better communication with the locals would be vital too, as well as promote new key partners or attract expat communities, such as embassies supporting their local music.

Rock Museum as a “third space”

In this section we analyse and discuss the Rock Museum case through the concept of ‘third space’ and how that conflicts the future vision of the museum. The Musicon area, which is currently under development, is divided into five themed zones: Frizonen (Free Zone), Kulturzonen (Culture Zone), Madzonen (Food Zone), Festivalzonen (Festival Zone) and Uddannelseszonen (Education Zone). The Danish Rock Museum is located in the Free Zone, where the outdoors area is designed with the purpose of encouraging different types personas to gather and use the space to ‘hang out’ as a continuation of the neighbourhood, confer The Project ROCK- magneten Competition Brief.

Lena Bruun, secretariat manager at the Rock Museum, explains that the future character of the free area around and in the Rock Museum can be described as “the

7 beacon of Roskilde, the beating heart that will provide vitality to the city and neighbourhood.” (Audio-recording). The area is designed as a large ‘shared space’ with a continuous walking and driving surface between the buildings. This means the area should encourage the citizens to adopt the area and to prefer to attend the area in their leisure time.

We understand the Rock Museum as striving towards becoming a creative industry based on their brand and profile (danmarksrockmuseum.dk). This includes resources such as affordable ‘live and work places’, and moreover the concept of ‘third space’, which according to Lloyd (2004) is defined as unregulated spaces between work and home, such as cafés, restaurants and bars. These spaces function as informal spaces of inspiration, where e.g. creative individuals can spend time at their leisure, exchange ideas and ‘just be’ (Rantisi & Leslie 2010: 36). From our empirical data we can define that the Rock Museum wants to shape a third space in the free outdoors area, in order to gain vitality. However we question the possibilities, because we find that the area lacks important components, according to the concept of third space.

We can hereby identify the expected gatherings in the free area of the Rock Museum as third space encounters. A critical point to make is the lack of diversity thus they are contradicting themselves by excluding and ignoring the problematic area of the social housing next to Musicon. Rose (2000) argues that: “social diversity of the city makes these [third] places open and welcoming.” (Rantisi & Leslie 2010: 43). Instead of being an isolated area in the frames of Musicon, the area could be opened up, by for instance creating infrastructure so all kinds of citizens can access the area. This scenario could potentially optimise the feeling of openness and diversity within the area, which is currently planned to be closed off by dense growing trees.

The aesthetics of the area is described as embracing the industrial culture through the many historical traces of the closed down concrete factory. In the architectural approach of the design process, it has been important to maintain “the raw industrial

8 style from the concrete production of the past. A distinctive expression for an industrial culture and worker culture as an important element in the area's peculiarity and identity.” This is according to The Project ROCK-magneten Competition Brief. We know from Richard Florida who defines the creative class, that the creative people prefer unique authentic places i.e. by designing the look of the area as a copy of a conventional mainstream city area, would diminish the attractiveness significantly. One could argue that the Rock Museum crew is taking the concepts of third space and the notion of the creative class literally in an extended degree, and thereby are uncritically following the notion as a recipe for creating the area.

Suggestions

The free--of-charge areas at the future Rock Museum of Roskilde will have two main functions. The first function is 'freemium': to attract visitors, ones who tend to use gratis leisure activities and to hope that they will get seduced to visit the paid exhibitions as well (Osterwalder 2010: 96). The second function is to become a hub for cultural and social inclusion for locals, residents of southern Roskilde. We thereby see a public library in the NordVest area of Copenhagen, Rentemestervej (picture below), as a possible example and source of inspiration for developers of Rock Museum.

Both institutions are neighboring problematic residential areas, ones that are mentioned by Ministry of Housing, Urban and Rural Affairs as “particularly vulnerable residential areas”. (Liste særligt udsatte boligområder). The problematic neighborhoods are defined taking into consideration the proportions of foreign born inhabitants, levels of education, unemployment and income. Five out of six Copenhagen's problematic areas are around Nord-Vest library, just as both vulnerable areas of Roskilde, two neighborhoods next two one another, Rønnebærparken and

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Æblehaven, are close by Rock Museum. The maps, showing institutions as orange dots, and vulnerable areas as blue drops:

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The neighbourhood of vulnerable areas is not the only similarity between Rock Museum and Nord Vest Library. Buildings itself share significant similarities, such as golden facades and 'up and out' shape of structure, even though the developers of the Rock Museum claimed that the final project for the building was chosen, “because the others looked just like a library”. Important to mention, that COBE architects were involved in both projects. NordVest library at Rentemestervej:

Thus we suggest that having similar social and physical properties the new institution, Rock museum, could learn from the experienced one, NordVest library, which according to Copenhagen's municipality is meant to be multifunctional institution: “This cultural complex has a lot to offer for you and your children: there are concerts, film and book clubs, theatre plays for children, children film clubs, etc. Here you can find a library, culture house, citizen service, café and a concert hall all at one place. Moreover, there are several workshops as well, where you can improve your skills in painting, doing ceramics, design, etc.” (kk.dk). K.N. Delica, researcher of libraries, confirms a success of Nord Vest Library in becoming a point of attraction: “A few

11 places around the country, investments in high profile placemaker libraries have put both the library as an institution and the city or neighbourhood of the future cultural beacon on the map. One example of this is The Library on Rentemestervej, which had a strong impact on Copenhagen’s north-west district; as an icon, a meeting place and a base for counter narratives to the territorial stigma that has tended to attach itself to the area.” (Delica 2014: 32). The Library is not charging for any of the services, yet we see 'freemium' as a tool to attract visitors from cafe and computers located at a ground floor upstairs, to read literature and visit events. The output of 'freemium' does not include direct incomes there, however just as in Rock Museum, it encourages inclusion of vulnerable areas.

Reflections

We consider this research note as a mere base for future analysis as we need additional access to information about the process of the project. It would be necessary to include factors such as price of tickets, statistics of the target group and more specific plans of the activities that are planned for the outside area. Throughout our meeting with developers we realised that the team is small and well motivated and they have effective distribution between creative and entrepreneurial tasks. However they probably will not reach the deadlines, since they only have few months left ahead, and they continue talking in general terms, rather than specific decisions. In that sense they should focus on the content of museum more deeply, rather than prioritizing a building. For these reasons we see a need of hiring more employees or outsourcing some of the tasks, like creating an active outdoor and ground floor area.

Regarding our own process with the investigation of the limited gained information, we did the analysis of BMC and SWOT afterwards, to find potentiality and weaknesses towards making the concept more sustainable, than we first perceived it to be. In the beginning of our research process we had an optimistic and open approach toward project of the Rock Museum, yet through the research process it has changed

12 to a more reserved. We ourselves experienced possible difficulties of reaching the location; thereby we think that a route from train station to the museum should be made into an experience itself.

References

Copenhagens Municipality, prospect: http://subsite.kk.dk/sitecore/content/Subsites/CityOfCopenhagen/SubsiteFrontpage/~/ media/87BCD999E9BB4D0C98C4A441937C4C5F.ashx 2015-02-25

Danish Rock Museum: http://www.danmarksrockmuseum.dk/

Delica, K.N (2014): Beacons of the Experience Economy – Perspectives on libraries in the 2010’s. Essay in Twentyfirst , vol 2, no. 2 , pp. 30-40.

Liste over særligt udsatte boligområder pr. 1. februar 2014, Danish Ministry of Housing, Urban and Rural Affairs.

Osterwalder, A., & Pigneur, Y. (2010). Business Model Generation. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Rantisi, N.H. and Leslie, D. (2010) ‘Creativity by design? The role of informal spaces in creative production’, in T. Edensor, D. Leslie, S. Millington and N. Rantisi (eds), Spaces of vernacular creativity: Rethinking the cultural economy. London: Routledge, pp. 33-45.

The Project ROCK-magneten Competition Brief.

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