Specialized Design: safeguarding and exhibition

IDA Foundation, in partnership with the Argentine industrial design company Alto Estudio, developed new safeguarding and exhibition systems aimed at optimizing the storage and patrimonial protection of the largest Latin American design collection, while enabling the exhibition of the pieces. The process of restructuring and expanding IDA spaces included the design and development of plan drawers, cabinets to storage clothing, textile roll holders, mobile coat racks, vertical guard tensioners, and elements suspended with hangers. Ignacio Pfefferkorn, Leonel Quevedo and Andrés Rodríguez of Alto Estudio (in collaboration with Mariano Sánchez) were in charge of creating the specialized products and accessories needed to re-adapt the existing standardized systems to expand their functionality. This project offers unique technical solutions and equipment, unavailable nationwide, that can be implemented by other institutions. The designs, developed in local workshops, considered transportation logistics and on-site assembly of the pieces, modules that could be stacked, and safe handling. This strategic plan, which abides by international conservation parameters, was developed with the support of Patronage of the City of Buenos Aires.

Itinerant exhibition modules: based on the building logic of "Mecano" (sheet metal toy), Alto Estudio developed components, such as joints and extenders, to intervene standard shelves and racks of the firm Rapiestantes Web (leader in large-scale storage services). The new equipment variants feature exhibition and hanging functions, as well as display tables and low platforms, that can be reconfigured depending on the needs of each exhibition.

Large Format Plan Cabinets: the large format self-supporting plan cabinet is a specialized design that includes several features such as: free surface drawers with auxiliary dividers and high load resistance (60 kg per unit), indirect ventilation and handling protection, double stackable modules, and wheels for displacement and fixation. 

Clothing Drawer: the clothing chest of drawers is a functional module that can be incorporated into the standard rack. With wide-surface drawers, safe opening system, and controlled handling, this piece allows the storage of garments that, due to their material quality, cannot remain hanging.

Mobile Coat Racks: the transportable coat racks were developed by reconfiguring quick-assembly shelving systems. The new product enables the storage and protection of the garments, while providing the possibility of sheathing the equipment in its entirety.  

Roll Holder: the roll-holding crossbars – used for the storage of textiles – are placed on the sides of the rack. Its design contemplates fixing bars by fit and arranging them in a regular way, as well as the possibility to modify the height of the holders to preserve material of diverse dimensions.

Vertical Storage System: the vertical guard system requires auxiliary elements that are linked to the floor and the sides of the rack. These devices allow the subdivision of space, the exploitation of maximum storage volume, and the preservation of flat objects. The protected parts rest on the X-straps without damaging the adjoining element.

Training: the development of storage systems made exclusively to preserve pieces from the patrimonial collection allowed IDA to improve the protection of its assets in both its headquarters (Colegiales and Paternal, City of Buenos Aires). Simultaneously, a training program for undergraduate students was implemented in partnership with national universities. In this way, the project included training in museography methodologies, based on transfer activities addressed to young designers and architects in training. We hope that these exchanges will sensitize students about the conservation of design heritage, a key area to preserve the history of the discipline in our country.