Museal space serving the community

The evolution of museum concept towards the new museology led progressively to shifting the stress from the object to the visitor. At the same time, by introducing a narrative discourse opened up to interpretation, the heterogeneity of the public has been accepted and appropriated. In the same train of thought, the coming out of museums to meet its potential visitors and their needs halfway represents a normal consequence of the fundamental position of the visitor in conceiving the museal discourse. The contemporary museums crossover their physical boundaries, continually adapting themselves to the demands of the society they are part of. Thus, the museums become institutions which offer inclusively social work services and community support, like, for example, in the case of museums dedicated to immigrant communities (for whom the museal space becomes helpful in the process of accommodation to a new society and, in the same time, a keeper of the native values), or in the case of repressed communities (for whom such spaces have a great importance in the healing process). In this context, we wish to identify the role played by architecture and the ways through which it doubles the museal activities dedicated to community.