Getting cheese like Stewart Little. In Stuttgart like Stewart Little. Find me another blogger rhyming Stewart Little with Stewart Little.
I would introduce what this blog is about, but you read the title like a big boy. Good job, reader.
Now, I’m a big nerd when it comes to most things, and this is including the design of spaces. Museums especially are where my little brain monkey goes crazy. You see, dear reader, museums are such an interesting way of conveying information; there are so many things a designer can do to make a boring historical event feel as if it’s happening right in front of you. Are you talking about soldiers during the Second World War? Have dim lighting, add a diffuser that makes the air smell like dirt, lower the temperature in the room, give the walls a dirt or wooden texture, and play unsettling music. The visitors will feel as if they are at the war, sitting in the British trenches while waiting out a German attack. If a museum has a good budget and passionate designers, the end product will always be engaging.
This is why, when my dad announced he wanted to visit the Mercedes Benz Museum, I was ecstatic. Not because I’m a car guy, but because I’m a museum guy. I’ll admit, I learnt a lot about cars here, but more about their marketing. (Everyone say “OOOOooooo” in absolute attention and engulfment.)
The entire museum was very spacious, with the roof being at least 10 feet taller than functionally necessary. The floors we walked across where slightly reflective, there was a worker mopping in every other room we where in. Walls in the museum where made of exposed concrete, smooth marvel, and occasional wood. There was glass almost everywhere. It reminded me of Tony Stark's mansion because of the organic shapes, and clean, sleek look.
(Glass wall of the Mercedes Benz Museum, looking out to the city)
The lighting, oh, it was godly. Every nice car was lit like it was under a spotlight, with direct rays shining down on it. It made the car feel important, like it was valuable and worthy of my admiration. That, mixed with smooth calm music that matched the "vibe" of each room made me want to slow down and give my attention to each individual car-- despite not being a car guy at all. Unlike the other museums we visited, we almost never walked uphill. This museum started on the highest floor and worked its way down. I can only assume this design was to provide a feeling of comfort as we walked through the museum. The museum was specifically designed with the intent to make you feel as if you're driving one of their cars, it's meant to feel luxurious and effortless.
One thing I noticed, some rooms were solely based on how Mercedes-Benz helped the community. Take this bus, my dad took one very similar to this one in Argentina when he was my age. The bright colors and placement of it in the room made it automatically grasp the attention of the visitor when they walked into the room. A virtual tour guide we were given at the start of the museum only talked about how the bus got people from place to place safely, how it helped the community, how it benefited society.
(Photo I found online of the bus, Model LO 1112)
Look at this room.
(I'm going to be referring to this place as the medical room)
The virtual tour guide told me how the design of an ambulance saved lives, how firetrucks quickly got people to safety, how justice was served with the designs used for police cars. An entire room dedicated to Mercedes' positive contributions to society. The guide used words that painted Mercedes as amazing, perfect, and almost magical. Throughout the museum, it also talked about what Mercedes did to help the environment after the cold war and called the first Mercedes car to star in a movie a hero. The virtual tour guide isn't just a tour guide. It's a prerecorded message telling the story that Mercedes wants the visitor to know.
This is most obvious in the room dedicated to the 1930s-1940s. Admittedly I didn't spend much time in here because my dad was speed-running the museum like he always does-- and I didn't want to be left unsupervised in an unfamiliar country where I didn't speak the language. Though I do want to note that the audio tour framed Mercedes' association with Hitler as an unwilling and accidental event. Despite the fact that Hitler famously preferred Mercedes cars and drove a model 770.¹ Mercedes benefitted from the Nazi regime, giving discounts to Hitler in exchange for exposure in events and magazines.² That's not to mention their history of forced labor, which they mention themselves in an article.³ There's a very high chance the people running Mercedes knew what they were doing was wrong, but they chose to continue forced labor until the Nazi regime fell and they no longer had Hitler to rely on. Despite confirming this on their website and openly talking about taking responsibility, I found that the museum largely skimmed over all the terrible things Mercedes did back then. They didn't nearly talk about it with as much detail as they did in the medical room.
I'm not saying Mercedes is a creation of the devil, and that anyone who drives one of their cars is a demon spawn that will inevitably burn in hell. I don't think Mercedes is morally good or morally bad. I think most companies will sway to what benefits them most; if behaving like Nazis is the path of least resistance, that's where most big companies will go. But, regardless of what a company has done, it will always try to look like the good guy, because that's what drives sales. Feeling disgust while driving a Mercedes-Benz because Hitler used to love the brand makes consumers unlikely to buy from them. So, the owners of the company want consumers to forget that. It's important to know what companies want us to feel, so we can choose whether or not we want to follow that or not. It's the power of choice, of actively looking at the world around us and understanding how people and things shape the way we live. If you spend life letting companies make your choices, you will never truly live your life. You'll forever be a reflection of what's trendy in the moment. Understanding that is way more important to me than just admiring cool cars in a museum.
Sorry if the writing for this blog is a little off-- I haven't written in a while and I'm a lil rusty. Hope you enjoyed it though!
Bibliography
1.
Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz Corporate history. www.mercedes-benz.com. Published 2024. https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/innovation/milestones/corporate-history/
2.
Group MB. Mercedes-Benz Group. Mercedes-Benz Group. Published 2019. https://group.mercedes-benz.com/company/tradition/company-history/75th-anniversary-of-the-end-of-world-war-ii.html
3.
Group MB. Daimler-Benz in the Nazi Era (1933 - 1945). Mercedes-Benz Group. Published 2023. https://group.mercedes-benz.com/company/tradition/company-history/1933-1945.html
