{"id":11790,"date":"2015-05-05T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/architizer.wpengine.com\/archive-collection\/"},"modified":"2022-05-31T11:10:34","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T15:10:34","slug":"archive-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/architizer.com\/blog\/inspiration\/collections\/archive-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Archival Quality: 6 Architecturally Amazing Archives and Storage Facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

With news that the Obama Presidential library will land in Chicago<\/a>, architects and the public will start speculating<\/a> on how the monumental project will reshape the Windy City’s South Side. The Barack Obama Foundation will select the architect and foot the bill while Chicago gets 2,000 new jobs and an estimated $600 million in economic growth. This project may reshape what a Presidential Library does<\/i> \u2014 though it will still be a brick-and-mortar archive of presidential documents and artifacts. As the long-term instability of digital information<\/a>becomes clearer, the importance of such physical archives will grow. However, the archive presents a fundamental challenge: how to secure artifacts while remaining inviting to researchers and the public? Or is accessibility even a priority? These six archives explore potential strategies and answers.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Cullinan Studio<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

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\u00a9 Cullinan Studio<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

BFI Master Film Store<\/a><\/b> by Cullinan Studio<\/a>, Warwickshire, England<\/p>\n

Traditional film is born of highly complex chemical reactions and decays with every projection or viewing. Therefore, it’s no surprise that its preservation is a complex endeavor: the BFI Master Film archives acetate and nitrate film (a practically explosive medium) is at a constant 23\u00b0F and 35% relative humidity. 30 identical cellular vaults are practically airtight to maximize energy performance. Large-scale public access was not a priority, but its concrete and corrugated metal exterior speaks the language of industrial agriculture, allowing the archive to blend into Warwickshire’s rural landscape.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 D. Boy de la Tour<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 D. Boy de la Tour<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

Ni\u00e8vre\u2019s Departmental Archives<\/a><\/b> by Architecture Patrick Mauger<\/a>, Ni\u00e8vres, France<\/p>\n

Not all archives are so closed-off. This governmental archive in France is an addition to an older storage structure: in the rear, a new concrete panel-clad building adds new storage capacity. In the front and facing a street, floor-to-ceiling glazing illuminates offices with sunlight, while a new plaza communicates the archives’ public nature and creates a public amenity.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Stanton Williams<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 Stanton Williams<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 Stanton Williams<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

Britten-Pears Archive<\/a><\/b> by Stanton Williams Architects<\/a>, Suffolk, England<\/p>\n

This archive of musical materials such as manuscripts, photographs, letters, and recordings is located in a highly sensitive context. Next door is the Red House, a historic brick structure where a famous composer and tenor (the archive’s namesakes) once lived. Thanks to a relatively low-profile and all-brick exterior, the structure blends it into the garden landscape. Large windows connect its employees back to the outdoors, while the beefy exterior also provides thermal mass, which keeps the interior conditions stable. Additionally, a second thick layer of insulation protects the archives, located within the structure’s core.<\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 Hamonic+Masson & Associ\u00e9s<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 Hamonic+Masson & Associ\u00e9s<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

Centre des Archives Contemporaines<\/a><\/b> by Hamonic et Masson<\/a>, Fontainebleau, France<\/p>\n

At night, this structure looks like a high-tech bunker, but daylight reveals a humble palette of industrial materials. In fact, architects selected the two exterior colors \u2014 green and brown \u2014 based on the hues of the surrounding landscape. The result is an uncanny camouflage: the brown metal mesh and green cladding underneath blur together at a distance, creating a seamless blend of colors. Without any staff to house, functionality was a priority: the archive’s single monolithic structure most efficiently creates storage volume and two loading bays provide easy access to the collection of documents within.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 gmp \u00b7 Architects von Gerkan, Marg und Partner<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 gmp \u00b7 Architects von Gerkan, Marg und Partner<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

State Archive of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bavaria<\/a><\/b> by gmp – von Gerkan, Marg and Partners Architects<\/a>, N\u00fcrnberg, Germany<\/p>\n

This archive of religious materials also places its emphasis on its exterior: its copper fa\u00e7ade will oxidize overtime and accrue a brown hue, a process that has already begun. More than 21 linear miles of storage space hold historic texts of the Lutheran church, including letters written by Martin Luther himself.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 LAN Architecture<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 LAN Architecture<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

EDF Archives Center<\/a><\/b> by LAN Architecture<\/a>, Bur\u00e9, France<\/p>\n

This 62-foot-tall structure towers over its rural landscape even as it finds a way to blend in: stained concrete panels adopt its surrounding’s earthy hues and 120,000 steel studs \u2014 cast into the concrete exterior \u2014 reflect the color of the sky. More than 43 linear miles of storage shelves hold paper and microfilm documents belonging to EDF, a French energy company. The building is appropriately energy efficient: the thick exterior panels and insulation create an envelope more than two feet thick all around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six architects who preserve artifacts with flair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"architizer_featured_type":"projects","architizer_featured_image":"1170339","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[15],"architizer_project":[],"architizer_brand":[],"architizer_firm":[],"architizer_product":[],"class_list":["post-11790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collections","category-inspiration","tag-collection"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nArchival Quality: 6 Architecturally Amazing Archives and Storage Facilities - Architizer Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/architizer.com\/blog\/inspiration\/collections\/archive-collection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Archival Quality: 6 Architecturally Amazing Archives and Storage Facilities - 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