Architect: Waechter + Waechter Architekten BDA PartmbB
Detailed planning of the façade in cooperation with Werner Sobek Stuttgart AG

A shell building protectively encloses the archive materials – from the elongated protective structure with its calm, timeless architectural language, the windowless, auratic 'shrine' of the magazines rises like a treasure house.

At the transition between the grown inner-city residential development in the north and the future continuation of the inner green belt in place of the Prussian wall, the archive building forms an urban spatial entrance situation and continues the sequence of university institute buildings in terms of both program and construction. The funnel-shaped forecourt on Luxemburger Straße serves as a public place for meeting and exchanging ideas before or after a visit to the archive and as an entrance to the new park – the prelude to the extension of the historic green belt via Parkstadt Süd to the Rhine.

The treasure house in the centre of the archive building houses the holdings of the Historical Archive and the Rhenish Image Archive. The ring-shaped shell development houses workshops, laboratories and archive workspaces as well as public areas. A square and a longitudinal courtyard have been cut between the treasure house and the protective mantle, so that the greenery of the future park in the south will be continued in the interior.

Even before entering the building, the spacious and threshold-free entrance façade on Luxemburger Straße opens up a view of the exhibition space, and through the foyer the view goes into the inner courtyard with the façade of the warehouse building as a background. The reading room on the upper floor also opens up to the urban space via the transparent façade like a shop window, thus expressing the importance of the building as a citizens' archive.

Inside, visitors are greeted by a sequence of fluidly interlocking rooms for exhibitions, lectures and discussions, learning and research. Smaller, cabinet-like zones and large, open spaces – density and width – alternate. The showroom on the ground floor and the reading room on the upper floor with their wood panelling made of white oiled Douglas fir appear inviting and cheerful and at the same time create a pleasantly calm atmosphere. Large reading tables and an open-access library offer an ideal place for concentrated research, and varied visual relationships contribute to an atmosphere of openness and communication. The two-storey foyer with its gallery-like access links the two areas and delights visitors with exciting spatial sequences as they walk along the courtyard façade. From here, the view wanders into the exhibition and the reading room – but above all into the green inner courtyard and the opposite of the treasure house.

Here, a varied picture of light and shadow emerges on the multi-edged architectural bronze, depending on the incidence of light. Protected behind the windowless façade, the archive materials of the Historical Archive and the Rhenish Image Archive are safely stored on shelves and cabinets. Inside, the compact arrangement and optimal location of each storage room as well as the solid construction of the treasure house ensure the climate stability required for the long-term safe storage of the archive materials through largely passive measures. [...]

Text: Waechter + Waechter Architekten BDA PartmbB
Photos: Brigida González
Isometrics: Calvin Lee Mills in the seminar FACADE 4.0 at TUK

The preparatory work for this project publication was created as part of the building construction theory in the seminar FACADE 4.0 at TUK through a student thesis by Calvin Lee Mills.

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