Around twelve years after the tragic collapse of the Historical Archive in Cologne's Südstadt district, the new building for the Historical Archive and the Rheinische Bildarchiv of the City of Cologne on Eifelwall was opened in September last year. The design by Waechter + Waechter Architekten from Darmstadt, which won first prize in a competition in 2011, consists of an elongated shell structure that wraps protectively around the inner "treasure house".

The defining design element of the building is the architectural bronze façade material with its so-called "brises soleils". They consist of fixed metal slats around 80 cm deep, which guarantee optimum use of daylight on the one hand and protection from direct sunlight on the other. From the main entrance and forecourt on Luxemburger Strasse, visitors enter a light-flooded, two-storey foyer that offers a view of one of the two green inner courtyards. The public areas with lecture room and exhibition space are accessed from here, and a staircase leads up to the reading room. The centrally located six-storey magazine building - the "treasure house" - is visible from the reading room. It is framed like a shrine by the three-storey shell structure. The exhibition and reading rooms appear inviting and cheerful with their wood paneling made of white oiled Douglas fir, creating a pleasantly calm atmosphere. Large reading tables and an open access library provide an ideal place for concentrated work. At the same time, varied visual relationships contribute to an atmosphere of openness and communication. Depending on the incidence of light, a varied picture of light and shadow emerges on the multi-edged architectural bronze in the treasure house. Protected behind the windowless façade, over 50 kilometers of archives are safely stored on shelves and in cabinets. The compact layout, the optimal location of each storage room and the solid construction of the treasure house ensure the necessary climate stability, which is so important for the long-term safekeeping of the archives. The treasure house is surrounded by a shell structure with restoration workshops, laboratories and workrooms. The ring-shaped development opens up a variety of views into the green courtyards for the more than 150 employees. The new archive building, which has around 14,500 m² of usable space, is also characterized by sustainable planning and construction, which ensures maximum energy efficiency and therefore economical and ecological operation. Never before has such a complex climate concept been developed and implemented for such a special building: In addition to a heat pump system and a photovoltaic system, an innovative ice storage system built into the ground is used, which can absorb and release energy. In this way, the building technology can provide nine different climate zones for the archives and photographs alone.

www.waechter-architekten.de

Photos:

Rheinisches Bildarchiv/Michael Albers

(Published in CUBE Cologne Bonn 01|22)