National Archives in Cracow

The design of the new headquarters of the National Archives is a vision of the coexistence of a modern and functional object with a multi-layered context. The building is planned in the area of the Kleparz urban layout of Krakow, in the vicinity of the historic Rakowicki cemetery, surrounded by historical buildings. In this area, there was also once Bastion IV, an earth-wooden structure forming part of the Krakow Fortress. The building is designed as a free-standing, compact structure, consisting of two connected, but technologically independent segments: administrative, office and warehouse. The concept also envisages an underground audiovisual room, a reading room, conservation studios, a delivery dock and spaces related to the technology of delivery and preservation of archives, rooms for workshops and periodic exhibitions, and an underground parking. An important issue is the integration of different zones with different functions and different levels of accessibility within a single complex. An important assumption in the shaping of the solid is the minimization of the building area and the optimization of the ratio of the surface of the external walls to the volume described by them. This has a beneficial effect not only on the aesthetics of the relationship of the new form with the historical landscape, but also on the favorable energy balance of the building. The proposed technological solutions using renewable energy sources ensure low energy demand and therefore low operating costs of the facility. The facade of the building is designed with perforated corten plates. Its color, obtained in the process of oxidation of the surface layer will harmonize picturesquely with the brick wall of the cemetery and the existing historical objects. A layer of iron oxide is a natural protection for the sheet and will ensure its durability. The spectacular process of controlled aging of matter inspires reflection on history and the passing of time. The free, polygonal form of the object was formed in reaction with the environment. The walls of the buildings, as it were, turn towards the adjacent spaces, evoke associations with the geometry of military buildings. A compact, homogeneous mass of the National Archives, growing out of trees, becomes a sculpture — a monument of memory, worthily co-creating the landscape of the historic environment.

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