Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 39. (1986)

Archive Buildings and the Conservation of Archival Material. An Expert Meeting, held in Vienna, Austria October 30 - November 1, 1985 - BUCHMANN, Wolf: Planning an Archive Building. The Cooperation between Architect and Archivist

Planning an Archive Building

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special needs and the priorities within an archives. In the case of the Bundesarchiv the rooms can be grouped in a classification scheme as follows:

1. Rooms open to the public:

for example a room for movie film shows and lectures for 250 people: 300 square metres; an area for exhibitions: 300 square metres; conference rooms: 100 square metres; a cafeteria: 300 square metres.

2. Rooms for researchers:

for example rooms for research on (paper) records: approximately 360 square metres; for movie films, sound tapes, photographs and posters: approximately 250 square metres

3. Laboratories and workshops:

for example conservation of (paper) records, and bookbinding: approximately 580 square metres; photo laboratories: approximately 430 square metres; laboratories to copy and restore documentary and feature films, restoration of sound tapes: approximately 900 square metres.

4. Other rooms for specific archival needs:

for example a room for archival finding aids: 140 square metres; a library: 300 square metres; a room for official publications issued by the Government: 300 square metres.

5. Repositories:

Repositories for paper records: 9.750 square metres; for machine-readable records: 250 square metres; for posters, photographs and maps: 760 square metres; for documentary and feature films: 5.000 square metres.

6. Office rooms

total

1.050 square metres

653 square metres

1.915 square metres

802 square metres

15.760 square metres

2.816 square metres 22.966 square metres

This area of approximately 23.000 square metres corresponds to the so-called “Hauptnutzfläche”, i. e. the area of the rooms mentioned. To these 23.000 square metres must be added an area of 17.700 square metres, devoted to staircases, corridors, elevators and other small rooms, for example small kitchens on every floor of the office building to prepare tea or coffee. The total area of the building therefore comprises 40.700 square metres.

3.2

When choosing a site the archivist has to take into account archival aspects as well as legal or administrative regulations.

From the archival point of view the site should be as safe as possible, it should,