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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communication: e. g. telephone for internal use or for long-distance calls; climate: e. g. a given number of cubic feet of air to be exchanged every hour passing through special filters, temperature, humidity; electricity: number of plug-boxes, alternating current, direct current, different voltages;

water supply: type of water, different temperatures, material and type of

basins;

lights

security: ionization alarm system, heat sensors, water sprinkler system, control of movement, control of doors, television control; special remarks: e. g. a list of all chemicals with their quantity, stored or used in this room.

In addition to this computerized description of every room, which of course is very short for office rooms, but rather lengthy for rooms with technical equipment, a plan has been drafted for all laboratories. This plan indicates the position of all installation mentioned above in the room, including all devices. Another computerized list has been printed with every appliance for each room. These machines might be transferred from the former archives building or they may have to be bought. In that case, the list shows the price and where in the budget this price was calculated. This list has proved to be very helpful in negotiating with the Ministry for Finance and the other ministries involved. The total amount of money for the appliances, furniture and other equipment for the new building is now up to 5,300.000 DM, which is not included in the costs for the building mentioned in chapter 3.3.

The printout of the descriptions of each room, the plans and the list with the appliances and other equipment have been copied and distributed among the members of the architect’s staff. Their view is that these documents have proved to be necessary and very helpful for all aspects of the planning.

4.2.4

The first and basic task of an archivist is to ensure the long term conservation of all the archival materials in his custody. Special attention has therefore to be given to the construction and the equipment of the repositories including the climate. Because the repositories normally comprehend the largest part of an archive building, particular care has to be taken over future running costs - especially for air-conditioning - when planning them.

In the new building of the Bundesarchiv emphasis has been laid on security. For this reason the repository section has been kept strictly separated from the other sections. The three repository buildings each form a complete, separate block of five floors, they comprise a total of 15.000 square meters of repository space, each block having an area of 1.000 square meters on each floor. The walls are made of brick and have a thickness of 0.50 meters with an additional insulation layer and external cladding, thus ensuring almost completeley constant climatic conditions without the necessity for additional and compli