The Brief
A regional collection of rare documents needed a building that put preservation first without turning the reading experience into a bunker. The conservation brief ruled out windows at the collection levels entirely; daylight and humidity are the enemies of paper.
PLINTH stacked the programme vertically: three below-grade levels of climate-sealed deep storage, and a single reading room lifted to the top of the section where it could be lit entirely from above. A deep coffered roof brings in north light through baffles that never let a direct ray reach a page, so the room is bright and shadowless but conservation-safe.
The move that makes the building is the section. Readers arrive at grade, descend past a glazed wall that reveals the full height of the storage stacks, then rise into the top-lit reading room — so the journey through the building is a journey through the collection's own logic, from vault to desk.
The structure is exposed board-formed concrete throughout, chosen as much for its thermal mass — which helps hold the storage levels at a stable temperature — as for its material weight.
Drawings
Long Section
Reading Room Plan
Entry Elevation
Materials
- Board-formed poured concrete, structure and finish
- North-light coffered roof with daylight baffles
- Sealed storage envelope, insulated concrete
- Blackened steel stair and mezzanine
- White oak reading desks
Credits
- Design Lead Elena Voss
- Project Architect Marcus Kade
- Construction PLINTH Construction
- Structural Engineer Okafor & Bell
- Conservation Halden Preservation