An urban building, an exercise in integration

The challenge of this project lies in inserting the structure of a facility like an archive into the urban fabric of a historical town center of low homes and narrow streets. The decision to put the County Archive within the existing urban fabric of Santa Coloma de Farners was a result of the desire to bring value to this activity, which is normally located in suburban areas, by giving it a privileged spot, visible and accessible, integrating it into the life of the town. This location, however, isn’t only meant to house the activity of the archive, it also aims to showcase it and invite a more public use of the building.

Also taking into account that two-thirds of this type of building is used for document storage, a function that requires closed spaces that are protected from the outside and nearly hermetic, putting such an opaque building on this highly urban corner requires an adaptation to the existing structures that converged in a decision on how to design the façade and, on the other hand, a clear separation of uses that led to the creation of an open, public ground floor.