Germany’s largest archive building is to be created in Duisburg Port. The existing warehouses from the 1930s are listed buildings and will be augmented by a 76 metre-high archive tower at the centre. Here room is provided for 148 kilometres of shelving as the Memory of the State of NRW. Reading rooms, offices and archive expansion areas are envisaged in the new wave-shaped building.
To the motorway and the inner harbour the NRW State Archives presents itself as a striking, brick-red figure. As a result the archive material of the state becomes dramatically present and can be grasped in its entirety. The openings and the roofs of the existing warehouse were closed up.
The subtle relief pattern used in the walls of the new storage tower distinguishes it from the old clinker brickwork. Inside the building archive material is stored.
The foyer is located at the intersection of the storage area and the offices.
Here an appropriate entrance situation for the new state archive is created. The foyer and the public areas open towards the waterfront promenade. Inside the foyer you can see the collected archive material through large openings. From here the new building extends eastwards into the site.
This new six-storey extension, which meanders alongside the inner harbour, accommodates the foyer, reading room and the administration. The brick-paved square at Schwanentor is distinguished from the street space by means of an edge.
