New archive for 500 years of church history

A state archive with passive climate control is being built in Nuremberg for the Lutheran Church in Bavaria. It is scheduled to be completed by 2013. In addition to archive material, the premises are also to offer sufficient space for exhibitions, lectures and education.  Drees & Sommer was responsible for location selection and competition management and has sole responsibility for project management. In mid September 2011, Landesbischof (State Bishop) Johannes Friedrich laid the foundation stone for the project, which has an investment volume of some EUR 19 million.

In selecting the site, Drees & Sommer analyzed and evaluated five short-listed sites and developed several building models. The sites were examined for suitability for the intended use, permissible development and the potential for growth in value. The project managers also coordinated an architectural competition with 25 outstanding firms and undertook evaluation of submissions. The contract was awarded to Gerkan, Marg und Partner (gmp) of Hamburg in early 2010.

The design of the 5-story building with a usable floor area of some 7,000 square meters had, in particular, to take into account the special indoor climate conditions required and the increased load-bearing capacity for the tonnes of archive material. Passive climate control is being used for the archive building. It operates with minimal technology with the promise of low operating costs in the future. The experts are responsible for managing schedule, costs and quality for the new archive building through to its completion in mid 2013.

The State Archive already sees itself as a modern service provider: It is available not only to  rectories, but also to the general public to "convey to the general public how fascinating the history of the Protestants in Bavaria is," says Andrea Schwarz, director of the archive. In addition to 240,000 books, the current archive material includes 13 kilometers of archive volumes spanning 500 years, with a further 13 kilometers expected to be added in coming decades.

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