Design for archive storage

Sustainability has long surpassed its trend status and is now a fundamental principle in how we design and build our future.

But it’s not just about our future. It has a critical role to play in protecting our past.

Our archives have untold value, to the countries and cities we live in, the organisations we work for and the communities we live in.

How we preserve archives is as important as what’s being preserved, to safeguard their role as invaluable tools to understand and learn from. 

Archive House is a set to be a world class example of archive storage, as Historic Environment Scotland work towards transitioning their existing building into a new facility to house over 5000 years of Scotland’s history. 

The project set out to be one of the first public buildings designed implementing the new Scottish Government Net Zero Public Building Standards, taking into account both the carbon emissions from running and maintaining the building, the building materials and the buildings whole life costs, ensuring a low energy building now and for its lifespan. The new facility will enable the archives to be protected to the highest standards for environmental stability, security, professional care and energy use. 

The separation of spaces in an archive storage facility is critical, with different materials requiring tailored temperature and humidity zones.  By adopting Passive House principles from the outset, we can create optimal conditions for temperature, air flow and humidity to enable longevity of the archive.

The unique aspect of Archive House however is not the early adoption of Passive House, it’s designing in the context of multiple other standards, the Net Zero Public Sector Buildings new accreditation and HES’s own Climate Challenge - that are all striving towards the same goal - creating a sustainable and stable environment to protect and prolong the life of the archive. It’s all proving possible by cutting through the complexity and keeping it simple from concept stages.