Archives and Record Storage Building

Overview

Archives and Record Storage Buildings are facilities that provide a proper environment for the purpose of storing records and materials that require permanent protection for historic and lifetime storage, upkeep, and preservation. Archives and Record Storage Buildings must be high-performance buildings whose systems must be designed to operate permanently at a very high level with zero tolerance for failure. The often irreplaceable nature of the materials to be permanently stored and preserved in this type of building requires a life-cycle analysis and approach to its design and construction, with extensive redundancy in its building systems.

This building type must be designed to accommodate the loads of the materials to be stored; the sensitive environmental needs of different materials to be permanently stored and preserved; the functional efficiency, safety, security, and comfort of the visiting public and operating personnel; and the protection of the archived materials from fire, water, and man-made threat.

To accomplish this complex mission, these buildings benefit from an inclusive, holistic, integrated or whole building design approach that optimizes and balances the various design objectives to achieve the desired high-performance building. This process involves all building stakeholders and design professionals from the beginning of the project