Utility is what distinguishes architecture from the visual arts. Architecture is inhabited, lived in, and this condition is essential to its identity. Programs for archives, which involve constructing a building that has a specific function but little usage – an opaque box overseen by not even ten people – lie at the outer limits of this concept. It is therefore necessary to explore other fields of investigation in order to create an architecture. Expanding the project past the limits of the built object to insert it into the vast surrounding landscape became the prerequisite for designing the EDF archive center in Bure-Saudron (Meuse). The goal was to get the project to transcend its functional requirements and create a sense of place.

The client wanted to build a single-storey building that would have occupied most of the 3.3 hectare parcel. Given the huge amount of resources it would host (the equivalent of 70 kilometers of shelves!), it instead became clear that it would be better to compress the form. So, we built a five-storey building 19 metres tall with a total surface area of approximately 7,000 m², but which sits on only 1,400 m² of ground. It holds twenty, temperature- and humidity-regulated 200 m² warehouses. The functional logic of this decision is obvious, as it significantly reduced the distances covered by the archivists, but it also complicated the volume’s integration into the landscape as a result. So, we reversed the process and got the landscape to act on the building; the surrounding nature participates in the archive center’s life.

This process of integration occurred by replacing the flatness of the envelope with a sense of three-dimensionality. Light, shadow, and material all help create a unique experience. 120,000 stainless steel discs 7 cm in diameter and 1mm in thickness were encrusted in the earth-colored, prefab concrete siding. There were arranged at the bottom of the formwork for the surface panels before they were poured so that they would be flush with the concrete exterior. This façade thereby absorbs elements from the landscape. All the familiar elements of the Meuse’s landscape, its forests, meadows, bunds, and skies, become readily recognisable motifs within the envelope. Whether they evoke the foliage, a rain shower or passing clouds, the compositions formed by these steel discs evolve constantly with the changing of the hours, days, and seasons. Their scintillating effect softens the building’s inherent sense of minerality. It was ultimately the building’s simple, rational geometry that enabled such a sophisticated mechanism, one which is far more attractive than the rudimentary ones that usually cloak storage facilities.

This technical solution is as effective as it is aesthetic. With the addition of two concrete layers (structure and facing) with 30 cm of insulation, it ensures the project’s thermic and energy performance. The compact form of the building also helps keep the road at a distance. This renders the building more discreet, and the open space that has been freed up can be planted and used to process rainwater. This distance also allows passers-by to appreciate the evolving spectacle of its façade better. As a result, the archive center is no longer just for the few people who have access to it, and it comes to belong to all those who can see it. Considering the surrounding geography, they are many.

Client: EDF / Cost: € 10.1M excl. VAT / Surface: 6800 m² / Schedule: 2007 – 2011 / Team: Batiserf Ingénierie (Structure), LBE (M.E.P.), Michel Forgue (Surveyor), Franck Boutté (HEQ), Base (Landscape)