The new building of the National Széchényi Library Archive Warehouse in Piliscsaba will be inaugurated on 30 July 2024. The building was designed by the TSPC Group and Fejér Design and Engineering Ltd. The warehouse will provide 10,000 m² of space for the storage of rope copies, periodicals, microfilms and other library documents collected and kept by the OSZK.
The aim of the project was to ensure the proper storage of documents subject to archiving, i.e. the obligation to preserve them permanently. The massing of the building is modelled on a book, the ‘spine’ of the book being the backbone of the internal mechanical and technical functions that serve the building.
The dominant feature of the entrance façade is the perforated finial in the form of an enlarged leaf, which refers to the forest-leaf-wood-woodworking-paper-book process, showing the organic relationship with the forest that guards the solitary building, and its perforation suggests the passage of time and the ageing of materials and paper.
The building will also house a restoration and binding workshop and a digitisation centre. Specialised systems will be in place in the storage room to ensure the preservation of documents, such as a lock system, a fire protection system and a support system.
The building will be guarded 24 hours a day, with special access authorisation and justification required. Due to the stringent requirements of digitisation workflows and data, a data centre security system has been designed to ensure that it remains accessible in the event of a major power failure.
TSPC’s design team has provided the building with special double external protection, so that the stored data remains safe in the event of a breach of the outer shell.
The structural system of the building has to meet strict deflection requirements due to the compact storage system. The warehouse will also have a so-called “evacuation function” in case it is necessary to retrieve a large collection of documents from any of the libraries or warehouses of the OSZK.
Special features of the building include the use of fine concrete, limestone and glass from Süttő, and copper, which is a reflection of the work of Imre Makovecz, and is either dark brown or black. This material, considered indestructible, symbolises hope in eternity.
The Archives of the National Széchényi Library is not just a building, but a sanctuary for the preservation of Hungarian written heritage, where past and future meet.
CAST
Client: Magyar Nemzeti Vagyonkezelő Zrt.
Builder: Ministry of Construction and Transport
Contractor: WHB Zrt+ FejérBál Zrt consortium
General designer: TSPC Technical Supervision and Planning Consulting Hungary and FEJÉR Tervező és Mérnökiroda Kft.
Responsible designer: Mihály Kádár, TSPC Kft
Leading architecture: Attila Turi, Kossuth and Ybl prize-winning architect Tectum-Art Építéziroda Kft.
Project lead architect: Zoltán Parai
Architectural staff: Bálint Terdik, Gergő Turi, Balázs Juhász, Márta Kiss, Eszter Dobó, Tectum-Art Építéziroda Kft., Krisztina Ábrahám, Andrea Bóta, Máté Csapó, Éhárt Zsuzsanna TSPC Kft.
Interior design: Ágnes Fülöp Ágnes Bányai, Anna Pusztai, MAI Stúdió, Tarró-Papp Klaudia TSPC Kft.
Support structure: Fejér Szabolcs, Sándor Csiszár TSPC Kft.
Civil engineering: András Áment AA4 Mérnökiroda Kft.
Building structure design: award-winning architect Rita Széchényi Pataky, ANDERER Kft.
Building engineering: Vörös Tamás Perfect-Plan Kft.
Building electricity: Kapitor György Zone-Plan Kft.
IT, weak current: Kermann Kft
Fire protection: Molnár Bálint TSPC Kft.
Fire alarm, extinguishing system: Fábrik Szabolcs, Veisse István Banktrade Kft.
Warehouse technology: Sándor Nagy LogPilot Kft.
Landscape architecture: Kedves Zsófia DNS-Építészműterem Kft.
BIM system: Szente Zoltán TSPC Kft.
Project manager: Kormányos Kornél TPSC Kft.
Photo: Zsolt Hlinka, György Dénes, Bálint Jaksa