The seat of the Archives of Modern Records at 1 Hankiewicza Street in Warsaw will be expanded by a new repository facility.
On 21 November 2022, the Archive purchased the adjacent plot on Pawińskiego Street of 1,857 m² from the Capital City of Warsaw. The land can be developed to the level of 80%. The planned building, in line with the local spatial development plan, can have 8 floors and be up to 25 m high.
The current seat of the Archives of Modern Records was built between 1954 and 1956. Sadly, the building now fails to meet numerous standards connected with the statutory activity of the Archive.
More space and more opportunities
Once the new project is completed, the usable area of the Archives of Modern Records will almost double (from 12,025.26 m² to around 23,225.26 m²) This will provide space for:
- the current holdings of over 38 kilometres of records (38,156.64 linear metres),
- around 14 kilometres of records from supervised units, which currently await acceptance
and will make it possible to regularly accept materials from the national and international area for several years.
The investment will also significantly improve the conditions of storing the state archival holdings by creating technical possibilities to maintain proper climatic conditions in repositories.
Placement of conference and exhibition halls in the new building will make it possible to conduct educational, popularisation, and training activities on a larger scale. The organisation of large and professional labs will ensure even better preservation and access to archives.
Moreover, the extension of the Archives of Modern Records seat will:
- reduce costs related to infrastructure maintenance,
- provide better working conditions for the staff,
- improve the effectiveness of managing employees and records,
- adjust the facility to the needs and requirements of people with special needs,
- provide better customer service to people visiting the Archive and access to archival materials.
State of works
It is planned to hold a competition for an architectural concept of the new building in 2023 Elements of the original facility designs, created by a renowned architect, Bohdan Pniewski, will be included in the competition guidelines.
According to the guidelines, the building will be of a repository nature, with the customer service zone located on the ground floor (including a user space). The entrance is planned from Pawińskiego Street. Repositories and rooms for working with records are planned on the upper floors.
It is planned to complete the investment in 2027 at an estimated cost of PLN 113,676,000.