The proposed project therefore stands as a single building housing an archive for the city, an auditorium, a café, study and work spaces where students can not only study and consult ancient manuscripts, but also meet and interact. The volumetric proposal plays on this ambiguity: it has the dimensions of a public building, which relates to the existing buildings and develops its own language through a public canopy that welcomes students. The archive is conceived as a ‘knowledge vault’ containing ancient manuscripts, in contrast to the two existing institutions.
The archive is conceived as a hermetic safe where books are stored in hermetic rooms in a central core with reading spaces around it. The large public roof, like an extension of the square, welcomes the public by opening up in close relation to the two gardens behind. The paving project aims to unify the two parts of the main street, generating a square contained between the facades of the public buildings and enclosed by the new archive building. Newly planted trees create a roof of shade over the large paved area.
