Berlin Federal Archive (Bundesarchiv), Lichterfelde, Germany

The New Berlin Federal Archive in Lichterfelde will provide an important repository for some of the most important documents in Europe. These will include photographs and film footage. The archive building will be largely based on an older building in Berlin, which was the Prussian Officer Cadet Institute and during the Second World War provided a headquarters for Hitler's SS bodyguards.

The project was first put forward in 2004 and the construction of the archive buildings incorporating the old institute building (this was partly destroyed during the Second World War) will be completed in 2009. The architects of the new building are Stephan Braunfels and Ramsi Kusus, two German architects based in Berlin.

The construction cost for the 33,000m² project is €40m. A major part of the project is to bring light into the building and make use of natural light as much as possible. To this end the architect Stephan Braunfel has designed a main entrance, which will be largely constructed of glass panels. The building will house 110km of archive space when it is completed.

Federal Archive description

The Federal Archive used to be split over at least eight different locations across Berlin and other parts of Germany. In 2003–2004 the decision was taken to amalgamate the collection of important documents, film and photographs together in one new purpose-designed location.

This was partly because so much work has to be carried out on preservation and cataloguing that it was a big advantage to have the collection in one location. The new main location will be based around the old Prussian Officer Cadet Institute, which will be extended and modernised. The new buildings included a combined main entrance and magazine building with a cinema and lecture hall.

The important feature of the project was to combine the existing buildings with the older buildings in a seamless fashion and to lend a contemporary façade to the whole project.

The transparent glass new main entrance will not only open freely onto the landscaped surroundings of the campus but will also serve to interconnect the existing old buildings and form an enclosed glass courtyard.

The glass used for the project is symbolic of the transparency of Federal government and the availability to all of these important documents and the information they contain, the archive becomes a 'window'.

Construction

The construction work for the new buildings of the project began in June 2006; the first stage has seen the building of the new sections of the archive including the 110,000m magazine building and the new main entrance along with the public areas.

This stage was completed in mid-2008 and now stage two is underway which will include the renovation of the two older buildings to form new reading rooms and a new administrative centre. The archive is expected to be completed by mid-2009.

Berlin Archive planning and contractors

Architect and design: Stephan Braunfel and Ramsi Kusus. Project management: Ramsi Kusus, Karin Melcher, Petra Fechner-Koch, Jens Waninger, Maike Wienmeier, Isa Wiesenthal. Construction supervision: Eckert and Stadelmaier of Berlin.

Structural design was the remit of Krebs und Kiefer Beratende Ingenieure für das Bauwesen GmbH (advisory engineers for the building industry). Building services were provided by Planungsteam Energie and Bauen Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH of Berlin. The building physics are by Mueller BBM GmbH of Planegg and the fire protection engineers are Hosser, Hass + partner of Berlin.

During the same timescale a further extension of the new Bundesarchiv for Film Archives and Technical Services in Hoppegarten (Berlin), which was opened in August 2005, has been undertaken and this will be completed in 2008.