The History Archive of Euskadi

The History Archive of Euskadi has been built on the site presently occupied by the Vesga Building, at 3 Maria Diaz de Haro Street in Bilbao.

Measuring 20 m. in width between dividing walls, and with the site being located on quite a long street, the decision was taken to augment the perception of the building by means of a bent glass wavy faรงade to accentuate its position and break up the face flatness of the rest of the street.

Aside from the optimum conservation of documents and archives, one of the prime objectives of the project was to design a building that is all inviting and all inclusive of the public. This intent is distinctly manifest both in the building’s entrance and in the main façade on Maria Diaz de Haro Street.

The spacious lobby without columns welcomes one to step in, or even to stop momentarily in front of the building without the feeling of being hurried on.

This an especially significant point when considering just how narrow the pavement is for pedestrians walking up or down this street. The projected entrance to the building is a continuation of the urban area, joining the street-side exterior to the public area of the building and the block courtyard garden.

Transparency is a key element to the Maria Diaz de Haro Street faรงade, allowing a deeper comprehension of its functionality and how the building is structured.

The serigraphs on the glass faรงade display samples of some of the texts stored within the archive. The purpose of this decoration is to communicate the message that the building is not a private, hermetic and closed place, but rather inviting and open to the public.

The block courtyard faรงade was projected to be a continuous green mantle, with a series of interspersed concave cavities, speaking a visual language more in line with the rest of the adjacent buildings. It was intended to project a friendly image to those in the garden, and especially so for the neighbours, whose buildings share the block courtyard, thereby dignifying a faรงade that is so often ignored and uncared for in other courtyards.

The building design is distributed over 11 floors, four of which are below ground, and which are reserved for a variety of facilities, including building systems and management facilities, a car park, a document archive and an auditorium.

The ground, first and second floors are reserved for reception, exhibition halls and training areas.

The third, fourth and fifth floors are reserved for the classification, maintenance,

dissemination and management of the archived material. Finally, the top floor is open to the public for the consultation of documentation.

The interior features double-height ceilings, open-plan rooms free of columns and flexible multi-purpose rooms. A notable highlight of the projected design is the effective and strategic use of natural light and ventilation throughout the building, including the underground floors.