Upper Austrian Provincial Archives

Two bodies*

As the repository of Upper Austria’s collective memory, the Provincial Archives deserve a distinctive physical presence. Respectfully integrated into the historic Bergheim castle complex the building’s unusual proportions alone hint at its special contents. The windowless structure features a facade of trapezoidal sheet metal arranged in overlapping layers, giving the archive building an almost paper-like appearance. The concave, shimmering light-coloured shell with its fine edges gives the building a simple, light and elegant appearance. The horizontal layering of the façade gradually breaks away from the castle’s storey divisions as it rises, thereby creating the building’s sculptural character.

*The project title refers to the dual concept of the archive developed by the philosopher Michel Foucault, according to which archives always combine ‘two bodies’: on the one hand, the archive is an institution (the physical place of storage) and, at the same time, an abstract concept (the discursive and scholarly organisation of archival materials). The archive is thus both a place of work and a method.