News
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Amiens
We are pleased to announce that a team formed by TVK and Carmody Groarke have won an open international competition for the new conservation centre for the Bibliotheque national de France (BnF) in Amiens.
The project aims to fulfil the strategic need for more space to house the growing French national library collection and set a new standard for excellence in library conservation.
Located in the northern French city of Amiens on the former Amiens Hospital North Site, the initiative forms part of an urban plan to establish a new cultural centre to the city's northern edge and create a new civic landmark within Amiens.
The winning proposal comprises two new buildings within a 11,000m2 masterplan: a 180m-long passive archive building for state-of-the-art collection storage and a timber framed office building with a central courtyard for people and conservation processes.
Each building has a very different architectural identity, deliberately spaced apart from one another, but connected by subterranean passageways. The archive building contains a vast single room with fully automated storage and retrieval systems operated by state-of-the-art robotic technology. Supporting this super airtight box is an expressive steel exoskeleton encased in stainless steel mesh.