Anamnesis of tomorrow

Rediscovering the raison d’être of the National Archives of the Netherlands in the age of digital transformation.

Master thesis (2021)

Authors

S. Polyviou Architecture and the Built Environment

Contributors

T. Offermans Teachers of Practice / AE+T - Architecture and the Built Environment (mentor)
G. Koskamp Design of Constrution - Architecture and the Built Environment (graduation committee member)
M.C. Stellingwerff Modelling Techniques - Architecture and the Built Environment (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Architecture and the Built Environment, Architecture and the Built Environment
Copyright: © 2021 Stelios Polyviou
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Published Date

04-11-2021

Language

English

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Faculty

Architecture and the Built Environment

Abstract

An archive is a repository of documents, usually of historical importance. Therefore, one could say that the National Archive of the Netherlands exists as a result of the documents it holds. In fact, its contents include: 137 km of documents, 15 million photographs, 300,000 historical maps and drawings, and 800 terabyte of digital files.

However, as our everyday life becomes more and more digital, the National Archive faces a distinctive upcoming change; transitioning from document-centredness to data-centredness. Within this framework, this project aims to answer the following question:

Do archival buildings have a future in the Digital Age? Can archives exist without documents? Or are they destined for obsolescence?

Through a qualitative research in the cultural value and societal role of archives the project seeks answers to the above questions. In continuation, new questions are brought up which aim to direct the project in an architectural conclusion. Whether the Archive remains as we know it or changes, one thing is sure; the purpose of the existing building has to be redefined. In this pursuit, several ingredients are put together which relate to social, contextual, structural, architectural and sustainability issues.

The project considers not only the re-design of the National Archive building but the wider re-design of the site, as an important piece of urban fabric to the city of the Hague.

All things considered, the National Archive is to be visualised as a more public place and a piece of public infrastructure that responds to a multiplicity of challenges.