Fuksas in Bucharest

Architect Massimiliano Fuksas as SHARE SPECIAL GUEST will give a conference in Bucharest, on the 27th of March within SHARE – the International Architecture and Engineering Forum.
Until then we introduce – exclusively – one question and one project per week each Monday.
We hope to generate a meaningful profile of Arch Fuksas architectural work and conviction.

QUESTION
1. How architecture competes, in the 21st century, with the cascade of information?

Information, as technology, has penetrated in every aspect of our contemporary lives, it is impossible not be involved in it. Technological innovation is one of the factors that helps represent our „dreams”. Virtual technology is very useful. It allows you to have more control over the project and to imagine it more clearly before it is settled and takes a definite shape. But first you need to have a concrete image, only then the computer can identify the points and take them in three dimensions and visualize the design. I use whatever tools we can to realize an idea, to realize an image. That’s always been part of our world. Human beings invented the wheel when they need to move some big rocks from one site to another. Not only do we still need wheels today, but we need different tools for different problems. Technology is a friend of ours, and a big help for us. I am not afraid of using it. There’s no future without innovations.

PROJECT
NEW NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF FRANCE, Pierrefitte sur Seine-Saint Denis, Paris

The project of the New National Archives of France draws its inspiration from the surrounding reality, from the city seen as coexistence of chaos and order. The concept is born and takes place from this duality which is reflected in the organization of the complex.

The initial choice was to investigate the site and its characteristics in both territorial and socio-cultural contexts to reveal an unique identity. The work has therefore been thought following a cardinal principle of architecture to create spaces according to the needs of the communities that populate them.
The design of the New National Archives of France has followed the intent of enhancing the geographical and architectural landscape of the area Pierrefitte sur-Seine Saint Denis, where the building inserts itself.
The complex has not been designed as a self-referring architecture, but as a work that could hold the memory and the collective identity, at the same time open to contemporary artistic expressions. It has not been thought in a contemplative perspective, but in a perspective of discovery, research and participation for the audience.

The project is composed of two main “bodies”: one that extends horizontally, “suspended, lightweight, transparent”; the other with a tension in height, “anchored to the ground, imposing, reflective”.

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PROJECT: NEW NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF FRANCE
SITE: Pierrefitte sur Seine-Saint Denis, Paris, France
PERIOD: 2005 – 2013
CLIENT: French Ministry of Culture and Communication
Represented by DAF – Direction des Archives de France
DELEGATE CLIENT: OPPIC – Opérateur du patrimoine et des projets immobiliers de la Culture
ARCHITECTS:Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas
INTERIOR DESIGN: Fuksas Design
AREA: 108,136 square metres
PROGRAM: Archives (220 stock rooms on 10 levels), offices, reading room (160 seats), conference room (300 seats, seat „Carla” for Poltrona Frau design by Doriana and Massimiliano Fuksas ), exhibition room, parking (207 places)
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Bouygues Construction
CONSULTANTS: Engineering: BETOM Ingégnierie
Acoustics: ALTIA
Landscape design: Florence MERCIER
Control department: SOCOTEC
Facades:Kyotec
Scenography conference room: Architecture and Technique
Laying rayonnage furniture warehouse: SAMODEFF
Furnishing public spaces: JAMES Ebéniste, the technical BETOM Ingégnierie
ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS: Antony Gormley, Pascal Convert, Susanna Fritscher
ARCHIVES: Height 40 metres, length 163 metres, width 48 metres; 220 stock rooms on 10 levels; Reading room 160 seats;
Materials of the facades: opaque glass and aluminium
SATELLITE VOLUMES: 6 communicating satellite volumes;
Materials of the facades: glass, light colour lacquered aluminium
CONFERENCE ROOM : 300 seats, seat”Carla” for Poltrona Frau design by Doriana and Massimiliano Fuksas
PARKING: 5,000 square metres; 161 underground places, 46 above ground
PROJECT CALENDAR : Winning project of the 2005 competition by invitation, 5 studios selected on approximately 120 participants
June 2008: completion of the archaeological excavations
May 19, 2009: notification of the construction contract awarded to Bouygues Building, Ile-de-France – Public Works
June 18, 2009: start of work
11 September 2009: laying of the foundation stone
December 2009: end of foundations
October 2010: end of the concrete structure
March 2011: end of the structure steelwork
May 2011: water in the basins
Opening: January 11, 2013