AUC, with the design team Studio Mathieu Lucas + T/E/S/S + EVP + Franck Boutté Consultants + ARCADIS + BMF + CASSO + Atelier Juno, won the competition for the extension of the National Archives in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, designed by Massimiliano Fuksas.

The current building, which opened in 2013, provides more than 350km of conservation space, but will reach capacity in 2027. While an increasing number of original digital archives are being amassed, the National Archives continue to receive several kilometers of paper-based documents every year. The extension of the building, planned from the start, had to be activated with the transfer to Pierrefitte of 70km of archives from the National Archives’ Fontainebleau site, which closed at the end of 2022.

With a capacity of 100 linear kilometers, the new building will enable the reception of new archives until at least 2050, while also improving the functionality of the site by providing spaces for processing, restoring and reproducing documents.

In addition to the urban landmark proposed by AUC’s project, the members of the jury were impressed by the environmental dimension integrated into the building systems, and the care taken to free up land for the preservation of green spaces, in continuity with other projects to enhance the Tartres development zone. The extension will also provide access to a planted terrace 38m in the air, offering the public a new viewpoint over the surrounding landscapes, as well as spaces providing information about the professional world of archivists.