Ready for Anything: An Archives Facility Built for Resilience

Preservation is the primary mission of the Pennsylvania State Archives. Its collection includes the Pennsylvania Charter, sealed with the wax stamp of King Charles II in 1681; papers related to the fight for women’s suffrage in the early 20^th century; and drawings made by schoolchildren in 1979 after a near-meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant.

These documents, along with millions of others have been preserved by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for their historic value. In 1903, state officials established the archives near the state capitol in Harrisburg to protect this heritage, and over the decades this collection has grown to include blueprints, photographs, films, sound recordings, and more. Last fall, a new 146,000-square-foot archives building, designed by HGA, opened in the city’s Midtown neighborhood, replacing an older facility that had reached capacity.

The ideas and ideals enshrined in many of the archives’ documents are sometimes described as timeless and enduring—but the artifacts themselves can be quite fragile. Archivists inevitably face an array of threats: pests, mold, humidity, and even light can destroy items. Fire and water damage are always a risk. Theft, by visitors or employees, may be a concern.

Drawing on our experience with libraries, museums, and cultural centers, the HGA team worked with archives leadership to develop a design that would minimize such threats. We specified acid-free storage materials and researched temperature control systems. We developed circulation patterns that would increase security and reduce theft.

Then we expanded the conversation to resilience.

Expecting the Unexpected

Resilience aims to plan for disruption. HGA has always designed facilities with an eye on the future—but resilience planning takes things a step further. Armed with a plan, resilient communities can survive the chaos caused by climate change, an industrial disaster, or even a pandemic. What’s more, resilient communities can emerge from such experiences and thrive.

In recent years, HGA has developed tools that help clients assess their overall resilience. Our three-phase process—which encompasses forecasting hazards, assessing risk, and planning to mitigate risk through design—doesn’t altogether eliminate risks, but it does build safeguards. With such planning in place, recovery can happen quicker.

For archives officials, resilience was a natural extension of preservation. We looked beyond collections preservation, however, to consider the durability of the building and the welfare of occupants in the face of disruption. Together, the archives staff and HGA assessed ways to simultaneously protect the collections and boost the facility’s resilience—a holistic approach.

Hazards—and How to Prepare

Over several meetings, our design team and the archives staff discussed potential threats, from rodent infestations to a roof failure caused by heavy snowfall. Ultimately, we prioritized 5 plausible hazards:

 Extreme Precipitation

Climate change is affecting weather patterns around the world, often resulting in extreme events. Among the potential threats to Harrisburg is extreme precipitation.

Because water damage can harm the archival collection, archives officials identified extreme or intense precipitation as a key concern. HGA responded with a design that went well beyond the usual safeguards for leaks and water penetration. Roof drains were located away from archival areas. The number and size of roof drains and storm piping were calculated to exceed the requirements for a one-in-100-years rain event, and storm piping was connected to storage tanks that slow the overall disbursement of water into the public storm water system.

 Extreme Wind

Hurricanes, tornadoes, and windstorms also are growing more intense due to climate change. Gale force winds can severely test the strength of traditional curtain wall construction. Strong winds not only exert force on exterior walls, they may also swirl around structures in ways that create vacuums that pull walls outward. Increasingly, to withstand high winds, roofing materials must be both fastened and adhered to exterior substrates.

The facility’s cast-in-place concrete construction significantly strengthens the building. The structure is more rigid than a steel structure with similarly sized beams and columns. In areas where large expanses of glass have been used, the facade has been strengthened with deep mullions that are closely spaced together.

  Fire System Failure

Fire protection systems can be significantly impacted by catastrophic events. In addition to redundancies that provide backups in the event of an HVAC or other mechanical systems failure, HGA specified a smoke detection system that is more sensitive than typical fire-protection systems.

  Power Failure 

Electrical systems often fail in emergency situations. To build redundancy, the archives were connected to two substations, allowing it to switch power sources if one of the substations goes down. Like hospitals and other facilities that require a steady source of power in emergency situations, the archives also have a backup generator that can be used to maintain essential operations in an emergency.

  Railroad Accident

Climate change isn’t the only source of hazards—catastrophic events caused by humans or technology can also impact organizations and communities. While evaluating potential threats, archives staff highlighted a unique risk: a nearby railroad yard.

With the site only a short distance away, a derailment could result in any number of events, including fires or a chemical spill. Smoke or fumes from an accident could harm archives materials and building occupants. HGA responded by installing sensors in the exterior air intake louvers, which if triggered by toxic particles, will close the vents.

Learn More

Designing for resilience is a natural extension of the design process. It’s about durability—always a priority among designers. But HGA’s resilience services take things further, assessing hazards and implementing strategies so that clients facing unexpected situations will not only survive but thrive.  For more on our approach read on at What is Resilience? A Framework for Weathering Stormy Times.