Work was recently completed on a new Pennsylvania State Archives building in Harrisburg, Penn. The HGA-designed, 146,000-sf facility offers numerous amenities, including computers, scanners, printers, a kitchenette with seating, lockers, a meeting room, a classroom, an interactive video wall, gallery, and all-gender restrooms. The features are all intended to provide a welcoming and comfortable environment for visitors.
The state’s Division of Public Records was created in 1903. It became recognized as its own bureau upon joining the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) in 1945. By 2000, its first permanent home in the Capitol Complex was reaching capacity and its low floor-to-floor height, together with a small floor plate, affected operational efficiency and would not allow for necessary environmental upgrades.
The goal was to find a site close to the Capitol Complex, and an urban parcel in a neglected neighborhood was selected. Built amid the few remaining rental row houses, light commercial structures, and the city’s rail yards, the facility is intended to have a positive impact on the neighborhood and city.
The building’s features include:
Collections space: A glazed-brick volume and high-thermal-mass concrete structure forms the body of the building, housing acid-free boxes and flat-file maps on high density shelving. The rectangular volume is windowless, well insulated, and projective. Total storage on three floors is 47,000 sf with space for growth, and 12-foot-tall high-density shelving makes the collections rooms highly efficient. Archives’ storage rooms are tightly controlled to keep out all daylight
Mechanical systems: A metal-clad mechanical bay links efficient HVAC systems to archive rooms on each floor, providing tightly modulated temperature and humidity to each kind of environment and material—paper, print photography, or film.
Public space: A double-height glass and aluminum pavilion set in a public garden with native plants allows for individual and group research with a sense of openness and accessibility.
The facility was designed to provide a climate resilient, durable, 50-to 100-year space to protect the archives while enduring extreme conditions. Areas of concern included railroad accidents, extreme or intense precipitation, theft, pests, moisture/mold growth, extreme wind, excessive snow load, and power failure.
To address the railroad yard disaster concern, a sensor was specified for the mechanical louvers that would shut down air intake if any harmful chemicals at elevated concentrations are detected. To mitigate extreme precipitation, no roof drains or roof penetrations are located over the archive rooms. Rain landing on the low slope roof runs down to roof drains over the mechanical rooms.
To prevent theft, security from the facility includes cameras and restricted access to the original documents room where staff members monitor visitors’ movements. Staff entry and exit paths with security systems are choreographed as well, for additional security.
HGA negotiated with electric utility Pennsylvania Power and Light to get two points of electricity service, one primary and one backup, each arriving from a different buried feeder line path to the site. In addition, the facility includes a standby generator with 48 hours of fuel capacity.
Ash wood was used for all interior building woodwork. Now disappearing across the country due to the Emerald Ash Borer, the wood wall panels will one day illustrate the beauty of the once-common native tree. Additionally, the site’s original granite street curbs were used as planter curbs and boulders found buried there were used as landscaping features in the public garden. The stone for the exterior pavers, interior floors, and the front desk was quarried in the Appalachian Mountains, and the glazed brick was manufactured in Pennsylvania.
On the project team:
Owner and/or developer: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Design architect: HGA and Vitetta
MEP engineer: HGA
Structural engineer: HGA
General contractor/construction manager: Mascaro Construction
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Dec 12, 2023
Top 50 Military Facility Engineering Firms for 2023
Jacobs, Burns & McDonnell, WSP, and AECOM head BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest military facility engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Dec 12, 2023
Top 40 Military Facility Architecture Firms for 2023
Michael Baker International, HDR, Whitman, Requardt & Associates, and Stantec top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest military facility architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Dec 11, 2023
Top 80 Local Government Building Engineering Firms for 2023
AECOM, Arup, KPFF Consulting Engineers, and WSP head BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest local government building engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Dec 11, 2023
Top 80 Local Government Building Construction Firms for 2023
Turner Construction, Clark Group, Holder Construction, and Pepper Construction top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest local government building general contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Dec 11, 2023
Top 150 Local Government Building Architecture Firms for 2023
Gensler, HOK, Stantec, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest local government building architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Dec 11, 2023
Top 50 State Government Building Construction Firms for 2023
Hensel Phelps, Turner Construction, Clark Group, and PCL Construction top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest state government building general contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Dec 11, 2023
Top 50 State Government Building Engineering Firms for 2023
AECOM, EXP, Arup, and PRIME AE Group top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest state government building engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Dec 11, 2023
Top 90 State Government Building Architecture Firms for 2023
Page Southerland Page, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Stantec, and NORR top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest state government building architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Dec 5, 2023
Top 50 Federal Government Building Construction Firms for 2023
Fluor, BL Harbert, Hensel Phelps, and Turner Construction top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest federal government building general contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Dec 5, 2023
Top 60 Federal Government Building Engineering Firms for 2023
Fluor, WSP, Jacobs, and AECOM head BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest federal government building engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
