PROJECT: Master Film Store for the BFI
LOCATION: Warwickshire
DATE: 2009 - 2011
This pioneering new Master Film Store preserves the British Film Institute's (BFI) master film collections of nitrate and acetate film. The building is the first of its kind to store large quantities of film, over 450,000 canisters, in optimal environmental conditions.
Experts from the BFI and the wider film archive community worked with the design team, led by Edward Cullinan Architects, on the pioneering design that provides a world-leading storage facility and breaks new ground in terms of capacity, storage conditions, green construction and energy efficiency.
The storage cooling system is a sophisticated design that provides the requisite -5°C with 35% relative humidity. The structure is composed of six large acetate cells down the centre of the building, bordered by 30 smaller nitrate cells. The store is highly insulated (0.1W/m²k) and air-tight (0.3m³/hr@50pa) in order to sustain the internal environment using minimal energy. The building will achieve a BREEAM 'Excellent' rating.
Contractor: Gilbert AshStructural Engineer: Curtins Consulting
M&E Engineer: Couch Perry Wilkes
Cost Consultant: WH Stephens
Project Manager: Buro Four
>> 'Inside the BFI's new film storage facility' BBC film
>> Animation showing how the building is put together and how it works
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