Guardian and source of diffusion of the collective memory of our society, the Quebec Provincial Archives in Montreal is responsible for the conservation and consultation of documents of patrimonial value. The site for the archival centre occupies an entire city block, with three existing buildings, each from a different, yet significant era of our recent history. Together, they present an image of disparate architectural styles and scale. The addition of a fourth building on the site, housing archival storage, transforms a leftover service yard into a central, sky-lit interior atrium for the complex.

The design of the facility seeks to emphasize public accessibility for everyone from historians and archivists to tourists. The facility offers a variety of spaces for all users of the building, and utilizes transparency and light to convey a sense of openness. The center contains an exhibition space, an auditorium, climate-controlled document storage areas, a café, a multi-storey reading room, and document repair workshops.

The architectural parti for the project is developed about the main compositional axis; its monumental, colonnaded principal entry sets the stage for the unfolding of a sequence of glorious interior spaces culminating in the main reading room of the complex. As for the physical qualities of the projects, the architectural work emphasises the use of existing materials; stone, brick and plaster in constant relation with contemporary materials such as aluminum, perforated metal and glass.