Sommers, Wisconsin, USA
Designed by Jahn Archtiecture and O2 Design, the Pritzker Military Archives Center (PMAC) is a state-of-the-art center that furthers the mission of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library, through restoration, preservation, and storage of its collection.
The Pritzker Military Archives Center presents a main pavilion with below-grade archival storage totaling 48,402 square feet.
For its inception, the Pritzker Military Archives Center has been awarded a 2024 International Architecture Awards by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The development is based on a 36′ structural grid in a system where the architecture and the structure are expressed and speak the same language.
The side walls are steel trusses that support the roof system and provide the lateral stability required.
Glass is enclosed with a great roof that cantilevers to frame an outdoor exhibit space presenting an open and inviting image to guests, creating a prominent and impactful marker on the landscape.
Its elevated roof and expansive interior space maximize functional efficiency and visual impact, providing ideal working conditions for the PMAC staff, and inspiring visitors.
The public and private spaces are separated by a partial height glass partition which allows all visitors an opportunity to connect with the critical work of the PMAC staff while maintaining the desired level of security.
Creating a community is a core driver of the new facility’s design and will reinforce the PMAC’s central mission to acquire and maintain an accessible collection focusing on the citizen soldier.
The lower level of the Center is planned for 15,157 square feet of archival storage used exclusively by the PMAC and planned to accommodate future growth as the collection increases its acquisitions.
The archival storage operates independently mechanically, ensuring a redundant, secure, and flexible facility.
Central to the development of the PMAC is the notion of modular and efficient building systems with a series of flexible spaces capable of changing in time.
This demand for flexible storage and working space drives the design from the ground up. The PMAC is itself a building system.
The 288-acre site is a multi-phase project planned for future expansion of the PMAC and is anticipated to include Commercial Archival Storage, a Memorial to the Cold War, and a Firearms Education Center.
The first phase (17 acres) is at the northeast corner of the site accessed from 12th Street. The PMAC is situated at the high point of the site to the far east of the overall land.
This seating allows for efficient access from 12th St. and high visibility from the highway.
PMAC staff and all loading and drop-off activities are at the south end of the Center.
The visitors will enter from the west entry drive accessed from 12th Street.
The 17-acre phase one design is organized around a circular green open space that surrounds the Center.
The design creates a series of on-grade outdoor rooms within the interior of a circle such as hard surface plazas/parking areas and ample green surface for gathering areas to accommodate the variety of programmed activities planned by the PMAC.
A rampart landform defines the outermost edge of the site plan circle punctuated with red twig dogwood planted on both sides of this sloping landform.
The grading of the entire site not only reinforces this powerful landform strategy it also takes full advantage of the distant views while simultaneously providing screening from future exterior program elements located south and west of the PMAC.
Extensive walking and bike trails have been delineated both around the circular landform and slicing through the site flanking the Center on the east, west axis.
These pathways provide a pedestrian experience that allows the user to take advantage of the entire 17-acre site.
Trees are planted along the flanking pathways providing a human scale and desirable shade canopy of vegetation that allows the user to comfortably circulate along the pathway or choose to sit and reflect in the numerous designated respite locations.
Project: Pritzker Military Archives Center (PMAC)
Architects: Jahn Architecture Inc.
Landscape Architects: O2 Design
General Contractor: Pepper Riley
Client: Archives + Armory of PMML WI LLC.
Photographers: Tom Rossiter
