The authors, architects of the KSP Engel & Zimmermann bureau, won the corresponding international competition back in 2003. They shared the first prize with the Berlin landscape design firm "sinai.exteriors AW Faust", which presented its own solution for the space around the buildings. Both bureaus worked together to finalize the project.
The main thing in the new complex is the idea of "sculpture-architecture" made of raw concrete, with minimal detailing. This approach should prioritize the meaning of the building. The layout of the ensemble will correspond to the historical location of the concentration camp buildings. The "Stone Way" will begin at the first square of the memorial, lead through the archives center and further, directly through the camp territory. He will connect the landscape design and the buildings of the complex.
The building itself "KSP Engel & Zimmermann" is a horizontally elongated building, standing on a clearing in a dense forest. A clearing marks the location of the former Valle-Hörsten highway. Thus, the archive is located a few meters from the border of the camp. Inside, the visitor walks through a suite of expanding rooms, from where thoughtful outward views open up. All this should distance him from everyday life and tune in to the experience of a historical tragedy.
