Modernising Jersey's archives

The Jersey Archive Centre is open from Tuesday to Thursday

The Jersey archive centre in Clarence road, St Helier is one of the Island's most striking and modern buildings.

The architects abandoned traditional Jersey building materials such as granite for modern-looking glass.

Local artist Bob Tilling believes the building's design is a "bold effort" and worthy of recognition.

"They could have done a pastiche with granite, but here are all sorts of different materials being used, which I think is quite courageous," Bob said.

The building has a glass frontage with horizontal steel decoration and what Bob describes as a "kind of white marbly stonework effect".

"It is difficult to describe because there are so many facets to it. It is very much of 2000 when it was opened," Bob explained.

The building was designed by BDK Architects in association with English practice MacCormac Jamieson Prichard.

It has a kind of lightness about it; an airiness about it. Bob Tilling, Artist

"I think it would have been so easy to have done a kind of pastiche with granite and while there is nothing wrong with that, but this was very much of the time.

"The outside is a little startling, but I have never heard anyone speak ill of it at all. I think people were pleasantly surprised, like I was.

"The first time I saw it finished was at night. I was parking nearby to go to St James' and I looked up and there was this building. I thought it was absolutely wonderful.

"It has a kind of lightness about it; an airiness about it. It feels like it is floating here, like it is not permanent," Bob said.

The modern style of the building contrasts with the historical records it harbours.

"I remember at the Societe Jersiaise there were rooms full of boxes of things and it had a charm. But then you saw lots of moths flying out and you thought, oh dear me.

"An archive is about preservation and conservation. I think it is quite phenomenal the way we can save archival material and in a way this design reflects that new approach that new technology," Bob continued.

See more images of the Jersey Archive

The only regret Bob has about the archive centre is the large white wall at the back of the building.

"It has very domineering and beautiful proportions, but it certainly needs looking at. It needs decorating, it has not weathered well.

That said, I still think it is a very good building and it is in a very strange place, slightly out of town in a former quarry surrounded by houses. It is peaceful in a great spot for study and research and I think it is a great success still, ten years later," Bob concluded.