Les Archives départementales du Val-de-Marne : un bâtiment structurant de l’administration du nouveau département

Abstract

The archives building of the Val-de-Marne department was built between 1972 and 1974 to the designs of the architects Daniel Badani and Michel Roux-Dorlut. The building was specially designed for archival use and was also to be a strong symbol in the Nouveau Creteil town plan. Inspired by the central French Archives administration, departmental archive buildings were considered as an architectural model and many were constructed throughout France during the second part of the twentieth century. From the middle of the century, the building design stipulated separate premises for the different functions concerned, storage, offices for staff and public premises. Amongst the new archive buildings erected in the new departments circling Paris at that time, the Val-de-Marne building was the earliest. Lucien Lanier, the prefect of the department and Claire Berche, the first director of the archives, played a major role in the building’s realisation.

Keywords

• Departmental archives
• Val-de-Marne
• twentieth-century architecture
• Danial Badani
• Michel Roux-Dorlut
• Claire Berche (Guérin)