On April 14, 2026, CryoCultures researcher Alina Wandelt (KWI) gave a lecture entitled “From Libraries to Data Centres. An (Architectural) History of Information Storage“.
For a long time, there was no question as to where information would be stored: libraries, which emerged as a distinct building structure and central institution of western modernity in the mid-19th century, were the physical sites where information was collected, organized, and made increasingly available. The industrial age had brought radical changes in publishing and, with them, lower production costs for books, requiring efficient techniques and procedures to ensure compact storage and rapid availability. In course of this development, libraries grew from cultural monuments to functional institutions, whose role and architectural character largely derived from the fact that they stored and lent books.
