AO: This excerpt from Carotenuto and Luongo (2005) highlights the reuse of the physical infrastructure of the bank to store archival materials instead. How did existing infrastructure of the bank shape the design, perceptions and use of the archives?
During the late 1970s the KNA moved from its basement beginnings to its present location on Moi Avenue. The current facility first housed the Bank of India and later the Kenya Commercial Bank. Not surprisingly, the building's architecture suggests a depository of currency much more than a repository of information. Indeed, documents are currently stored in bank vaults throughout the building's eight repository rooms, and the most highly-sensitive documents in the KNA's collection are secreted away in the old bank's "strong room," which can be accessed only by the director of the KNA.
