This structure is intended for the vacant lot adjacent to the Apollo Theater in Harlem of New York City, as a publicly accessible extension to its existing archival facilities. Through this living archive, there is an opportunity to challenge our normative conceptions of the commons, and how their processes may be amplified to provide novel programmatic facilities of education, exhibition, entertainment, and social interaction. On one hand, the preservationist functions of traditional archives should not be undermined. At the same time, perhaps there are ways to balance agendas of protection with access, organisation with visibility. After all, artefacts are given meaning only when they can be experienced, and there are still many stories about Harlem that have yet to be told through these experiences.