While the early 1990s marked the first stage in establishing an archiving and skills centre in Penthaz for the conservation and treatment of the collections, the need for additional space for the steadily growing collections with optimal conservation conditions rapidly became apparent. After the Swiss Confederation bought the existing building in 1998, the Federal Council adopted a decree providing for the construction of a new research and archiving centre in Penthaz. Three years later, Parliament approved the development funding of 49.5 million Swiss francs, which was increased in 2017 by 5.1 million Swiss francs to ensure the institution's digital transition. With meticulous project and budget management, the amounts granted were not spent in full, reducing the final construction costs, including digitalisation, to 50.6 million.
The new centre was the subject of an architectural competition, won by the Zurich-based firm EM2N which planned to transform and extend the existing structure. With this new, industrially inspired building, EM2N architects make multiple references to film and archives: the oxidised steel façade evokes the challenges of conservation, the large window in the museum space is reminiscent of a cinema screen and the conference rooms suspended above the lobby and exhibition space suggest the cinematic elements of framing and editing.