Caching architecture that facilitates translation between schema data and relational structures. A schema translation component consumes schema data (e.g., XML schema data) having a schema structure. The schema structure is shredded into tables. A validation component interfaces to a memory management interface to facilitate loading only the necessary components to perform instance validation. During validation, only parts of the schema that are used are loaded and cached. A schema cache stores the in-memory representation of the schema optimized for instance validation. The schema components are loaded from metadata into the cache memory as read-only objects such that multiple users can use the in-memory objects for validation.