Data Center Architects Reimagine Facilities as Urban Assets. 9 Min Read. Gensler’s rendering of Menlo Digital’s Thistle Data Center Campus, a hyperscale data center under construction in Phoenix, Ariz.Gensler. Data centers are no longer judged only by power density, resilience, and network connectivity. Increasingly, they are evaluated by how they look and how well they fit into their communities.. With most municipalities still zoning them under generic industrial or commercial categories, permitting gaps have fueled concern about the spread of anonymous, windowless boxes. In response, operators and developers are now treating architecture as a strategic asset, designing facilities that blend into mixed-use districts through more refined façades, improved landscaping, and context-sensitive site planning.. Peter Skae, managing director of technical services at JLL, told Data Center Knowledge that for large operators in particular, the data center campus is becoming a visible expression of brand – and a tool for attracting and retaining scarce technical talent.. To avoid the “ugly industrial box,” owners and architects are changing the building, not just its wrapper: step-backs and cantilevers break up massing, while varied rooflines and permeable screens conceal MEP systems without starving them of airflow. “They are strategic with geometric designs to create visual interest in the design,” Skae said. “This also requires being thoughtful with the façade and material selection.”. Related:Heavy Compute: AI Data Centers Have a Weight Problem. Hyperscale campuses are often sited in remote locations. However, Skae predicts that inference workloads, which benefit from proximity to users and networks, will shift more capacity toward urban districts. “We expect the major technologies to use this as an opportunity to ensure the facility is a proper reflection of their corporate statement, commitment to sustainability, and the environment,” he noted.. Winning Community Support Through Design. Gensler design director Geoffrey Diamond told Data Center Knowledge that the best way to build public support is to show people something beautiful – something they can imagine not just tolerating in their community, but wanting as part of it.. “We’ve seen increased competition in the marketplace,” Diamond said. “It used to really be the hyperscalers … building facilities for themselves. The new trend that we’re seeing is a lot of developers getting into the game.”. That shift, he observed, is driving a new focus on architectural differentiation.. Gensler’s critical infrastructure designs include Wonder Valley Data Center Park, a campus expected to span nearly 8,000 acres in Alberta, Canada. (Image: Gensler). “If you’re not building something for yourself, you must go further,” Diamond said. “You must do better if you’re going to woo tenants.”. From an architectural standpoint, Diamond sees unusually open creative ground. “The word that first comes to my mind is limitless,” he explained. “You’re starting with a dumb box, which for a lot of architects is actually kind of the dream.”. Related:Retrofits vs. Rebuilds: Approaches to Adapting Legacy Data Centers for AI. In some projects, Gensler has introduced conventional architectural cues to help large facilities blend into office and mixed-use environments. “We took advantage of the corridor that surrounded the data hall and basically fenestrated the whole thing like we would have with an office building,” he said.. Cost remains a central concern, but Diamond argued that data center economics create room for architectural investment. “Data centers are incredibly expensive,” he said. “The wrapper on it, the architecture, is a rounding error.” He added that simple, modular forms make it possible to introduce pattern, texture, and higher-quality material with limited impact on total capex.. Case Study: A Public-Facing Data Center. For Luis Ricardo, co-founder of architecture firm llLab, the Spark 761 data center project in Beijing offered an opportunity to rethink how a facility interacts with its environment – both contributing to the streetscape and welcoming the public inside. The commission began with an unusual client mindset and a site outside Beijing’s conventional architectural spotlight, in the city’s arts district.. Related:Data Center Developers Bring Biodiversity to Life in Site Selection. Spark 761 was llLab’s first data center project, a fact Ricardo said shaped the firm’s design approach. That inexperience became an advantage; the team deliberately avoided benchmarking against existing data center architecture. “We didn’t like any existing data centers – we didn’t find any good examples,” Ricardo explained. “We took direct data center references off the table, because we didn’t believe a warehouse or a shell was the correct way.”. For Ricardo, the prevailing model – large, sealed technical buildings dressed with decorative façades – fails to acknowledge the public presence data centers increasingly occupy. “It’s not usually something that lives with the city,” he explained.. Crucially, the firm was involved early, before technical layouts and massing were locked in. “Most data centers are already decided, and then you just make it look like something,” he noted. “But here, we could ask what it could be – not just a box of servers, but what is the importance of it?” That broader framing met the public debate head-on. “We received a lot of criticism for being involved in this kind of project, because data centers are targets for not being sustainable,” he said. “But they’re going to be done anyway, and more than ever now. We need to rethink how to live better with them.”. Balancing technical efficiency and financial discipline with civic value led to Spark 761’s most distinctive feature: public access. The building combines the data center with exhibition areas, coworking space, and conference facilities. “The first question that we start to ask is, why can’t people enter into the data center?” he said. “We have security here, too, but it’s split systems, so people can start to live a little bit inside, as well.”. Formally, the project draws on high-tech and infrastructural precedents – including the Lloyd’s Building in London and the Pompidou Center in Paris – rather than data center typologies. Translating exposed systems into architecture required tight coordination with engineers. “If you want the hardware outside, you really have a lot of work to make it correctly and fit all the functions inside,” Ricardo noted.. The Spark 761 building aimed to translate exposed systems into architecture. (Image: llLab). The surrounding arts district reinforced this direction as the architects investigated how digital media arts could empower the building and the city. The façade becomes an interface between the building and the city. “It’s just points of light,” he said of the changing LED field suspended in front of the mechanical systems. “You feel outside what’s going on in terms of the data flow inside.”. The Spark 761 building features an LED field suspended in front of the mechanical systems. (Image: llLab). The Spark 761 building within its urban context. (Image: llLab). Ultimately, the project taught the firm how creative freedom can flow from inexperience. “When you do something completely new, without so much knowledge, you are more open to exploring,” he said.. Going Green(er) by Design. The large footprints of data centers make them ideal candidates for comprehensive stormwater systems that double as attractive landscape features. Skae noted that landscape architecture and site integration are critical to avoiding the “windowless box” label.. “Properly designed and integrated green roofs can be factored into the design and generally work well because of the flat roofs,” he said. With proper planning, they can reduce cooling loads and buffer temperature fluctuations. However, structural challenges – especially roof loading – must be addressed.. Strategically placed vertical greening and living walls can further add aesthetic and cooling benefits. “The key is early integration of the landscape and environmental designs into the architectural vision for the campus,” Skae said.. Equinix’s PA10 data center in Saint-Denis, France, features a green roof and rooftop greenhouse. (Image: Equinix). Will “Starchitects” Take On Data Centers?. In 2013, acclaimed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, in partnership with DMP, designed the NAVER Data Center Gak in Chuncheon, South Korea, reimagining what a data facility can be by integrating the building with its natural environment. Rather than a windowless industrial building, the facility channels cool air from nearby Mount Gubong through the structure, aiding natural cooling and reducing reliance on mechanical systems.. An aerial view of the NAVER Data Center Gak in Chuncheon. (Image: Naver Corp.). Could an epoch-making data center designed by a world-class designer up the ante soon? “The involvement of star architects seems almost inevitable,” Skae stressed. “These architects are often looking for a challenge that allows them to push material and technical boundaries.”. Diamond, however, sees the market as early in its architectural evolution. “We’re early days, and the name of the game is speed to market,” he explained. “We’re trying to make up for capacity that is growing faster than we can even think about how to solve for that growth.” That reality makes it unlikely that globally recognized “starchitect” firms will move aggressively into data center design in the near term.. “Are we going to see any of those black cape firms doing one in the next 12 months or 24 months? Probably not,” Diamond said. “Everybody right now is so laser-focused on ‘get it up and running’ and ‘get it right.’”. The Next Frontier: Urban Integration. Over time, though, Diamond expects design sensibility to move to the fore – and beyond façade treatments. He believes the next frontier is deeper integration into dense urban environments. “That is step No. 1 – somebody bothered to give a damn,” he said. “All somebody has to do is stand up and say, ‘I actually care how this thing looks.’”. Gensler is currently working on an urban data center project in the Northeast corridor that rethinks how large facilities occupy valuable city sites. “What we ended up with was a layer of parking on the ground floor and the data center lifted up above that,” Diamond said. “We were able to take a third of the site and give it back to the city as a public urban plaza.”. Looking ahead, he said he believes shifts in backup strategies – from diesel generator fleets toward grid-interactive batteries and other alternatives – urban siting may become more viable. “As we start to move away from generator-based backups toward battery storage systems, it gets more attractive for data centers to be located closer to our city centers,” he noted. “From a latency standpoint, that’s going to become increasingly important.”. About the Author
