An increasing reliance on technology in all facets of our lives has spurned the proliferation of a new type of energy efficient and resilient data centres. Previously relegated to industrial areas, data centres are now likely to be located within and as an adjunct use to the cities commercial centres. This Sydney data centre looks to create an architectural typology for a building type previously camouflaged and disguised in the built environment.
An early concept was that the physical manifestation between our digital and physical existence warranted a contemporary typology. Greenbox and ARUP wanted to express and emphasise the logic of the services reticulation weaving throughout the building and to present this in a way that enhances what could normally be, an otherwise bland utilitarian area while complementing the clients corporate identity.
Primarily service spaces furnished with extensive mechanical & electrical equipment to support the data halls the interior design utilizes this services reticulation as the aesthetics using the client?s corporate colours, acting both as way finding and focal points.
More conservative to the dynamic interiors, the light polycarbonate skin floats above a heavy base, stretching across the long narrow site, honest in its diaphanous presentation revealing little of the assiduity required within. The long louvers allow free-air cooling with the data halls reducing the required cooling, clearing expressing the sustainable approach to the project.
The Heavy base houses the vast electrical infrastructure. Supported by massive diesel rotary uninterruptible power supply devices utilized large fly-wheels to store kinetic energy in event of power failure the internal access to these is clearly defined and celebrated.
These buildings, with all their complexities, facilitate our contemporary lives. This project endeavours to create a contemporary typology celebrating the beauty of the engineering, the complexities and possibilities that the newly wired world is delivering.