The days of data centers occupying boxy, short buildings spread out over large areas may be coming to an end.
Data centers have traditionally not been built as multi-story buildings because of the complexities involved in managing airflow, cabling, and heavy equipment across multiple floors, which can significantly increase construction costs and require specialized design features that are not typical for standard office buildings.
Building upwards presents more challenges than building outwards in terms of managing the necessary infrastructure for large-scale data processing, especially when considering the need for efficient cooling systems and robust power distribution across multiple levels.
One criticism of a recently approved data center in Fort Worth was the height of the buildings. Some of those newly approved buildings are meant to be 105 feet tall—roughly 10 stories.
The Wall Street Journal reports on the transformation of data centers from bulky boxes to slick highrises. Here’s the start of the story:
Data centers’ squat, industrial aesthetic is getting a vertical and visual upgrade, driven by artificial intelligence-fueled demands for computing power, as well as geographic necessity.
A movement of data centers from the boonies to the burgs has led operators to reconsider the windowless, prison-like look that has defined data-center design for decades, resulting in projects more pleasing to the eye from street level.
Buildings of two stories or more are becoming more common, as urban and suburban builders don’t have the land to spread out, or don’t want to pay the higher costs of doing so.
“Data-center footprints are continuing to expand, and if you can’t go outwards, sometimes you have to go upwards,” said Stephen Donohoe, vice president of global data-center design at Equinix.
The company has properties that rise eight, nine and 10 stories high in cities across the globe—plus its tallest, a 12-story building in Amsterdam. Some of its facilities have slick facades, exterior “green walls” of plants, or rooftop greenhouses powered by excess heat. Equinix also began using acoustic sensors this year to track pollinators like bees, helping it better select foliage, according to Donohoe.