Paris Architect Designs Zhangjiang Data Centre to Mimic Motherboard

French design firm Silvio d’Ascia Architecture recently completed a 94,000 square metre data centre in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang High Tech Park made to follow the design of a computer motherboard.

Belonging to the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the data centre sprawls over a ten-hectare site with individual functions organized as chips within a computer motherboard, while the complex is traversed by a pedestrian path, recalling the lines of electronic circuits joining different parts of a microprocessor. The high tech development is composed of 14 buildings housing production, research, development, and recreational facilities for the Futures Exchange and its staff.

The design divides the facility into three “constructed bands,” the first containing 50,000 square metres of office space. A second band composed of presentation buildings including a 4,500 square metre welcome center used for events and exhibits, a 3,500 square metre sports center, and the 10,000 square metre data center makes up the centre of the campus, while a third series of smaller buildings located in a park area alongside the river contain a conference center and a 12,500 square metre hotel. This third area also includes three buildings used for training and research.

The Shanghai Futures Exchange complex is the second major design project in China for the Italian-born d’Ascia, who earlier designed a data centre for the Bank of Shanghai.

All images courtesy of Silvio d’Ascia Architecture.