{"id":185014,"date":"2025-12-10T15:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/185014\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T15:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:18:11","slug":"exposed-ducts-and-server-rooms-feature-at-beijing-data-centre-by-lllab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/185014\/","title":{"rendered":"Exposed ducts and server rooms feature at Beijing data centre by LLLAB"},"content":{"rendered":"

A steel<\/a> grid wrapped in LED netting cloaks the metal ductwork of Spark 716, an AI data centre<\/a> and “computing power park” in the centre of Beijing<\/a>, completed by local architecture practice LLLAB<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Located within Beijing’s 798 Art District, the building was designed as an alternative to the traditionally closed-off typology of the data centre, instead allowing the infrastructure to co-exist with public and office facilities.<\/p>\n

\"ExteriorLLLAB has completed an AI data centre in the centre of Beijing<\/p>\n

Fronted by a large public plaza, Spark 716 contains event, exhibition and workspaces, as well as areas that give glimpses into the data centre’s server rooms, which Shanghai-based LLLAB<\/a> described as its “breathing and heartbeat.”<\/p>\n

“In essence, the project embodies the convergence of architecture and artificial intelligence,” studio founders Hanxiao Liu and Luis Ricardo told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

\"FrontA public plaza fronts the building<\/p>\n

“The design transforms a data infrastructure into an expressive, perceptible being, mediating the threshold between the human and the digital,” the studio continued.<\/p>\n

“This environment offered a unique opportunity to explore the intersection between the tangible and intangible \u2013 between the physical presence of architecture and the ephemeral realm of the digital world.”<\/p>\n

\"ExteriorIts steel structure is infilled with LED netting<\/p>\n

Creating a feature of the large ventilation ducts required to cool the server rooms, LLLAB kept them exposed to form the building’s facade, where they are encased within a steel grid infilled with LED netting that illuminates at night.<\/p>\n

A glazed ground floor sits beneath this steel grid, with the plaza leading into the building through a row of chunky concrete supports. Inside, spaces sit on either side of a central courtyard, off of which are dedicated entrances to the office areas.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Data<\/p>\n

AI-fuelled data centre demand will set back energy transition\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

“The grid organises the building’s physical structure while also evoking the language of the virtual world \u2014 a digital matrix that represents information, order, and flow,” Hanxiao and Luis said.<\/p>\n

“The building appears solid and material during the day, yet as night falls, it transforms \u2013 its digital facade and dynamic lighting allow it to dematerialise and blend into the virtual landscape.”<\/p>\n

\"InteriorGridded metal ceilings line the interior. Photo by Fernando Guerra<\/p>\n

The grid of the centre’s exterior is carried through the interiors, which featured gridded metal ceilings and tiled floors with a grid pattern.<\/p>\n

The theatre, called the Computing Power Theatre, is wrapped by an angular black display wall and will serve as the base for China’s annual JXQ AI Forum. The adjacent Enterprise Command Centre, meanwhile, provides a space to exhibit locally produced chips.<\/p>\n

\"InteriorThe centre contains both public and office facilities<\/p>\n

Previous projects by LLLAB include a series of woven bamboo shelters and pavilions on the banks of the Li River in Yangshuo<\/a> and a hotel on the outskirts of Beijing that mimics a village of traditional brick and slate buildings.<\/a><\/p>\n

The photography is by Arch-Exist Photography<\/a> unless otherwise stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A steel grid wrapped in LED netting cloaks the metal ductwork of Spark 716, an AI data centre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[2334,307,304,305,306,2102,114,5691,308,93,61,60,100111,19845,814,815],"class_list":{"0":"post-185014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-beijing","14":"tag-china","15":"tag-data-centres","16":"tag-design","17":"tag-entertainment","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-lllab","21":"tag-office-architecture","22":"tag-sectionall","23":"tag-sectionarchitecture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}