Neil Sheehan spoke with Great Lakes By Design about the swift emergence and steadily rising demand of data centers, particularly hyperscale data centers, and the responsibility architects share in designing more sustainable, higher-performing, and engaging buildings for both the technology and people that use them—and the world that relies on them.

“Data center design, as a building typology, presents a distinctive vision of both human and machine, whose architectural language not only is inherently complex and technical, but also fundamentally simple and beautiful. It reveals, not unlike the electrification of the last century, a shift in how one lives and moves through the world, often traversing beyond the physical landscape to an interconnected, global world.

“Design, for me, means care. It should be evident when you look at a project delivered from our office that we took care with every part of it, nothing happened accidentally. For us, it’s about efficiency and economy and beauty.””

You can read the full article, “Powered by design,” in Volume 6, Issue 6 of Great Lakes By Design Magazine out now.