Rhizomatic Networks: Investigating the Infrastructure Space of Data

The North is a dense space of connectivity, where submarine cables span between the population centers and economic hubs of Europe. Within this web of relations, the Netherlands play an important role as the gateway to continental Europe on the one hand and the United States and United Kingdom on the other hand. At the same time, the stable political conditions, reliable energy supply and friendly business atmosphere, have given rise to an intense economy of data centres within the Netherlands. The hierarchy of these networks is determined by other territorial factors such as economic relevance, national borders and existing infrastructural ecologies. Equally, the typology of data centres is focused around three main parameters that determine the location and architectural design. Firstly, the proximity to high capacity fibre networks is a determinant factor for the geographic location of data centres. In many cases this also implies a proximity to the sea and the global connection this warrants. Secondly, as they require sizeable and stable energy supply, they are either located close to energy sources or transmission cables. Thirdly, they usually require a lot of space to fit as much server space as possible, which results in a backcountry location. Hence, data centres are usually planned in a remote location, consuming a lot of space while not returning any spatial quality. My project challenges these paradigms in a number of ways, while adhering to the underlying network logics. Currently, the two system edges are usually separated in such that data networks are located close to the global network but far from the actual user. Therefore, my project proposes to collapse the geographic proximity of global connections and local user by bringing the data centres into the cities. The resultant urban network is able to benefit from a number of network effects and agglomeration benefits. These include the reduced latencies that are needed for the Internet of Things and the integration of energy infrastructure, allowing energy storage and dissipation on an urban scale. To achieve this integration the project distribution is based on a variety of urban parameters, which include the existing infrastructure networks and morphological analyses such as space syntax and isovists. On an architectural scale the project proposes a typological understanding of the urban data centres, which respond to a number of different parameters and organisational modes. In consequence, the project proposes three types that are responding to three different site conditions. Furthermore, the types vary according to their socio-economic organisation, their structural independence and most importantly size. The three types or architectural artefacts range from a ‘large’ publicly maintained building, via a medium sized civic centre to small miniature private buildings. The resultant architecture proposes to redefine the standard type for data centres making them an outstanding part of the urban fabric. While the project proposes a specific infrastructure in a specific place it is structured to be replicable in other sites. At the same time, it carries a number of important messages. Firstly, it shows quite clearly the scale and impact of society’s use of data by bringing it closer to the user and making it palpable in our daily lives. At the same time this presence also liberates the ‘world exterior’ from another predatory infrastructure allowing us to read the functional dependencies of our cities more clearly. Secondly, the project also questions the territorial dependence of data flows by illustrating the possibility of local data. In times of data scandals and increased political awareness, the vision of keeping your data close allows us to challenge the way we currently deal with this abstract matter. Finally, the project also illustrates the scale of our data use. It warns us of the impact it can have on our lives. While the project takes place on the urban scale of the city of Scheveningen and is developed as an architectural proposal that reaches the detail scale it is part of a larger project. The project and its scale are determined by the site, the architectural proposals are specific to a location and their detailing is adjusted to local circumstances. Nonetheless, the project also proposes a territorial shift, where decentralisation and ownership are challenged. The urban component of this thesis is a case study for a larger project, a project that takes place on the personal and territorial scale simultaneously. Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Transitional Territorie