First-up is Facebook’s vast data center in Luleå, northern Sweden.
Completed in 2013, the facility is Facebook’s first data center constructed outside the
US. Its location was chosen for three reasons – firstly Luleå is positioned just a few
miles from the Arctic Circle with an average winter temperature of -20 degrees Celsius.
The building uses fans to draw in the cold Arctic air and cool its servers. This is much
more efficient and environmentally friendly than the extensive air conditioning systems
found in older centers and moves Facebook closer to their aim of running all their data
centers on 50% clean and renewable energy by 2018.
Secondly, the location was chosen for its energy supply. Historically, Sweden built
a number of hydroelectric dams for its steel, iron ore and paper industries. These industries have
since declined, leaving the northern region with a power surplus that Facebook are now
helping to soak up.
As if the first two reasons weren’t compelling enough, Sweden is also one of the most stable
places in the world. Seismic activity is extremely low and its last formal war was in 1814.
Commenting on the facility, Facebook’s Vice President of Infrastructure Tom Furlong said
that: “Architecturally, these are big buildings. They are not the Shard in London or the Freedom
Tower in New York, but as buildings put up for a purpose they are pretty darn good.”
In at number four is Samsung with their stunning new US headquarter building in San Jose.
At over 1.1 million square feet – equivalent to around 102,000 square meters – the facility
is the largest office building on the North American continent.
Its wafer-like form is inspired by the composition of a microchip and its open-air levels create
green breakout spaces for reflection, relaxation and development of wellbeing.
The building is split into two divisions – one focusing on research and development, and
the other on sales – and goes out of its way to try and entice the best talent in Silicon
Valley’s highly competitive recruitment market.
Next up is Google’s new UK headquarter campus, due to be constructed in London.
The project is a significant undertaking and Google’s announcement and decision to build
in the UK makes them one of the largest organisations to select the country for a headquarter site
since it voted to leave the European Union in 2016.
The project has been on the cards for a while but the previous design proposals (currently
on-screen) were rejected by Google’s Larry Page for being quote “too boring”. The
re-design is now in the hands of Thomas Heatherwick and Bjarke Ingels; the same duo working on
Google’s new global headquarters in California.
Just missing the top spot is Apple’s sprawling new campus under construction in Cupertino.
The vast site will feature research and development facilities, a fitness centre, a bus station,
a visitor centre and seven cafés; one standing three-storeys high and catering for up to
3,000 staff. Extensive use of underground parking creates wide open green spaces, again
trying to attract and retain Silicon Valley’s top tech talent.
Once completed, the site is set to be entirely powered by renewable energy, making it one
of the world’s greenest developments.
At the core of the campus is a 1,000 seater auditorium set to host product launches and
the vast main-ring office building – where the majority of staff are set to be housed
– that measures a mile around.
Taking our top spot is Tesla’s aptly named “Gigafactory” currently under construction in the Nevada
desert and set to become the single largest building on earth once completed.
Tesla expect to be manufacturing half a million electric cars a year by the end of the decade,
a rate that would require today’s entire worldwide production of lithium ion batteries.
In Tesla’s words the factory was “born out of necessity” and will provide enough
batteries to cover their expected demand for cars once operating at full capacity.
Powered by renewable energy, the gigafactory optimises the battery production process by
bringing almost every stage under one roof. The economies of scale are expected to reduce
the cost per kilowatt hour of Tesla’s battery packs by 30%.
A sister factory is being mooted at an as-yet undisclosed location in Europe.
Just missing our list but of course worthy of mention are Amazon’s network of enormous
fulfilment centres around the world, that almost operate as small towns in their own
right, and Google’s very colourful and on-brand data center in Douglas County Georgia in the
United States.
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