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An engaging journey toward hope

Visitor concept for a
data center

Location: Confidential
Year: 2025

Olla developed an architectural and experiential concept for a nationally and internationally significant data center project, aiming to provide visitors with a memorable, narrative experience. The concept divided the spatial experience into phases, illustrating humanity’s development and its journey toward the future. The experience was encapsulated in a logo created for the concept: visitors walk along a bridge from the past toward the possibilities opened by technology, while being impressed by the supercomputers placed in the space. The concept made use of the existing – a vast old factory hall – and created conditions for both memorable visitor experiences and the operation of high-performance supercomputers.

A computer cannot hope, but it has the power to make our hopes and goals come true

The visitor experience is a journey toward hope. The architectural concept consists of five spaces, five phases. At the heart of it all is the human being, guided by curiosity about the future and faith in something better. The journey is set in the Nordics, yet it tells a universal story.

The atmospheres of the spaces are clearly distinct from one another. At the same time, they tell a story of boundlessness: walls that once confined our data and our consciousness are now permeable. We are able to move from one phase to another, forward and backward, into the past and into the future.

Ice

The journey begins in an age of ice, during which the world as we know it was shaped. At the center of the space stands a blue giant—an iceberg-like supercomputer. The spatial experience is powerful and contemplative. Yet beneath the surface, something is happening: inside the icy shell, the future is being woven bit by bit. Data grows and connects, much like cells beneath the ice, once waiting for their moment to emerge.

Earth

The ice recedes, the land is released. Life prevails: it emerges, begins to move, and finds its voice. In the spatial experience, the tones and sounds of nature dominate: greenery and birdsong surround the visitor. Though the noises of growth can be heard everywhere, the prevailing feeling is one of calm.

Industry

Nature transforms into possibilities, and the human touch begins to appear. The nature is strongly present in the materials, yet the structures and compositions are human-made. In the warmly lit space, the texture of wood is tangible. In the background, one can hear humans interacting with their materials: a saw gnaws through a log, a hammer shapes the metal.

Data & Hope

Humans have evolved into masters of harnessing. The sheer amount of knowledge and skills at our disposal is staggering, and the fourth space makes this visible. In a space representing robotics, artificial intelligence, and the information society, knowledge flows, transforms, exchanges, and networks. The concept included also a space reservation for a fifth area: Hope. This space is interactive and responds to visitors, making tangible the nature of hope: hoping requires a human. Hope is a uniquely powerful ingredient from which anything can be created, once we first dare to imagine. The inspiring, mind-stretching space is, in fact, an accelerator for imagination.

The data halls are located in an old industrial building. In the visitor concept, the symmetrical wooden architecture, cutting-edge audiovisual design, and the ruggedly beautiful industrial setting create an unforgettable visitor experience.

In the proposal, visitors journey from the ice age toward the future and hope. Yet the symmetrically repeating architectural and audiovisual framework is highly adaptable: it offers limitless possibilities to tell different stories and create evolving worlds for visitors to experience.

The data hall is primarily experienced from above, as visitors move along the pathways. Openings in the route offer views into the hall below. From above, visitors can immerse themselves in the audiovisual experience created by the interplay of horizontal and vertical surfaces. The massive scale of the hall also becomes clear from this vantage point. One of the highlights along the route is descending by lift into a viewing pit, offering compelling perspectives of the data hall and the quantum machine.

AV technology integrated into the architectural solution enables a dramatic transformation of the space’s appearance without structural changes: only the content needs to be updated. In the proposal, horizontal surfaces such as walkways and the ceilings of white space areas are realized using laser technology, while vertical surfaces function as projection surfaces. The spatial experience is enhanced by soundscapes customized to each stage of the narrative.