{"id":8366,"date":"2026-05-21T17:00:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T17:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.angesfinanciers.org\/?p=8366"},"modified":"2026-05-22T15:10:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T15:10:22","slug":"gensler-designs-corten-data-centre-to-have-meaningful-civic-contribution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.angesfinanciers.org\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/gensler-designs-corten-data-centre-to-have-meaningful-civic-contribution\/","title":{"rendered":"Gensler designs Corten data centre to have “meaningful civic contribution”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gensler<\/div>\n

Achitecture studio Gensler<\/a> has released renderings of Thistle Data Center Campus, a hyperscale data centre in Arizona<\/a>, USA, with a weathering steel facade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Designed for developer Menlo Digital<\/a>, the Thistle Data Center Campus is planned for the site of a former call center in an industrial area of Arizona’s capital and largest city.<\/p>\n

It will consist of five data centres with 36 to 72 megawatt capacity spread over the 1,000,000-square-foot campus.<\/p>\n

The design team at Gensler<\/a> wanted to create a building that would improve the appearance of the industrial site for residents in the surrounding area. Most of the current use revolves around surface parking.<\/p>\n

\"Rendering
Gensler has designed the Thistle Data Center Campus \u00a0in Arizona<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Making something that people genuinely want to look at, that adds something positive to the visual character of a neighborhood is within our power and purview as architects, it’s part of our duty,” Gensler design director Geofrey Diamond told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“The project offers a meaningful civic contribution, rather than a fringe benefit.”<\/p>\n

To do this, Gensler decided to use a material palette akin to the elements of the arid climate, with red-orange weathering steel panels punctuating the facade and forming canopies over parts of the building and textured concrete for the primary cladding.<\/p>\n

Since as much as 20 per cent of the interior may be used for office space and amenities, the entrance ways will feature recessed glass curtain walls and windows punctuated by bands of weathering steel.<\/p>\n

\"Gensler
Gensler has selected Corten-steel cladding and textured complex to fit into the desert vernacular<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But at the end of the day, the building needs to function properly to host the servers that will enable the centre to operate efficiently for tenants, who will likely be running complex AI or cloud data infrastructures.<\/p>\n

Flexibility of function is also a priority as the project kicks off.<\/p>\n

“We want to build a lot of flexibility into the interiors of the space, because the developer needs a building that could work for multiple kinds of clients,” Gensler technical director and global leader of critical facilities Rob LoBuono told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“We are building on the idea of keeping it operational for 20 to 30 years.”<\/p>\n

\"Thistle
The project will be sited on an industrial site<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This flexibility will be tempered by the security concerns of the facility, which means that few people outside of employees or contractors will see the inside of the facility.<\/p>\n

“We have to find other ways to make a genuine contribution,” said Diamond.<\/p>\n

“Here, the developer is providing a generously amenitized public open space at the north end of the campus.”<\/p>\n