Browsing by Author "Hieb, Sara"

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    Rural Datascapes: A Data Farm Network for Rural North Dakota
    (2012-09-05) Hieb, Sara; Wittenberg, Gordon; Hight, Christopher; Whiting, Sarah; Colman, Scott
    This thesis attempts to render architectural agency and aesthetics within the typological discussion of the data center in the rural American landscape. The disciplinary question of the role of architecture and aesthetics in data center design is related to earlier examples of factories and warehouses during modernity. The data center alters the traditional representative role of architecture; they are massive, horizontal buildings that are only conceivable from an aerial perspective, driven by logistics and efficiency. This thesis engages these issues by focusing on the point at which the architectural and programmatic problems of the data center converge, the building form and envelope. This thesis engages the building envelope as an expanded surface that considers not only logistical and environmental issues, but also engages the social and political architectural questions related to the identity of the data center in the rural landscape.