12-14,
North
Portugal Telecom Data Centre
The PT Data Centre in Covilhã occupies part of the former Covilhã air field, a slightly elevated site in relation to the city itself. The design project consists of five buildings: four identical technical blocks (of which only one was built in Phase I) housing the company servers; and a support building with office, storage and parking areas.
The technical blocks – which are akin to large engine rooms in that they practically permanently devoid of human occupation, have four levels above ground and are clad in dark metal grid panels that guarantee the airflow necessary for ventilation and cooling – are pure prismatic, rectangular volumes 55 m wide and 34 m high. They are surrounded by a pool of water and are reflected in it, giving the impression of four virtual levitating cubes.
On the site’s north-western side, facing the city and the mountains, the segmented body of the support building (355 m long, 20 m wide) delimits the pool, as if it were a dam. On the upper level it houses o ices; below the water level are support spaces and accesses to the server buildings.
The support building was granted a leed Platinum certi cation, with the technical blocking receiving a leed Gold classification, in recognition of the design’s sustainability aspects, such as the free cooling system for the server building, the extensive use of solar energy panels and the water pool serving as a means of heat exchange.
