Digital Doubtinside the circle
Rethink

Data center of the sea

2020 By Lauren Kirk, T. Craig Sinclair
An image showing an underwater landscape. There is a long kenetic,
geometric sculpture. There a faded lines around it, and figures of what
appear to be a sea creature and diver.
A hydrokinetic machine landscape from Data center of the sea, 2020 by T. Craig Sinclair and Lauren Kirk.

As digital technologies expand, they require more infrastructure and energy to support them. Data centres full of servers to process data not only take up large tracts of land but require huge amounts of energy for processing and cooling, ultimately increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Artist and architect T. Craig Sinclair asks: why are data centres designed for human comfort and not for the machines they house? Utilising the ocean as a habitat with natural cooling properties, he designs strings of mid-ocean data centres that also generate kinetic energy from marine currents, creating a kind of ‘windmill of the sea’.

What you see on the image
Water column section. Data center of the sea, 2020 by T. Craig Sinclair and Lauren Kirk.
What you see on the image
Jitterbug motion diagram, showing transformation from tetrahedron to full bloom cuboctahedron. Data center of the sea, 2020 by T. Craig Sinclair and Lauren Kirk.
What you see on the image
Unit assembly axonometric. Data center of the sea, 2020 by T. Craig Sinclair and Lauren Kirk.
What you see on the image
Water column section, showing string of servers, connecting cables, subocean internet cables and ocean layers. Data center of the sea, 2020 by T. Craig Sinclair and Lauren Kirk.
What you see on the image
Water column section, showing string of servers, connecting cables, subocean internet cables and ocean layers. Data center of the sea, 2020 by T. Craig Sinclair and Lauren Kirk.