DATA CENTER ECMWF presso TECNOPOLO di BO

Project Proponent: Regione Emilia Romagna

Tenant: European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts

Architectural Design: Von Gerkan, Marg und Partner (https://www.gmp.de/de/)

Structural Design: Werner Sobek + Milan Ingegneria

Technical Building Equipment: Studio TI Srl

Landascape Architect: LAND Italia Srl

Environmental Consultant and LEED certification: AIRIS Srl (https://www.airis.it/)

Contractor: ATIproject S.r.l. – FRIMAT S.p.A. – SITE S.p.A. – Gianni Benvenuto S.p.A.

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an intergovernmental organization which develops numerical methods and prepares medium-term weather forecasts, scientific and technical research. ECMWF is an excellence in the field of meteorology and possesses the world's largest archive of numerical weather forecast data.

The new data center is part of the larger urban redevelopment plan of the former Manifattura Tabacchi, a production area on the outskirts of Bologna, designed in the '50s by Eng. Pierluigi Nervi, one of the masters of Italian engineering. The complex, abandoned for thirty years, will host the Bologna Technopole, an infrastructure of the TekneHub network that promotes the circulation of scientific and technological knowledge, which aims to make Bologna and the Emilia Romagna region a pole of innovation at European level.

The goal was to create the most sustainable datacenter possible, and the project team chose to use the LEED BC&D rating system as a design tool to achieve high sustainability standards. Facing energy and thermal challenges characteristic of this space type, the project team employed a “box in a box” design, reducing energy consumption by constraining HVAC to only areas in need – about 10% of the facility – with dry coolers, geothermal wells, and high-efficiency chillers connected to a 353-kWp rooftop photovoltaic system to disperse thermal loads, and all buildings were outfitted with a cool roof. The consumption of water for non-potable uses are covered by the rainwater collected on the roofs and delivered to a system of underground tanks. Indoor comforts are automatically adjusted according to daylight, indoor / outdoor air temperature and CO2 levels, and materials have been chosen based on the percentage of recycled content and low emissions of VOCs and other pollutants.

All these strategies have allowed the data center of ECMWF to obtain LEED Platinum certification, an extraordinary achievement that demonstrates the commitment of Emilia Romagna Region in sustainable development, of European Community in the fight against climate change and of the whole Italian movement of the Green Building, through the important work of dissemination by GBC Italia.