Penzel Valier

Description

The new Hönggerberg Data Center (HRZ) of ETH Zürich, along with the boiler house, pump house, cooling tower and auxiliary service buildings, forms part of an infrastructure ensemble on the Hönggerberg campus. Within this group, the HRZ serves as the new address and acts as a power block at the interface between the campus and the residential area. The building was constructed with concrete walls and horizontally suspended timber load-bearing elements. The wall material was optimised to create a thin, weather-resistant shell, allowing a portion of the heat to be vented directly outside. Since no concrete ceilings were required to connect to the walls, a climbing formwork system was employed, using specially developed connectors with distance holders made of die-cast zinc. The ceilings were designed as beams or trusses, depending on the load, to support a uniform load of 2 tonnes/square metre from the servers across a span of 18.7 metres without the need for columns. The server rooms can be flexibly partitioned, ensuring the long-term adaptability of the layout. Solid wood, glued laminated timber and plywood elements were used selectively, depending on load requirements, creating an optimised wood-wood hybrid system. Externally, the order and materialisation of the interior are expressed by the heads of the wooden beams protruding through the load-bearing walls.