Monument to the repository of Data

Team 

Name: Sarah Wong

Nationality: Hong Kong

Institution / Company: University of Hong Kong

– FINALIST of 2020 Monument Competition

Data technology is progressing very fast and has transformed digitised data into the most valuable resource in the world. The world can no longer solely be understood through the physical systems in human dimensions as a lot of human activities are happening in the cyberspace. It is now possible to store digital versions of life’s knowledge, or even memories, in a data centre.

Data centres as an infrastructure is fundamental to a city’s vitality. But despite their size and ubiquity, the public is rarely aware of their existence. However, they are still an invisible common space frequently patronised by the public. Data centres thus deserve a form of monumentality of its own, which could be a spatial anchor-point to bring the lost touch of data in the Cloud to a tangible site that moves beyond seemingly invisible repository. A retrieval of digital data into a realm of architecture, landscape and physical public space is needed. This project explores how a data centre transcend the merely practical to become an architectural feature that is profoundly cultural. Aiming to discover a new kind of relationship created through digital intervention, which leads to a new future stage for sharing and creating cultures.

#digital #datacenter #invisiblecommonspace #monumentality #Infrastructure