Pionen – White mountain / Albert France-Lanord Architects
Architects: Albert France-Lanord Architects
Location:Stockholm, Sweden
Program: Datacenter
Collaborators: Frida Öster and Jonatan Blomgren
Geology Consultant: Geosigma AB
Construction: Albert France-Lanord Architects
Client: Bahnhof AB
Construction Area: 1,200 sqm
Project year: 2008
Photographs: Åke E:son Lindman
The project takes place in a former 1200 square meter anti-atomic shelter. An amazing location 30 meters down under the granite rocks of the Vita Berg Park in Stockholm. The client is an internet provider and the rock shelter hosts server halls and offices. The starting point of the project was to consider the rock as a living organism. The humans try to acclimate themselves to this foreign world and bring the ‘best’ elements from earth: light, plants, water and technology. We created strong contrasts between rooms where the rock dominates and where the human being is a stranger against rooms where the human being took over totally.
The choice of lightning has been very challenging. We tried to bring as much variation as possible. Otherwise it is very easy to loose the feeling of time in an enclosed space.
Our references come straight from science fiction films, mostly ‘Silent Running’ and a bunch of Bond films with Ken Adams set design.
One can describe the process in five different phases:
-planning
-destruction of the former office and blowing up the rock to create extra space.
-reinforce the cave. concrete work.
-technical installations. electrical.
-glass and steel work. paint and furnishing.
The client had a strong vision from the first brief and the result is only possible because of their persistence, the absence of compromise and great communication/ understanding between all parts under the process.
It has been very exciting to work with a space which at first didn’t offer one square angle: the rock. The main room is not a traditional space limited by surfaces but defined by the emptiness inside a mass.
-
- plans
-
- section 01
-
- section 02
-
- section 03
Related articles:
38 Comments to “Pionen – White mountain / Albert France-Lanord Architects” »
This is pretty awesome. Even more awesome (for me) is that I get to be the first person here to say: “Welcome to my underground lair.”
It looks like it was inspired in Batman´s cave!!! Pretty cool
[...] vía function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open(’http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=’+encodeURIComponent(u)+’&t=’+encodeURIComponent(t),’sharer’,'toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436′);return false;} html .fb_share_link { padding:2px 0 0 20px; height:16px; background:url(http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/images/share/facebook_share_icon.gif?0:26981) no-repeat top left; }compartelo en Facebook « escultura | juan muñoz [...]
[...] Pionen – White mountain / Albert France-Lanord Architects (ArchDaily) Galería de Fotos [...]
What function do the two large engines serve? Do they power the cooing system for the servers… or just the A/C?
[...] Pionen – White mountain / Albert France-Lanord Architects | Arch Daily __________________ http://www.markforsman.com [...]
Dr No would be proud! great touches
“the absence of compromise” — I wonder what that feels like?
I think we’ve found the perfect location for the next Bond movie.
Sorry, roadkill… I noticed your comment too late. You’re right, of course.
[...] Posted by windflame Pionen – White mountain / Albert France-Lanord Architects | Arch Daily If I had gotten into the Supervillain field, I’d have totally bought this place: it looks like a [...]
I think I see agent 007 sneaking around somewhere…
The engines power electric generators in case of electric outages — standard high-end data center fare.
Also interesting to notice that much of the Stockholm underground runs inside similar caves blasted out of the solid granite.
As cool as this place is, I’m not sure how nice it would be to actually live there. It’s essentially a massive, all-consuming conversation piece. At a certain point, good homes recede to the background. I want to be able to bask in the beauty of my house when I feel like it, but also peacefully ignore its presence when I want to. Living in a house like that, one will always have the feeling of being an actor on a movie set. It’s cool for cocktail parties, for sure. But eventually I think one tires of the cinematic intensity here.
http://www.contemporaryartdaily.com
[...] y redes de comunicación. Por regla general son sitios de acceso restringido. Éste es el datacenter Pionen en White Mountains, Suecia. Construido bajo 30 metros de granito sólido en un antiguo bunker nuclear. El arquitecto Alber [...]
[...] Quite possibly the coolest environment I’ve ever seen… Sauce [...]
me recuerda demasiado el refugio de Lex Luthor en las montañas, en una de las clásicas Superman pero no recuerdo exactamente cual de todas.
[...] Designed and fabulously shaped by Albert France-Lanord Architects, this unique data center is a modified underground shelter originally designed to survive a nuclear war. Located 30 meters under the granite rocks of the Vita Berg Park in Stockholm, the architects managed to create a beautiful structure fit for human activity by adding elements such as water, artificial light and vegetation. One can easily forget the fact that this 1200 square feet space used to be a real anti-atomic shelter deep beneath the surface. Seems like expanding deeper may be the next big trend! [via ArchDaily] [...]
Wow, very interesting. Also have some cool caves in the Philippines, please check out my travel blog…
@contemporary Art…
Have you realised that you are not suppose to live there?
All I can say is that it must have been so much fun working on this, also the experiance and knowledge amist of this project surely is juicy.
Peace.
[...] iled Under (House and home) by on 27-11-2008 ‘Bahnhof Office’ an interesting project at Stockholm, Sweden by Albert France-Lanord Architects. And what makes its so special is the [...]
[...] Full article from http://www.archdaily.com [...]
[...] Iš: Archdaily Nuoroda|Komentarų RSS - Rašyti komentarą|Trackback URL. [...]
[...] Source: Arch Daily [...]
nice site makes nice design
[...] Data Center di Bekas Bunker November 28, 2008 Posted by xirka in Seputar Jaringan. Tags: bunker nuklir, data center, pionen trackback (berita lengkap di sini, gambar lebih lengkap di sini) [...]
[...] out of a Bond-villain’s layer, this sensationally outlandish multi-purpose facility for an internet provider houses server halls and offices and is set in a [...]
[...] Pionen – White mountain. Amazing underground data-center in Sweden, built and designed around a former nuclear shelter. It looks absolutely amazing with the variations in lighting and contrast between the natural rock, the materials and technology used. The architects ‘Albert France-Lanord Architects‘ say they took a lot of inspiration from science fiction films such as ‘Silent Running’ and the work of set-designer extraordinaire Ken Adam (Dr. No, Dr Strangelove), which definitely shows. [...]
[...] Pionen – White mountain / Albert France-Lanord Architects | Arch Daily Stockholm, Sweeden datacenter cum Bond villain base of operations. (tags: art architecture) [...]
[...] You’d expect the sysadmin blogs to call it fit for a James Bond villain, but even the architecture blogs are a gaga. Trendhunter compares it to the RFM FM Radio headquarters (Poland) and John [...]
Cool, though not the first data center in a used nuclear bunker. (www.thebunker.net has been doing that for a decade.) Places like that can obviously provide good physical security, and usually have good redundant power grid connections, and may have good resources for cooling if there’s not too much equipment for the amount of floor space.
hi
n2woyiw15n15cdi5
good luck
hi
n2woyiw15n15cdi5
good luck
where’s the originality, dear architect?
This is sweet. I wish it was designed for the public though…perhaps a restaurant or bar or club or museum. Oh well.
[...] Iš: Archdaily [...]
[...] Archdaily … The project takes place in a former 1200 square meter anti-atomic shelter. An amazing [...]
Leave a Reply »