Experience the best postgraduate education: discover YACademy
Open Competitions

Sant'Anna d'Alfaedo

Data Landscape

YAC launches a call for ideas aiming to imagine a new generation of datacentres which fit in the landscape to generate magnificent and iconic architectures. 

Data Landscape

“Data will be the new oil”.
Alec Ross.

“Data will be the new oil”.
Alec Ross.

Metaverse, avatar, cryptocurrencies. The digital world is just as real as the material world. Whatever the activity we carry out online, its ultimate and univocal implication in the empirical world will be data. 

Despite their apparent volatility, digital data have deeply material roots. Physical spaces are needed to file them, technologies are needed to secure them and huge quantities of energy are needed to access them at any time.

Datacentres are the material trace of the digital world. The more this world grows, the more they multiply, thus acquiring an essential value and playing a key role for the society of the future. 

Datacentres are the material trace of the digital world. The more this world grows, the more they multiply, thus acquiring an essential value and playing a key role for the society of the future. 

For a long time, they have been considered infrastructures rather than architectures. Yet, numerous recent experimentations show that datacentres can become landmarks of modern cities. They can be an opportunity to repurpose abandoned architectures and places that are no longer in use in an innovative way. 

This is the case of a former military bunker along the Venetian Prealps. It is an architecture that is considered difficult to reuse due to the presence of isolation segments and underground spaces – characteristics that, in fact, turn out to be advantages when building a datacentre. 

How to make the most of the characteristics of a military architecture in designing a modern datacentre? How to integrate this function into the jaw dropping landscape? 

These are the underlying questions of Data Landscape. This is Manni Group’s competition to imagine a new generation of datacentres which fit in the landscape to generate magnificent and iconic architectures. 

Datacentres are the sign of contemporaneity. They are intended to change the face of cities just the way railway stations, factories, and large buildings have always done in order to meet the needs of the time. Taking an interest in datacentres today means writing a significant chapter of the cities of tomorrow.

Taking an interest in datacentres today means writing a significant chapter of the cities of tomorrow.

 

Manni Group thanks all architects who will take up this challenge.

 

Jury

Each jury is nominated with utmost care and is composed by professionals of the highest repute whose activity is consistent with the theme of the competition.

  • Patrick Lüth
    Snøhetta
  • Wahlström Walter Mats
    Ateljé Ö
  • Enrico Frizzera
    Manni Group
  • Lorenzo Bottinelli
    BASF
  • Alessandro Adamo
    DEGW Lombardini 22
  • Fedele Canosa
    Mecanoo Architecten
  • Giorgio Ventre
    Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II - Apple Academy
  • Gianandrea Gazzola
  • Samuele Tommasi
    Comune Sant'Anna d'Alfaedo
  • Jelena Vucic
    BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group

Prizes

All awarded projects will be sent to websites, magazines and architectural platforms. Furthermore, they can be displayed in national and international architectural events.

1st Prize

€ 10.000

2nd Prize

€ 4.000

3rd Prize

€ 2.000

Gold Mention BASF

€ 1. 000

Gold Mention Manni Sipre - Manni Green Tech “The power of steel”

€ 1. 000

Gold Mention Isopan “Flat Roof Solutions”

€ 1. 000

Gold Mention Isopan “Ventilated Facade”

€ 1. 000

Honorable Mentions

10

Finalists

30

Timeline

Complying with deadlines is a fundamental requirement to take part in the competition. All architects are encouraged to pay the utmost attention to the timeline and to complete each phase in advance.

* +22% VAT. Fulfilling an “Early bird”, “Standard” or “Late” registration does not affect submission deadline.

Early Bird Registration

€ 65 / team*

Standard Registration

€ 85 / team*

Late Registration

€ 115 / team*

Material Submission Deadline

Jury Summoning

Results Announcement

Download

YAC provides architects with content-rich competition material so that they can best express their ideas and thoughts wherever they live.

Rules

En Ita Es Fr Pt Ru Zh Ro De

2D Drawings

3D Model

Pictures

FAQ

Shall all the areas listed in the program (datacentre and offices, training centre and classrooms, services, residences etc.) be designed or is it up to the designer's decision?

Where will the datacentre be located?

Is it mandatory to compensate for the activities of the datacentre through sustainable energy?

What should be the dimensions of each function mentioned in the program?

Can a team submit more than one proposal?

Is there an age limit to take part in the competition?

Is it possible to participate without a team?

Partners

YAC thanks all the people who have been engaged in organizing the competition by sharing time, materials and resources to make the experience of architects unique.

Manni GroupBASFRockwoolBjarke Ingles GroupMecanooSnohettaAltejoGianandrea GazzolaLombardini22Comune Sant'Anna d'AlfaedoArvedi Tubi AcciaioUNICMIData Center Dynamics

Sant'Anna d'Alfaedo

Data Landscape

Dl Cover

Keep up to date with our latest news by subscribing to our regular newsletter