Data Center Site 4 HEOC2

OWNER

Hewlett Packard

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Size: 410,000 SF

Architect: PGAL

Feature: two switchgear buildings each 4,500 SF

Data Center Site 4 HEOC2

Houston
Texas

Hewlett Packard (HP) decided to take on the ambitious goal of consolidating their existing 85 data centers across the nation into 6 larger data centers, located in 3 U.S. cities. Due to their ease of access and relatively low chance of natural disasters, HP chose Houston and Austin, Texas, and Atlanta. Each city will host 2 centers within 15 miles of each other.

The Houston centers are located in Northwest Houston and include multiple computer room cells and a massive service support area. Two switch gear buildings were also built on site to hold the electrical equipment associated with powering the data center and servers.

As the Structural Engineer, Walter P Moore designed a cast-in-place concrete structure that will withstand 150 MPH wind speeds, not the code required 110 MPH, as requested by HP. It was also designed for temperature and shrinkage effects without the aid of expansion joints. Design and construction were “fast-tracked” allowing delivery of the buildings within a tight schedule.