METADATA

Media Temple In The Desert Of The Real

Metadata is a conceptual data center for the storage of the Metaverse, a parallel digital universe of human creation. It is a Cathedral creating a bridge between the tangible and the immaterial, the real and the hyper-real, The Simulation. The datacenter is the sole material reality of the virtual simulation. This makes the structure housing the datacenter a sacred space which requires being fortified against hostile environments and intents. As the Metaverse becomes more ubiquitous in our daily lives entire populations will abandon reality for their subjective realities manifested online. The vacuum of space found in the absence of daily interpersonal interaction will create a literal desert of the real. People will need to be lured away from the simulation through sensual experience. Metadata response to this sociological condition through programmatic intervention. Media Spectacle and the promise of luxury sensual experience are deployed as modalities of seduction. The thermal bath house in the cavernous sublevels of Metadata is heated through a thermal exchange with the data servers exploiting a cyclical economy of carbon reduction through sensual experience. Water becomes the conduit creating a fluid exchange of energy providing sensual and hypersensual experience by both cooling the Metaverse servers and heating the baths. The site is located in Queens, New York along the eastern bank of the East River. The water of this coastal site is subject to tidal fluctuation integral to offsetting the carbonfootprint of the project. The site itself is designed to respond to sea level rise as it sits within the coastal flood plain.

Metadata is a conceptual at center for the storage of the Metaverse, a parallel digital universe of human creation. It is a Cathedral creating a bridge between the tangible and the immaterial, the real and the hyper-real, The Simulation. The datacenter is the sole material reality of the virtual simulation. This makes the structure housing the datacenter a sacred space which requires being fortified against hostile environments and intents. As the Metaverse becomes more ubiquitous in our daily lives entire populations will abandon reality for their subjective realities manifested online. The vacuum of space found in the absence of daily interpersonal interaction will create a literal desert of the real. People will need to be lured away from the simulation through sensual experience. Metadata response to the sociological condition through programmatic intervention. Media Spectacle and the promise of luxury sensual experience are deployed as modalities of seduction. The thermal baths house in the cavernous sublevels of Metadata are heated through a thermal exchange with the data servers creating cyclical economy of carbon reduction through sensual experience. Water becomes the conduit crating a fluid exchange of energy providing sensual and hyper-sensual experience by both cooling the Metaverse servers and heating the baths. The site is located in Queens, New York along the eastern bank of the East River. The water of this coastal site is subject to tidal fluctuation integral to offsetting the carbon-footprint of the project. The site itself is design to respond to sea level rise as it sits within the coastal flood plain.

Top: Facade Detail

Bottom: Facade Chunk Detail; Exploded

FILLET WELD

TRIPLE-PANE THERMAL GLASS

SPACER ASSEMBLY

MULLION CAP

FIN STEEL ANCHOR POINT

BOLT CONNECTION

ALUMINUM FRAME PROFILE

PUNCHED STEEL MESH

Top

Center Right: Bath House

Bottom

The datacenter is cooled through an immersive hydraulic heat exchange system. The data towers are submerged in a nonconductive mineral spirit. The water pipes of the hydraulic system exchange the heat from this solution to heat the bath water. The various pools of the bath house hold water at different temperatures as the water cools. The water is then pumped into a shallow reflection pool around the perimeter of the building, maximizing its surface area to volume ratio, allowing for the most optimal cooling. From the reflection pool, the now cooled water falls through light wells in the bathhouse into the datacenter to be reheated. The falling water cools the air in the warm bathhouse through evaporative cooling and creating environmental contrast in the bathhouse experience.