Data center, Frauenfeld, Switzerland

Data storage, district heating, optics: The new data center at the Frauenfeld barracks in Switzerland has a lot to offer.

The first new federal data center began operations in spring 2020. The building was erected on the site of the Frauenfeld barracks and is mainly used for data storage by the Swiss army. Civilian federal offices can also store data in the new data center.

Construction took a good two years, and the budget of 150 million Swiss francs was not fully utilized. Itten Brechbühl architects designed two building elements: an operations building for the administrative units and a production module for computing power and data storage. Because the numerous servers produce heat, it is diverted and used as district heating for the Frauenfeld barracks.

On the outside, the architects and client Armasuisse opted for a custom façade made of architectural concrete. RECKLI design matrices were sent to the experts at the Element AG precast plant in Veltheim, where the structured concrete elements for the façade were manufactured with the help of the formwork inserts. The elements were then installed on the curtain wall.