The Datatecture Forum is a publication addressing the physical, civic, and architectural consequences of the current development of AI infrastructure.
Hello! My name is Andrew Oh and I am an architectural designer at Hart Howerton in New York City. I graduated in May 2026 from the University of Notre Dame, School of Architecture.
This site started from a simple observation: data centers are buildings, yet nobody designs them like buildings. The current trend in AI infrastructure — bigger and faster — has produced gigascale data center campuses around the country with a real and lasting impact on nearby communities and the generations to come. I think that’s a mistake, and it’s the mistake this publication exists to argue against.
That argument grew out of my Bachelor of Architecture thesis, which examined irresponsible data center development in North America and proposed a design framework for integrating this infrastructure into communities responsibly — including using a data center’s waste heat as a civic resource instead of an exhaust problem.
The articles here will cover the intersection of architecture and data infrastructure: waste heat recovery, site and community impact, case studies of projects that got it right, and proposals for what could come next.
Data centers will keep getting built. The only question is whether we design them like the buildings they are, or keep treating them like machines we can drop anywhere without consequence.