Data InfrastructuresData Centres as Infrastructure Monsters: Investigating a Small-Scale, Decentralised ApproachGabriele Zanni, Morris Schüpbach, and Mario Affolter

Within the Zurich data centre cluster, the FlexBase Technology Center stands out in size, matching international hyperscale standards. It also fundamentally redefines the conventional data centre typology by integrating Europe’s largest Redox Flow battery system alongside servers for AI computing.

The site unites different important energy infrastructures such as the Stern von Laufenburg, an electrical substation, connecting the electricity grids of France, Germany, and Switzerland since the 1950s.

Corporate giants like FlexBase and Axpo frame their massive infrastructural interventions under the banner of public good, national urgency, and technological progress, treating territory as a sacrificial zone. Consequently, local communities are subordinated to regional imperatives through displacement and the degradation of their livelihoods.

Our proposal challenges the paradigm of centralised, general-purpose AI factories. Instead, we introduce a decentralised, task-specific architecture deployed along existing infrastructure corridors. By embedding specialised computational nodes within already negotiated, high-density infrastructural zones and placing them in immediate proximity to electrical substations, we minimise spatial friction and optimise energy efficiency.