He designs data centers you’ll actually want next door

Data centers may be the backbone of the AI boom, but no one wants one in their backyard. Jeff Gyzen at Arcadis, who has designed these buildings for decades, is trying to change that, starting with the Terra Ventures Data Center in San Jose, CA, which is expected to open in 2027. Read on to find out why everything you thought you knew about data centers is out of date.

Q: How did you get into this field? “I’ve been designing data centers for 43 years. My first was in 1983 at IBM. It was pretty much steady until AI. Five years ago, a typical cabinet ran about 8 to 12 kilowatts. Now we’re looking at racks hitting a megawatt. So your overall power draw has gone through the roof.”

Q: How has data center design evolved? “In the past, data centers just took from communities. Public opposition has started to change that. I like to say we’re trying to make data centers better neighbors. Energy-wise, the Terra Data Center I’m designing operates in ‘island mode’ where we generate all power on-site so we’re not pulling from local utilities at all. We’re using natural gas fuel cells, which run at about 90% efficiency, far more efficient than traditional combustion processes.”

Q: How else are data centers improving? “Historically, data centers were notoriously ugly big gray boxes. Terra is a genuinely beautiful building. And since its fuel cells create carbon dioxide, which can increase produce yields—especially strawberries and tomatoes—we’ll use that for vertical greenhouses and sell what we grow at a local community farmers market.”

Q: What about noise? “Turbine power generators create a lot of noise, some at such low frequencies that residents can’t consciously hear it, but report persistent unease and trouble sleeping. Terra won’t have this problem since its fuel cells are electrochemical. You can stand right next to them and barely hear anything. We do in-depth acoustical analysis on all our projects. We typically aim for no more than 65 decibels at the property line.”

Q: And water? “Older data centers used evaporative cooling—millions of gallons per day. Modern designs like Terra use closed-loop systems, so there’s essentially no water consumption. In one farming community, the water we’d use amounted to 0.08% of what was locally available. The farmers came in alarmed; they left satisfied.”

Q: What other concerns have you heard from community members? “I was presenting at a planning commission in a small farming community, and over 200 farmers showed up in opposition. One of the concerns raised was that the data center would change their weather. The thinking was that data centers produce enormous heat, and all that exhaust would create a heat island effect that would alter local climate patterns. That was fairly easy to dispel.”

Q: What’s your advice for people who might be buying property near a data center? “Proximity to a traditionally designed data center is probably not a great investment. But near a data center designed like Terra? It can actually improve property values, tax revenue, infrastructure, schools, streets. So there’s a real financial upside for property owners in data center markets. I wouldn’t buy across the street, but a couple of blocks away is no big deal, assuming the data center is considerate of the local community.”