{"id":252883,"date":"2025-09-25T05:45:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T05:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/252883\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T05:45:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T05:45:26","slug":"inside-beijings-new-ai-data-centre-spark-761-by-lllab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/252883\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Beijing’s new AI data centre, Spark 761 by llLab"},"content":{"rendered":"

A mesmerising, mysteriously glowing new building has appeared in the heart of the Jiuxianqiao neighbourhood, in the Chaoyang District of Beijing. Welcome to Spark 761, an artificial intelligence<\/a> computing power park \u2013 a specialised data centre to manage the computational resources required for AI functions. Its architects, Chinese architecture firm llLab<\/a>, worked closely with their clients, Beijing Electronic Digital & Intelligence, to create a space that befits its 21st-century use. The result? A supercomputer building that evolves as AI continues to develop.<\/p>\n

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\"llLab,\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Fernando Guerra)<\/p>\n

Inside Beijing’s new specialised AI data centre, Spark 761 <\/p>\n

Jiuxianqiao is known for its strong design-led character, mixing culture with modern urban planning. The area has a thriving art district, which boasts a variety of contemporary art houses in refurbished, former factory buildings. With the creative industry very much at the centre of contemporary debates around the use of AI \u2013 and its opportunities and challenges \u2013 Spark 761 makes for an interesting addition.<\/p>\n

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\"llLab,\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Fernando Guerra)<\/p>\n

The building’s architectural concept goes beyond traditional data and information storage systems<\/a>. Instead, it aims to create a futuristic office and computing space that allows a coexistence between people and AI. Eschewing the typical, closed-off data-centre model, this project aims to make the invisible world of AI information visible \u2013 and understandable. As a result, the entire structure was conceived with an embedded layer of its own AI ecosystem, which can adapt as it is being used.<\/p>\n

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\"spark\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Tian Fangfang)<\/p>\n

This is symbolically represented in the grid-like fa\u00e7ade, an interplay of glass and structural systems. It balances opaque areas, designed as an internal space for contemplation, and transparent \u2018glass boxes\u2019. The latter typology hosts a variety of spaces such as offices, exhibition halls, and multipurpose rooms.<\/p>\n

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\"llLab,\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Fernando Guerra)<\/p>\n

These elements are meant to expose previously hidden technology and encourage people to interact with it directly, as well as understand it. Passers-by can see the building’s inner workings and ‘heartbeat’, the architects explain.<\/p>\n

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\"llLab,\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Fernando Guerra)<\/p>\n

At night, the physical grid of the building visually fades away, and the \u2018virtual\u2019 architectural body is revealed in the form of lights and screens, displaying the luminous glow of virtual information and putting to the fore the building\u2019s computing power.<\/p>\n

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\"llLab,\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Fernando Guerra)<\/p>\n

Spark 761 was conceived as a digital organism, a physical representation of AI technology. By creating an architecture with a layer of digital infrastructure, llLab sought to break the barrier between humans and AI.<\/p>\n

Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.<\/p>\n

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\"llLab,\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Fernando Guerra)<\/p>\n

\u2018We had also hoped to give it a chance to truly speak and produce sound,\u2019 the architects said. While the project’s constraints prevented this from being realised, they decided the building\u2019s visual language is a substitute.<\/p>\n

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\"llLab,\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Fernando Guerra)<\/p>\n

llLab built Spark 761 to turn the abstract, invisible world of AI into a tangible, evolving environment where people can feel connected to the technology they use every day.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

lllab.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mesmerising, mysteriously glowing new building has appeared in the heart of the Jiuxianqiao neighbourhood, in the Chaoyang…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":252884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[691,738,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-252883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115263355704329940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}