Construction of the new HLRS III high-performance computing center has begun on the southern edge of the Vaihingen campus of the University of Stuttgart. The new building will complement the existing HLRS I and II facilities and create additional capacity for research and applications in the field of high-performance computing (HPC). The design is being developed in collaboration with Benthem Crouwel Architects from Amsterdam.
The building is divided into two clearly separated areas: the central, column-free server room with adjoining technical zones for power supply and cooling, and a three-story office wing with workstations and visitor areas. A vertical access corridor connects the two areas and provides insights into the technical processes. The architecture follows a compact cubature with an optimized floor plan. The façade design combines technical, safety-related, and design requirements. Integrated photovoltaic elements support sustainable energy generation. The new building is designed as a hybrid construction of reinforced concrete, wood, and steel. The supporting structure in the server area, made of laminated veneer lumber beams, allows maximum flexibility for future adaptations. A central element of the energy concept is the use of waste heat from the supercomputer: this is processed in a new waste heat center via heat pumps and fed into the campus network as local heating via an underground pipe system. At full load, up to 50% of the heating energy required by all university buildings on campus can be covered by waste heat utilization in the future.