The OPNA Institute

Author(s)

Kathleen Bridget Stranix

Course

Advanced Design Studio: Berke

This studio project is for an institute and advocacy center dedicated to issues of digital transparency, internet privacy and free speech.  The Institute and a fully functional data center coexist in an effort to reveal the physical space of data to the public.  By uncovering these ordinarily inaccessible spaces, humans have the opportunity to physically interact with the essential infrastructures they virtually engage on a daily basis.

The OPNA Institute brings the infrastructure of data to the forefront as a didactic effort to increase public awareness of the physical ramifications of digital activity.  The user of the building is exploiting the nature of the data center architecture rather than be exploited by it.