Chesapeake Energy Data Center

Artform was selected as the provider of this building’s exterior metal skin, a system that would wrap the exterior of this sleek masterpiece designed by Elliott + Associates. The Forma™ System by Artform, an aluminum composite panel product, was used as the primary building skin material. This building is truly construction as art.

Designed by Elliott+Associates and constructed by Smith & Pickel, the Chesapeake Energy Data Center was completed in November of 2013. It is a 22,500 square foot facility that includes a four-story IT operations office building and a central mechanical plant.

The data center and cooling plant houses and protects the company’s proprietary and critical data, systems and operations. With cast-in-lace concrete walls and roofs, the structure is fortified to withstand wind speed of over 300 miles per hour and also functions as a free-standing storm shelter, able to accommodate up to 5,300 people.

The story of Artform’s role in this massive undertaking is a story of sheer volume. The building’s exterior was raw concrete, and the architect requested a plan to create a visually refined exterior.

Artform installed 40,000 square feet of ___ panels to the building, utilizing more than 4,000 individual panels, with custom extrusions on the drip edge. Artform engineers designed the system of panels to lie perfectly flat, which transformed the façade of the Chesapeake Data Center from a hulking concrete mass into a clean, gleaming, beautiful edifice.