HPC systems are so strongly dependent on facility power and cooling that the building essentially becomes part of the computer. This marriage between computer and facility has moments of happiness as well as relationship storms. The first problem in the relationship starts with the requirements and design phase where experienced HPC staff and architects must come together with crystal balls and magic to design a facility to support systems that have yet to be invented. How much power do we really need? How are we going to cool these systems? What about building controls and monitoring? Next comes the happy day of value-engineering. ☹ This presentation will share lessons learned through this phase. Stay tuned next year for the update on construction and commissioning. All of this effort is hopefully leading to a happy marriage between machine and facility.
