Microsoft eases data centre opposition with biomimicry design
What happened
Since 2022, Microsoft has been trying a "biomimicry" approach at a data centre in the Netherlands, adding gardens and native trees and restoring damaged ecosystems to blend the facility into the natural landscape. A report on 2 October 2026 said Microsoft is extending the approach to more than 20 sites in the United States and Germany, and applying it to all new US projects. Microsoft says it is investing in restoring more than 400 acres of woodland and pollinator prairie in San Antonio, though more than 2,600 trees were previously felled locally to build data centres. The approach is positioned as a way to ease community opposition.
Written by AI from the reports · updated 14 d ago
Timeline
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- The Verge · AIIf a data center is camouflaged in the woods, will anyone hate it?
San Antonio City Councilmember Ric Galvan remembers when data centers first arrived in his city in the 2000s, looking like relatively unassuming office buildings. But that's changed in recent years, as data centers have grown into massive "hyperscale" facilities spanning millions of square feet and housing the physical infrastructure for AI.