Rio AI City: Plant-Covered Campus Set to Become Latin America’s Largest Data Centre
June 8, 2026
Rio AI City: Plant-Covered Campus Set to Become Latin America’s Largest Data Centre
International architecture studio Hyphen has unveiled plans for Rio AI City, a sprawling data centre campus in Rio de Janeiro state that will feature ten plant-covered buildings and extensive green landscapes. Developed by Brazilian firm Elea Data Centres, the project is being billed as one of the world’s first sustainable AI districts and is poised to become Latin America’s largest data hub.
The campus, located in the rural Jacarepaguá area near the city’s Olympic Park, will have an initial energy capacity of 1.5 gigawatts (GW), scalable to 3.5 GW. To put that in perspective, the entire state of Rio de Janeiro currently has a power capacity of approximately 8.5 GW. Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes has described the development as “Latin America’s largest data hub,” with Elea Data Centres emphasizing that it represents a pioneering model for sustainable AI infrastructure.
Renderings of the master plan show rectilinear buildings arranged in a grid, interspersed with plazas and wetland-style landscaping. Hyphen’s Chile office told Dezeen that the facility will run entirely on renewable energy, addressing the massive power consumption associated with data centres and the AI boom. “Rio AI City addresses this challenge through a combination of renewable energy sourcing, zero water cooling systems, efficient infrastructure design, and landscape-led environmental strategies,” a Hyphen representative said. “The campus is planned to operate using 100 per cent renewable and certified energy. The project also reuses existing infrastructure from the Rio 2016 Olympic legacy, reducing the environmental impact associated with new large-scale developments.”
The buildings themselves will feature greenery planted on latticed exteriors, which Hyphen claims will help mitigate the “heat-island effect” linked to hyperscale data centres. “The landscape strategy is directly linked to mitigating heat island effects,” Hyphen stated. “Rio AI City incorporates extensive green infrastructure, including native planting, green facades, biodiversity corridors, and water retention systems connected to the surrounding Mata Atlântica biome. These landscape elements provide passive cooling, reduce surface temperatures, increase shading, improve microclimatic conditions, and help lower heat gain across the campus.” It remains unclear how the vegetation will interact with the heat output of the data centre equipment.
Hyphen also noted that parts of the campus will be publicly accessible, drawing on local Carioca culture to shape the orientation of the space. The studio described the project as “a distinctly Latin American response to the question of integrated data centre infrastructure.” “This grounded approach transforms the data centre into an open, multi-functional campus that reflects Brazil’s dynamic Carioca culture, strong local identity, and environmental richness,” Hyphen added. “By rooting innovation in place, Rio AI City articulates a distinctly Latin American response to our shared global demands of the AI era. Phase one is now in development, with Hyphen continuing to advise on implementation and future expansion.” There are also indications that the campus may connect to the Porto Maravilha urban regeneration project.
The announcement comes amid a broader acceleration in data centre development, with architecture studios increasingly presenting schemes that aim to address criticisms of energy and land use. In Utah, Gensler has released designs for the 60-building Stratos Hyperscale Data Center, while Canadian infrastructure firm AtkinsRéalis has proposed building small nuclear reactors at data centre sites to meet outsized energy demands.
Source: dezeen
