A data center solution architect is the design authority for the whole facility. That means power, cooling, compute, network, security, operations and the energy strategy, designed as one system, with the specialist firms who build each part selected and directed. AJ Projects Partners fills that role on legacy retrofits and new sustainable builds, and brings a network of 165 partners and businesses to execute.Key takeaways
A modern AI facility is five or six systems pulling on the same constraints, and each one is usually bought from a different firm.
The generation vendor sizes for its own equipment. The cooling vendor designs its loop. The general contractor builds to the drawings it was handed, and the compute tenant arrives with a rack density nobody planned for. Each firm can do its own scope well while the facility as a whole still fails, because the costly problems sit in the interfaces. Power a cooling system can't reject. Racks the floor can't carry. An interconnection request sized for hardware that will be two generations old by the time the power arrives.
It gets worse on retrofits. A legacy building brings fixed constraints (structure, electrical service, ceiling height, a cooling plant sized for 8 kW racks), and every specialist tends to design around the part they can see. Someone has to hold the whole design, own the tradeoffs and answer for whether what gets built matches what was designed. That is the role we fill.
Austin Moore and Jackie Martinez lead every engagement as the architects of the whole data center. We design the facility and your partners build it, with us directing them.
We assess an existing facility against AI-era density, power and cooling requirements, then design a phased upgrade that keeps live operations running. Where the building can't get there, we model retrofit against rebuild and tell you which one it is.
Read the retrofit playbook →Warehouses, cross-docks and industrial sites often have what an AI facility needs most: land, structure and a path to power. We design the conversion, and where it makes sense we add self-powered pods beside the existing building.
See self-powered pods →Ground-up campuses designed around compute density and a sustainable energy position from the first drawing. That means two-phase cooling, on-site generation and energy revenue in the base design, not added as options later.
The self-powered model →We don't ask you to assemble and manage a dozen specialist contracts yourself. We match the partners to the design, bring them in and hold each one to the specification.
| Partner Category | What They Execute |
|---|---|
| Construction and general contracting | Site work, shell and core, fit-out and pod installation, built to our specification |
| Power generation | On-site generation equipment, fuel systems, commissioning |
| Electrical and power distribution | Switchgear, distribution, fault-managed power delivery to the rack |
| Cooling | Liquid and two-phase direct-to-chip systems, heat rejection |
| Network and connectivity | Fiber, carrier connections, cross-connects and fabric |
| Cyber and NOC | Physical and cyber security, network operations and monitoring |
| Compute hardware | GPU systems, racks, integration and burn-in |
| Water and environmental | Water recovery, environmental studies, noise and emissions work |
| Permitting and engineering | Engineers of record, permitting, utility and local-authority coordination |
You keep the right to bring your own firms. We work with them the same way, and our specification applies to them the same way.
Yes, and you don't have to take it. We develop our own on-site energy system. Fuel-flexible generators start on pipeline gas from day one, then run on hydrogen we make on site from aluminum, and their exhaust heat drives the reactor. For many sites it is the fastest way to reach power without waiting in an interconnection queue.
It is not exclusive to our architecture work. If your site already has a power strategy, we design around it. If you already have an architect and only need power, the energy system is available on its own.
One team designs the facility and supplies its power. It is the tightest integration and has the fewest interfaces.
We are your design authority and work with the grid, your existing generation or another energy provider.
Self-powered pods integrated at your site, working with your architect, GC and tenants.
Bring us the site, the building or the load you need. We'll show you what it can become, what it will take and who should build it.
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Compute targets, workload mix, reliability requirements, energy cost and revenue objectives, timeline and capital. On a retrofit, this includes a baseline of what the building can and can't do today. You get: the design space, written down before any architecture decision is made.
Power availability and the interconnection position, the on-site generation option, land and structure, permitting, water, fiber and proximity to energy revenue. You get: a site verdict and an energy strategy, including whether to wait for the grid, generate on site, or do both.
Compute layout, power distribution, cooling, energy integration, network, security and operational systems. At the same time we match partners from the network to each scope. You get: specifications and documentation for procurement and construction, and a partner roster.
Generation, fuel exposure, heat reuse, co-product revenue and net energy cost, run across operating scenarios. You get: the financial case an investment committee can underwrite, with the assumptions shown.
Submittal review, direction of partners against the specification, commissioning and performance validation through launch. You get: a facility that performs as designed, and one party accountable for whether it does.
One accountable design authority. One party owns the interfaces between power, cooling, compute and construction, which is where projects lose time and money.
A network already assembled. 165 partners and businesses across every scope a facility needs, matched to your design rather than the other way around.
Sustainable by architecture. Two-phase cooling with no evaporative water, on-site generation and heat recovery are in the base design, not an ESG add-on.
Speed to power. A behind-the-meter path, including our own energy system, so the grid queue stops setting your schedule.
Revenue in the design. We model energy, heat and co-product revenue with the compute, so the facility is underwritten as an asset rather than a cost center.
We run what we sell. We are developing our own 73 MW self-generating campus in North Texas on the same architecture and energy system we design for you. It is in development, before construction.
Because we are an AI engineering firm and not only a facilities designer, we also build the software and automation that run inside the building. That covers operations dashboards, monitoring and the orchestration of generation, fuel, heat and load, with security designed in at the architecture stage. See AI data center architecture for the full capability list.
| Dimension | General Contractor / Design-Build | Engineering Firm (MEP / AOR) | Owner's Representative | AJ Projects (Solution Architect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary job | Build to the drawings | Engineer the disciplines they are hired for | Protect the owner's budget and schedule | Design the whole facility as one system and direct its build |
| Owns the interfaces | Within its contract | Within its disciplines | Tracks them | Yes, across every discipline |
| Energy strategy | Out of scope | Designs to a given supply | Out of scope | Designed in, with an optional on-site supply |
| Partner coordination | Its subcontractors | Its sub-consultants | Monitors others | Selects and directs a 165-partner network |
| Revenue modeling | No | Rarely | Budget only | Energy, heat and co-product revenue with the compute |
| Works alongside the others | Yes. The roles complement each other. | Yes. We direct the GC and engineers of record rather than replace them. | ||
A data center solution architect is the design authority for the whole facility. They design power, cooling, compute, network, security, operations and the energy strategy as one system, then select, coordinate and hold to specification the specialist firms who build each part. The role exists because the costly failures in data center projects happen at the interfaces between disciplines, where no single contractor is accountable.
No. We are the design authority, not the general contractor or construction manager. We design the facility, bring in construction partners from our network or work with yours, review submittals against our specification, take part in commissioning and stay engaged until the facility performs as designed.
Both. On legacy facilities we assess the building against AI-era density, power and cooling requirements and design a phased upgrade that keeps live operations running. On industrial conversions we design the change of use, often with self-powered pods added beside the existing building. On new builds we design the campus from the ground up. Where a retrofit cannot reach the target, we model it against a rebuild and say so.
It is 165 partners and businesses that execute across construction and general contracting, power generation, electrical and power distribution, cooling, network and connectivity, cyber and NOC, compute hardware, water and environmental work, and permitting and engineering. We match partners to the design and direct them against the specification. Clients can also bring their own firms.
No. AJ Projects develops an on-site energy system in which fuel-flexible generators start on pipeline gas and then run on hydrogen made on site from aluminum. It is available but not exclusive to our architecture work. We design around the grid, your existing generation or another provider, and the energy system is also available on its own to projects with a different architect.
Measure the baseline first: power usage effectiveness, water use and where the heat goes. Then work through power headroom, cooling, distribution, on-site generation and heat reuse in that order. Moving high-density loads to two-phase direct-to-chip cooling takes evaporative cooling water out of that loop, and on-site generation changes both the carbon position and the dependence on the grid. We treat each sustainability measure as an economic decision as well, because most of them also cut operating cost.
Yes. We are developing our own 73 MW self-generating campus in North Texas on the same architecture and energy system we design for clients. It is in development, before construction.
Anyone who holds a site, a building, a load requirement or capital, and wants a facility designed around compute density and a sustainable energy position.
Retrofit, conversion or new campus: the first conversation covers your site, your load and your timeline, and whether we are the right architect for it.
Book a Discovery Call →No pitch · No obligation · 30 minutes of actual strategy
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