An Instruction Manual for Global Architecture: The Art of Delivering Reference Designs12 November 2025
An Instruction Manual for Global Architecture: the Art of Delivering Reference Designs.
Locally adapted, standardised data centres, delivered by MCA anywhere in Europe.
If you’ve ever built a scale model - Airfix, Warhammer or Revell - you’ll understand the logic behind a reference design.
You start with a box of parts, a set of instructions, and a clear picture of what the final model should look like. Follow the steps, and you’ll get a reliable outcome - but there’s still room to make it your own.
This is the theory behind global data centre design.
A client develops a design template that incorporates experience and knowledge from their industry. The aim is to create parameters for a repeatable design that is safe and efficient, but most importantly provides value for money to them and their customers around the world.
Our job is to take that box of parts and deliver a localised design of high quality that aligns with regulations, adapts to the climate, and meets cultural expectations.
"We get the box, the instructions, and the sprue - all the pieces are there. Our job is to clip, sand, glue, and paint it so it fits the local environment.” - Jarlath Burke, Architect
The sprue - the plastic frame that holds all the model pieces in a scale model kit - is the information clients hand over. Everything is technically there, but you still have to cut, shape, and assemble it so it fits the site.
The steps...
- Select
- Understand
- Coordinate
- Adapt
- Assemble
- Deploy
Site Selection - Pick up the box
You begin by choosing an army or kit. It sets the tone for everything that follows. Pick a Spitfire or an F-22 Raptor, or Astartes instead of Necrons, and you are committing to a whole way of building and playing.
Selecting a site is like choosing your army - the context defines what’s possible, what challenges lie ahead, and what strategies you’ll need to succeed. Knowing the parameters of what you are designing gives certainty when making the choice.
It means that whether they’re building in Dublin, Berlin, or Oslo, the experience for users and operators is consistent: same layout, same quality, same training process, same maintenance routine.
And that consistency delivers what they value most: quality, health and safety, cost certainty, programme certainty, ease of training, ease of operation, and consistent maintenance.
It’s a system that lets clients train staff the same way everywhere and roll out new sites without reinventing the wheel each time.
Understand - Evaluate your Army
Open the box, pull out the contents, and read the instruction manual. This tells you how your kit fits together and gives options for the army - long-range or close combat, landing gear up or down.
Reviewing a reference design doesn’t just set the parameters for the project, but gives insight into the client’s thinking and priorities. Choice of cooling strategy is the topic du jour. Are modern methods of construction an option? How do layers of security fit into the site and building?
For global tech clients, reference designs give a structured starting point.
Coordinate - Lay out the pieces
Clip the parts, clean them up, lay them out, and prepare to assemble. With the reference design understood, it’s time to plan how each discipline’s elements fit together - testing systems, realising spaces, and making sure that everything lines up.
“Even when a project gets deep into detail, you can always look back at the reference design. It’s the touchstone - the lodestar that keeps everyone focused on what the building is meant to achieve.”
- Jarlath Burke, Architect
Reference designs don’t just set standards; they act as a constant point of alignment.
That shared reference creates efficiency far beyond drawings.
It allows familiar teams - architects, M&E consultants, planners, and contractors - to move together from site to site, building on what works.
“When our team lands on a new project, we benefit from tacit knowledge - a shared understanding built over years of working together. It’s like getting the band back together: everyone knows the rhythm, the cues, the tempo. That familiarity makes everything move faster.”
- Jarlath Burke, Architect
That’s how consistency in process becomes predictability in delivery.
But familiarity and standardisation aren’t rigidity. Once a reference design lands in a new jurisdiction, everything from planning codes to weather patterns introduces local complexity - and that’s where the real design work begins.
Adapt - Think outside the box
Now we kitbash. Your models are ready to assemble, but they need something to make them work in context. Maybe the remains of slain enemies scattered across the base, swap out a weapon, or make more cosmetic changes like adding texture through additional vents and rivets to a fuselage.
“Sometimes you don’t follow the instructions exactly. You adapt the kit to what you need - and that’s really what we do with these buildings.”
- Jarlath Burke, Architect
Each site becomes its own problem-solving exercise. That might mean designing for snow in the Nordics, seismic zones in Southern Europe, or integrating PVs and green roofs where municipalities require it. The core principles remain intact, but the building flexes to suit the environment.
“That’s probably where we get to do the most design - taking a global product and localising it, making it acceptable to the local municipality, adapting it to the climate, and bringing some architecture into it.”
- Jarlath Burke, Architect
Local culture shapes design too - from wellness rooms and outdoor gathering spaces to façades that reflect the community, not just the client’s logo.
The aim is always the same: a facility that looks and performs consistently across regions, but still belongs to its place.
While some hyperscalers prefer anonymity, many emerging operators are taking a different path - making their architecture part of their brand identity.
One European client, for example, wanted its signature motifs and colours integrated into the building form, visible from the street.
“They wanted people to know: this is our building, your data’s safe in here. But it was also about reflecting the town’s history - a place known for its early radio towers. We wove those shapes into the structure itself.”
- Jarlath Burke, Architect
It’s a small example of how localisation and storytelling can coexist with standardisation. Every design still fits the box - but each carries a sense of place.
Assemble - Prepare for battle.
Time for the real work. Models are posed, glued in place, primed, and painted - just as design drawings become materials and structure. This is where intent becomes tangible.
Reference designs offer something different on site: years of iteration. That’s not normal in construction; buildings are more often one-offs. But reference designs show their final piece of value in lessons learned - global design and construction teams working together over years, steadily finessing a building and delivering it with local knowledge.
For developers and investors, reference designs offer something invaluable: certainty with flexibility. They make large-scale rollouts possible without compromising on creativity or compliance.
“There’s always that balance. The model gives you certainty - but it’s the local thinking that makes it work.”
- Jarlath Burke, Architect
And in a sector where timelines are tight, regulations are complex, and expectations are sky-high, that balance is what separates projects that deliver from those that stall.
Deploy - To the tabletop.
Position your operatives, roll for initiative, and see if the strategy holds. Commissioning, handover, and finally occupation - when the end users finally get to test the building and its systems. The project is finally on show.
A reference design is the instruction manual that makes global ambition buildable. It creates alignment across borders, reduces risk, and ensures that what’s delivered in one city can reflect the same identity and performance as another.
Without it, you might still end up with something that looks convincing - but it may not hold up when tested.
With it, you can create places that are consistent, adaptable, and truly ready for play.
There’s a perception that designing data centres is routine.
In reality, it’s a creative discipline - one that brings architectural freedom at a scale you don’t get elsewhere.
“You’re working on buildings of huge scale, coordinating diverse teams, and shaping façades that turn infrastructure into architecture. That’s the challenge - and the reward.”
- Jarlath Burke, Architect
Better is our Blueprint.
About Jarlath
Jarlath Burke is a Senior Architect at MCA Architects, specialising in data centre design across Europe. His work focuses on adapting global reference models to local contexts - aligning technical precision with creativity and compliance to deliver scalable, high-performance facilities. When not crowbarring unwieldy metaphors into blog posts, he can be found relaxing and painting scale models.