The Pionen (White Mountain) Data Centre, better known in the media these days as the ‘nuclear bunker’ in Stokholm, Sweden, is now home to some of the servers that Wikileaks has recently relocated. The original bunker was built to withstand – if not a direct hit by the hydrogen bomb – a close hit.
Designed by Albert France-Lanord, the underground estate screams both minimalism and grandeur. In architecture, concept and functionality, White Mountain is immense. The underlying aesthetic choices, however, don’t speak of excess or confusion; instead, they exhibit all the elegance of a rigorous mathematical proof. Fitting.
Of course, White Mountain serves more purposes than mere protection from physical attack; the estate facilitates control of environmental variables, like temperature and humidity, for instance.These are key to the longevity of its contents. Any server housed there is a happy server, and just about as safe as can be.
Yet no matter how safe Wikileaks’ servers are in this 30-meter subterranean paradise, one thing is evident: They would have be safer if no location had been disclosed. As we know, extreme caution and paranoia have always been modus operandi for Wikileaks, and justifiably so. Hence the question is irresistible: Why was the location disclosed?
KIF
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