Flexnode COO Nic Rader speaks at AIA New York’s “Designing The Cloud”.

COO Nic Rader joined “Designing the Cloud: Power, Infrastructure, and the Role of Architects,” the first AI+A salon of 2026 at AIA New York’s Center for Architecture, on April 27.

The session examined the physical infrastructure behind AI. As facilities scale toward gigawatt levels and connect more directly to regional energy systems, it took up siting, grid integration, modular construction and long-term urban impact. Nic spoke with Marina Otero Verzier, Lecturer in Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Iain Macdonald, Principal and Future Energy Systems Development Lead at HKS LINE. Xenia Adjoubei Kwan of Systematica and Pratt Institute and Xinru Liu moderated.