Data center facility including external wall penetrating air handling units

A facility with an internal area separate from an outdoor environment, the internal area configured to house electronic equipment disposed in a plurality of cabinet clusters, the facility comprising:

• a building that includes an exterior load wall separating the internal area from the outdoor environment, the internal area containing a volume of air;
• one or more wall openings in the exterior load wall;
• a floor within the internal area on which the plurality of cabinet clusters are disposed;
• a plurality of cabinets for holding the electronic equipment therein, the plurality of cabinets arranged into a plurality of rows of cabinets, the plurality of rows of cabinets forming a cabinet cluster so that the electronic equipment disposed within the cabinets emits heated air from the cabinets;
• a thermal shield formed above the plurality of cabinets to direct the heated air into at least one thermal compartment;
• one or more air conditioning units, located in the outdoor environment, that receive the heated air, condition the heated air to create cooled air, and then emit the cooled air back into the internal area;
• a ceiling;
• a false ceiling located beneath the ceiling such that a warm air escape channel is formed between the ceiling and the false ceiling, so that the heated air is lifted upward from the at least one thermal compartment to the warm air escape channel and toward the one or more exterior wall openings and into the one or more air conditioning units;
• and
• a cool air pathway within the building, wherein the one or more air conditioning units deliver cooled air through the one or more wall openings into the cool air pathway, the cool air pathway configured to direct the cooled air towards cold aisles of the plurality of rows of cabinets.