Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to color-center-based quantum computer architectures that are both scalable and defect tolerant and to methods for fabricating color-center-based quantum computer architectures. In one embodiment of the present invention, a node of a quantum computer architecture comprises a first photonic device configured to transmit electromagnetic waves, a color center embedded in diamond and coupled to the first photonic device, and a switch located between the first photonic device and a bus waveguide. The switch can be configured to selectively control transmission of electromagnetic waves between the bus waveguide and the color center.