NATO AGS Main Operating Base

The NATO AGS program aims at aerial surveillance and reconnaissance in support of the NATO chain of command and control. The Core System of the AGS consists of an air segment through a remotely piloted aircraft which detects the necessary information through sensors and transmits it to the ground station or to the mobile stations with which it is connected.

Interplan-designed Main Operating Base of the AGS program in the military airport of Sigonella, Sicily, was conceived to respond with a built form suitable for multiple functional requirements, ranging from ICAO aeronautical standards to the specifications of giants of the international aeronautical industry.

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The settlement was conceived as an environmentally and economically sustainable system in accordance with the criteria of the LEED protocols. The advanced management of rainwater and wastewater, and the production of over 160kW of electricity from renewable sources thanks to 600 photovoltaic panels integrated on the roof of the largest building, are just some of the measures for energy-environmental sustainability adopted for the intervention. Other effective passive measures are concerned the building envelopes, for which the architectural expression was controlled in close association with the considerations on the management of solar radiation in the specific Mediterranean location. These and other objectives achieved make the NATO complex a green building capable of establishing itself as a virtuous example in the surrounding area for the greater production of low-cost energy, the reduction of energy consumption and emissions into the atmosphere.

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