In Italy, most of the military infrastructures are inadequate in terms of liveability, energy efficiency and structural characteristics. This issue generates inefficiency and wastes of valuable resources. The energy crisis, the growing interest in environmental issues and the contingency raised awareness of the Esercito Italiano in deploying capital to foster infrastructure modernisation. As a consequence, in 2019, the Italian Ministero della Difesa launched the Caserme Verdi project to revamp part of its infrastructures in terms of energy efficiency and rethink spaces.
The Caserma Santa Barbara, a military district of over 50 buildings located in the Forze Armate neighbourhood in Milan, is one of these barracks. In this context, the previous commander of the barracks Valerio Golino, in 2022, launched the Santa Barbara 4.0 (SB4) project, envisioning the collaboration of the ASP group and a series of external partners to make the barracks one of the first smart military districts in Italy. From the beginning of 2023, the newly appointed Commander Di Stefano is carrying out Golino’s commitment.
The role of the ASP team was twofold: on the one hand, to act as an integrator, supporting the militaries in the management of the project, fostering the collaboration and information exchange among external partners and between such partners and the militaries; on the other hand, to directly propose and develop solutions. Given the issues and needs of the barracks, the key focus areas of the SB4 project can be summarised as urban rethinking, energy efficiency, and smart things.
The final result is encapsulated in a masterplan and in a 3D model of the barracks that can give a long-term vision of the project supporting the military and the external partners in continuing the various activities even after the end of the ASP project. The value we left to the militaries consists of ideas, proposals, projects and a network of relationships that we helped develop. These values will persist and be exported to the many other military districts facing the same challenges.