PeACE-High!

The PeACE-High project aims to enhance the historical and infrastructural value of the NATO bases established throughout Western Europe during the Cold War, which provided intangible connectivity across the entire continent, from Turkey to Great Britain via Greece, Italy, and Germany.

These sites were developed for the ACE-High communication system, based on Over-the-Horizon (O/H) troposcatter technology, which utilized the troposphere to propagate radio signals back to Earth, thereby increasing the operational distance between transceiving stations.

As studied by Davide Sigurtà (www.architettosigurta.it), the core of the project resides in the significance of intangible radio connectivity—transmitted via the ether—which for decades ensured the security of the Atlantic Pact’s Eastern quadrant.

The PeACE-High project seeks to valorize the system’s European bases by reactivating immaterial connections between the sites, employing modern networking technologies (Internet protocols) and advanced multimedia sharing tools (immersive environments, VR equipment, etc.).

The objective of the PeACE-High project is to leverage real-time knowledge sharing through these new immaterial links to reconnect Europe in a renewed impulse of intellectual exchange; on this occasion, the purpose is no longer military, but rather the dissemination of messages of Peace and a European communicative spirit.

The actively connected sites will be required to engage in real-time interaction through forms of knowledge sharing and co-production, intended to generate projects, stimuli, and insights for a new European future of Peace.