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From Architectural Record
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Security Firm Creating Middle Eastern-style Village in Arkansas
March 8, 2006
Image courtesy Olive Group
Just across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee, a British company is recreating something not-so-local: a Middle Eastern town.
Actually it's a training center that the military, private security companies, and even diplomatic officers can use to simulate conditions in cities and villages in areas like Iraq and Afghanistan.
The U.K.-led, Dubai-based company, called Olive Group, specializes in creating what it calls "risk mitigation solutions." The firm started building the 900,000-square-foot project on February 28. It will be located in Crawfordsville, Arkansas, on what was formerly a soybean field.
When the the $18 million project is complete (the first quarter is expected to be done by late summer) the complex will include nine city blocks, including residential, government, and university buildings. Most structures will be constructed of concrete bloc with plywood interior walls, and some concrete columns and parapets. They will include typologies typically seen in the Middle East, like high, gated houses, arched entrances, narrow alleys, and courtyards. The facility will also include soccer fields, a school, and an open-air bazaar. Practical elements will include a training school, a driving track, and firing ranges. Technology like smoke machines and speakers will be integrated into the buildings to simulate various situations, such as field battle.
Such complexes are similar to recreated battlefields that the military builds, often called Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT), or Joint Readiness Training Centers. Such facilities were built at bases in Fort Polk, Louisiana, and in Fort McClellan, Alabama. But often such sites, says Smith, who served in the military in Afghanistan, are not only less extensive, but they're generic or outdated. Existing MOUTs are often geared toward townscapes in Europe.
"Most of the ones we did in the past, you would have thought we were going to invade New England," says Tom McConnell, project manager for the site's engineers, Memphis-based Pickering, which has worked on similar complexes before.
The military, Smith adds, is catching up with geographically-updated townscapes. But, he says, "we can build this a lot faster." The company is financing the complex on its own, hoping that the military or various commercial entities will take interest once it's complete. The complex's edifices, points out Smith, can also be found in places like Africa or South America, so the area could also be used to simulate foreign environments, if necessary. And if people want to rent out the space for another use? "We're not discounting any type of business arrangement," says Smith.
Sam Lubell
From Architectural Record
Link to article
Security Firm Creating Middle Eastern-style Village in Arkansas
March 8, 2006
Image courtesy Olive Group
Just across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee, a British company is recreating something not-so-local: a Middle Eastern town.
Actually it's a training center that the military, private security companies, and even diplomatic officers can use to simulate conditions in cities and villages in areas like Iraq and Afghanistan.
The U.K.-led, Dubai-based company, called Olive Group, specializes in creating what it calls "risk mitigation solutions." The firm started building the 900,000-square-foot project on February 28. It will be located in Crawfordsville, Arkansas, on what was formerly a soybean field.
When the the $18 million project is complete (the first quarter is expected to be done by late summer) the complex will include nine city blocks, including residential, government, and university buildings. Most structures will be constructed of concrete bloc with plywood interior walls, and some concrete columns and parapets. They will include typologies typically seen in the Middle East, like high, gated houses, arched entrances, narrow alleys, and courtyards. The facility will also include soccer fields, a school, and an open-air bazaar. Practical elements will include a training school, a driving track, and firing ranges. Technology like smoke machines and speakers will be integrated into the buildings to simulate various situations, such as field battle.
Such complexes are similar to recreated battlefields that the military builds, often called Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT), or Joint Readiness Training Centers. Such facilities were built at bases in Fort Polk, Louisiana, and in Fort McClellan, Alabama. But often such sites, says Smith, who served in the military in Afghanistan, are not only less extensive, but they're generic or outdated. Existing MOUTs are often geared toward townscapes in Europe.
"Most of the ones we did in the past, you would have thought we were going to invade New England," says Tom McConnell, project manager for the site's engineers, Memphis-based Pickering, which has worked on similar complexes before.
The military, Smith adds, is catching up with geographically-updated townscapes. But, he says, "we can build this a lot faster." The company is financing the complex on its own, hoping that the military or various commercial entities will take interest once it's complete. The complex's edifices, points out Smith, can also be found in places like Africa or South America, so the area could also be used to simulate foreign environments, if necessary. And if people want to rent out the space for another use? "We're not discounting any type of business arrangement," says Smith.
Sam Lubell