Part of DARPA's Immune Building program launched after 9/11 to develop, integrate, and demonstrate a system to protect buildings against chemical and biological warfare agents, and led by Wayne Bryden, Ph.D., the building is the first-ever demonstration of an integrated protection system in an occupied building under real-world operating conditions. In 2004, DARPA awarded a $20 million, two-year contract to Battelle to serve as the lead systems integrator for the Demonstration Phase of the Immune Building Program.

According to DARPA, the Immune Building system at Nord Hall is capable of achieving "high levels of protection for building occupants" against the "full spectrum" of chemical and biological threats. The system's sensors, filtration, and active controls are fully deployed throughout the building.

The point, of course, is to create a building that protects occupants by minimizing spread of aerosolized agent, to rapidly decontaminate and restore the building to function and to preserve forensic evidence concerning the source of the attack, and does so through "passive," always-on components, including filtration, architectural segmentation, and building over-pressurization .

When possible threats are detected by the trigger sensors, the Immune Building system initiates active countermeasures that include airflow diversion, neutralization, or enhanced filtration. In tests using simulants, DARPA said the countermeasures "have been shown to be very effective in protecting against high release masses and reducing the impact of such attacks."

Visit dtsn.darpa.mil/ibdemo/default.asp.

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