GERMAN GARDEN AT FLORIADE EXPO 2022 ALMERE, NETHERLANDS
gtp2, insglück and studio grüngrau design Biotopia – German Garden at Floriade-EXPO 2022 in Almere
The Floriade EXPO 2022 international horticultural exhibition in Almere, Holland, runs from April 14 to October 09, 2022, with the theme „Growing Green Cities“. In doing so, Floriade tied in with the theme of Expo 2019 in Beijing, which focused on solutions for future-oriented urban planning and sustainable urban development.
BIOTOPIA – Growing Community
Again gtp2 could convince in a bidding consortium together with the agency insglück Gesellschaft für Markeninszenierung mbH from Berlin and studio grüngrau Landschaftsarchitektur GmbH from Düsseldorf with an original concept and is allowed to realize the German Garden / Pavilion at the Floriade 2022.
Under the motto “BIOTOPIA – Growing Community”, the German Garden presented itself as a biotope – a utopia of the city of tomorrow, inviting visitors on a journey into the urban future. The theme was taken up architecturally and complemented with content on trends, solutions and innovative concepts in the pavilion’s exhibition.
The architecture
The German Garden “BIOTOPIA” was a 2-storey cubist wooden building with roof garden and green facades. The building formed a living ecosystem and changed during the Floriade Expo with the growth of plants. The “German Garden” occupied a plot of 1,954 sqm.
Wood, greenery and transparency with glass, trellises and nets were combined to create an architectural sculpture that secured a unique selling point for the German Pavilion. The pavilion was not designed like a building in the conventional sense, but as a cubic structure made of wooden profiles that captivated with vistas and perspectives that aroused curiosity and stimulated visitors’ spirit of discovery. Interior and exterior spaces merged, plants pushed inward, and the actual building façade was barely perceived as such. The architecture served as a supporting framework for the exhibition events and the greenery and thus receded into the background.
The various building volumes were formed by a spatial structure that gave the impression of wanting to expand at all corners. The construction created vertical and horizontal accents that created a dynamic urban image. A 3 x 3 x 3 m matrix created an abstracted representation of a vision of a city. Cubic forms defined the design, creating spaces that could be used in different ways. Some cubes created closed spaces, some provided the framework and structure for the defining elements of the city of the future, trellises for green plants, water basins or shade sails for diverse scenarios with concise biodiversity for the whole spectrum of garden art as well as the ideal space for healthy animal and insect life.
The garden-style atrium featured native food plants, ornamental plants, wildflowers, new plant species and climate change resistant trees. All materials will be put to reuse in the greater Almere area. Even the foundation, which consisted of a steel grate supported on wooden piles, is completely recycled.
The visitors
Visitors were motivated to explore the possibilities of sustainable interaction between nature and urban life. They could playfully generate sustainable energy, listen to the sounds of nature providing them with information and create their virtual sustainable city on their RFID wristband.
They learned how architecture can help create micro landscapes, preserve biodiversity, generate energy, produce oxygen, improve air quality, produce food, and reduce water waste.
About the International Horticultural Exhibition – Floriade Expo 2022
Floriade Expo is a thematic variant of the World Horticultural Expositions and has been held in the Netherlands every ten years since the 1960s. In 2022, it was held from April 14 to October 09 in Almere, about 30 kilometers east of Amsterdam. With the theme “Growing Green Cities” and the sub-themes “Green”, “Food”, “Health” and “Energy”, the Floriade Expo pursued the goal of expanding awareness of sustainability in cities worldwide and presenting corresponding approaches to solutions. The approximately 60-hectare exhibition site will be transformed into an Almere neighborhood after Floriade Expo.
Organisation behind implementation of the German Garden
The German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture is responsible for the German Garden at Floriade Expo 2022 in Almere. The Ministry commissioned the Hamburg Messe and Congress GmbH to carry out the implementation. The design and concept of the German Garden is in the hands of a collaborative partnership between ARGE insglück Gesellschaft für Markeninszenierung mbH, gtp2 Architects and studio grüngrau Landschaftsarchitektur GmbH.
