Together with gtp2 architekten and insglück, studio grüngrau Landschaftsarchitektur has won 1st prize at Floriade Expo 2022. With their concept “BIOTOPIA – Growing Community”, the bidding consortium is designing the German Garden in Almere.
Together with gtp2 architekten and insglück, studio grüngrau Landschaftsarchitektur has won 1st prize at Floriade Expo 2022. With their concept “BIOTOPIA – Growing Community”, the bidding consortium is designing the German Garden in Almere.
Since the beginning of June 2021, it has been clear that the landscape architecture firm studio grüngrau will play a key role in shaping the 2022 Horticultural World Expo in the Netherlands. In a bidding consortium with gtp2 architekten and insglück, they won over the responsible selection committee. The committee praised above all the content and design implementation. According to Karl Wessels from the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the garden and pavilion would form a harmonious unit. The “BIOTOPIA – Growing Community” concept perfectly reflects the theme of Floriade Expo 2022, said the Commissioner General of the German Garden. Visitors who have already visited the Ingolstadt State Garden Show, the Überlingen State Garden Show or BUGA Erfurt in 2020 can therefore already look forward to Floriade Expo 2022.
The motto of Floriade Expo 2022 is “Growing Green Cities”. The International Horticultural Exhibition Floriade Expo 2022 will take place in Almere, the Netherlands, from April 14 to October 9, 2022. For six months, the Dutch horticultural sector will be showcasing green solutions. They will showcase how we can make our cities more fun, liveable and sustainable. National and international contributions will accompany Floriade Expo 2022, which means that Germany will also be represented with a garden.
Seventh Floriade since 1960
The International Horticultural Exhibition has been held in the Netherlands every ten years since the 1960s. Rotterdam hosted the very first Floriade in 1960. The second followed in 1972 in Amsterdam-Zuid in Amstelpark and in part of Beatrixpark. In 1982, the Floriade was held a second time in Amsterdam. In 1992, it was the turn of The Hague and Zoetermeer, a municipality in the province of South Holland. In 2002, Haarlemmermeer hosted Floriade 2002, where the motto was “Feel the nature”. In 2012, the city of Venlo – which is very close to the German border – hosted the event. The central theme there: “Be part of the theater in nature; get closer to the quality of life”. And now, in 2022, Floriade Expo 2022 will take place in Almere. With a population of 214,757, Almere is the eighth largest municipality in the Netherlands. It is located between Amsterdam and the provincial capital Lelystad.
German garden at the Floriade Expo 2022
The BIOTOPIA concept by studio grüngrau and partners is defined by a wooden pavilion with a green atrium. This is open on many sides and forms the heart of the German Garden. The pavilion in turn stands for a continuously growing and changing city. Entirely in keeping with the Floriade Expo 2022 motto – “Growing Green Cities”. The two-storey, cubic wooden construction with a roof garden is defined on the one hand by a wide variety of solar panels. On the other hand, wind turbines and intensively greened façades stand out. The façade encompasses the 2,000 square meter garden area. Inside the pavilion, visitors will find their own biotope. This is represented by various trees, useful and ornamental plants, shrubs and grasses. The flora is also characterized by the fact that it is extremely resistant to climatic changes.
Rest areas, a trampoline, a slide, a stage and a restaurant round off the design. In addition, a field of water mist creates a mystical atmosphere.
studio grüngrau plans “floral ecstasy”
In the official statement, Prof. Thomas Fenner explains that studio grüngrau is very keen to promote the topic of biodiversity in the city. With its concept for Floriade Expo 2022, the office has succeeded in creating “a cheerful, green atmosphere characterized by a varied diversity of different plants and trees, and in which it is a pleasure to conquer the garden,” said the Managing Partner of studio grüngrau. He also said that the office had coined the term “floral ecstasy” years ago. With the German Garden at Floriade Expo 2022, they would “present this in all its fullness”.
The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) is traditionally responsible for the German Garden at Floriade Expo 2022. The ministry commissioned Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH as the implementation company.
The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture is also a member of the selection committee that awarded first prize to the design by studio grüngrau and partners.
The following institutions are also part of the selection committee:
studio grüngrau wins with insglück and gtp2 architekten
Together with the Berlin agency insglück and Düsseldorf-based gtp2 architekten, studio grüngrau submitted a bid for Floriade Expo 2022. As part of a bidding consortium, they designed their BIOTOPIA concept for the German garden. And consequently successful.
The landscape architecture firm studio grüngrau has been around since 1971, starting out as “Bödeker, Boyer, Wagenfeld und Partner”. From 2008 to 2020, studio grüngrau attracted attention under the name “FSWLA”. Since then, over 2,500 landscape architecture projects have been created. studio grüngrau follows the principle of joy. “We enjoy good work and contemporary designs that also meet the highest standards in the long term.” – it says on the website.
As an agency, insglück has been active in the field of live marketing and spatial communication since the turn of the millennium. Its core competencies of creation, conception and staging also include a comprehensive service portfolio. And the agency has EXPO experience. insglück was involved in the implementation of the German Pavilion at EXPO 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The agency is also currently responsible for the content design of the Kazakh Pavilion at EXPO 2021 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The architecture firm gtp2 architekten, based in Düsseldorf, has been planning and designing various projects since 1986. These also include presentations, world exhibition participations, exhibition centers, exhibition halls and temporary pavilions. In addition, gtp2 architekten also have EXPO experience. Their team was involved in the realization of the German Pavilion at the Expos 2012 in Yeosu, 2015 in Milan and 2017 in Astana, as well as the German Garden at the International Horticultural Expo 2019 in Beijing.
Find out what the realized Expo has to offer here: Floriade 2022 Almere.
Speaking of the Expo: the IBA Basel EXPO took place in May and June 2021 as the conclusion of IBA Basel 2020. Find out more about the IBA Basel and the content of the Expo in the bilingual specialist publication that accompanied the G+L editorial team.
