Student visits the Floriade Exhibition

Highlights of the Floriade Exhibition 2022

In October 2022, I visited the Floriade in Almere, which is an exhibition of horticulture that takes place only once in a decade in the Netherlands. This year the theme was ‘Growing Green Cities’, which was set up by the Dutch horticultural sector in collaboration with national and international stakeholders. The exhibition featured a plethora of innovative projects on urban green systems, sustainable materials, circular building, renewable energy and innovative ways of food production.

Upon arrival, the sustainable element of the exhibition was immediately noticeable by the remarkable energy-neutral building of the Aeres Hogeschool. First, this building features a beautiful green wall, which improves air quality and regulates inside temperature. The façade consisted of 11 082 plants in total that had been growing in a plant nursery for 8 weeks in spring, ensuring a fully green façade during the Floriade exhibition. Because circularity was a key factor during the design of the building, the different components of the green wall can be refurbished, reused and recycled. The construction contains a steel basket that can be recycled indefinitely and a substrate layer of rockwool that retains water and nutrients so that the plants can grow on it. The design also features a foil that serves as fire protection. Between the plant panels, drip lines were installed to provide an automatic water supply. The water supply originates from a tank on the roof as well as an underground tank, which both capture rainwater. This way, no tap water is required for irrigating the green systems. Moreover, insect hotels and bird shelters were also added to the green wall, which support the urban biodiversity (Tanger, 2022). 

A second remarkable feature of the building is that it also contains a green roof with 6 trees and 2000
plants from mainly 30 different native plant species. By focusing mainly on native species, the natural vegetation is reinforced. Additionally, there are some 2400 plants inside the building (Tanger, 2022). Unfortunately, the green roof could not be accessed since the building was closed during the weekend. Finally, a remarkable solar panel installation was installed on the roof of the building as well as one of the walls of the building. In total 712 panels are installed, which corresponds to a total capacity of 156 000 Wp (Verpaalen, 2022). Other than producing a substantial amount of electricity, the solar panels also help to regulate the temperature inside the building. This way, there is less need for heating and cooling of the building.

In summary, the Aeres Hogeschool building is not only aesthetically pleasing, but it also improves air quality, increases local biodiversity, reduces the urban heat island effect, generates renewable electricity and regulates the temperature of the building itself. By integrating all these factors, the building is a prime example of how urban greenery can be an integral part in the adaptation and mitigation strategy in the light of ongoing climate change. For these reasons, Aeres Hogeschool has received the nickname ‘Green Lung’ as well as the title of most sustainable higher education building in the Netherlands. 

This first building was already very impressive, but it was only the beginning! When walking a bit further within the Floriade, several other innovative buildings could be visited. One of them was the ‘Natural Pavilion’. This building is fully circular, energy neutral, biobased and integrates natural elements. It is 1000 m² big and was built with stackable modules (Figure 5) which can be linked in different ways, making it a very flexible and versatile building system (The Natural Pavilion, 2022a).

The construction materials are for 95% biobased, which means they are renewable. The outside construction is made of sustainably managed wood and circular glass, and is fortified by recycled steel. The inside of the building exhibited some 20 biobased walls of a variety of materials. These include straw, flax, bamboo, reed, cellulose, mycelium, bark and cork. These materials are environmentally friendly, sturdy enough to use as construction materials and have several desirable properties. For instance, straw walls that are built through a special straw-pressing technique, ensure excellent insulation. Walls made from reed have great acoustic characteristics because of the hollow nature of the reed. Both straw and reed absorb carbon from the atmosphere while growing, making these materials carbon negative. Cork also achieves high insulation and acoustic performances, is easy to recycle and can be sourced without cutting down the tree it originates from (namely the cork oak). Another remarkable material is mycelium: it consists of the roots of fungi. It grows on waste streams of agri- and horticultural products, such as hemp and pepper stalks. The pavilion contains a mycelium wall (Figure 7) that serves as cabinet space and as a partition wall, which also has favourable acoustic characteristics. Above all, these materials are circular and have a low carbon intensity, in contrast to the common carbon-intensive cement that is used in the construction sector. This way, carbon and nitrogen emissions are reduced by up to 80% (The Natural Pavilion, 2022b).

Another notable feature of the Natural Pavilion is that it also has a green roof that integrates solar panels. The green roof not only supports local biodiversity, but also increases the efficiency of the solar panels by 4 to 15% thanks to its cooling properties. The vegetation consists of more than 12 plant species, including some endemic and threatened species such as the stone carnation and the golden primrose. Moreover, the chosen species are known to attract bees and butterflies, supporting pollinator abundance and diversity in the area (The Natural Pavilion, 2022a). 

In conclusion, the Natural Pavilion proves that innovative architecture can help to sustainably build houses, schools and offices, and this at a fast pace, which in an important factor considering the fast-growing population. It shows that we have solutions for the lack of energy, raw materials and housing. The biobased materials make the construction fully circular and have a low carbon-intensity, contributing to climate change mitigation. Finally, the green roof supports biodiversity and regulates the inside temperature, while the solar panels generate renewable energy.

On top of its remarkable architecture, the pavilion also showcased several projects on sustainable food production. One that stood out to me was the “steel cow” by “Those Vegan Cowboys”. Those Vegan Cowboys are two Dutch entrepreneurs who managed to produce milk and cheese from grass without real cows. They managed to mimic the fermentation process that normally happens within the stomach of cows by using yeasts and other microbes that express the required casein genes (which is the milk protein). This way, they can produce milk and cheese that is plant-based, tastes the same as regular dairy products and avoids all the methane emissions that cows generally cause through their flatulence. This is a remarkable break-through that will allow all the cheese lovers to buy more environmentally friendly alternatives. Those vegan cowboys hope to commercialize their products by 2026 (Those Vegan Cowboys, n.d.). 

After the Natural Pavilion, I continued strolling through the exhibition and encountered many other pavilions from different countries exhibiting interesting projects and plants. The Italian pavilion showcased for instance gabions, which are meshed boxes made from steelwire and filled with stones that serve as a sustainable construction material. These gabions were produced by the company ‘Nautilus Eco-Solutions’ and were used as a planter as a soil-retaining wall around the present vegetation. These gabions are very versatile for construction projects as they are very sturdy, but also flexible and permeable, making them a ‘bio-civil’ construction material. Furthermore, the gabions are aesthetically pleasing, which is an added value in comparison to concrete constructions. For this reason, gabions also form an excellent option for applications in a façade, retaining wall or noise insulation barrier.

Further, the garden of the United Arab Emirates showcased salt loving plants that can thrive in the desert-like conditions and in seas prevalent in the country. It featured mangroves which can prevent coastal erosion, protect coastlines against sea level rise and preserve biodiversity. It also showed quinoa plants, which provide a super crop that is very nutritious and can survive in harsh conditions of high salinity, drought and temperature. Lastly, the garden also exhibited Salicornia, which is used to feed humans and animals and also has high potential as a biofuel. And again, it thrives in desert conditions.

In conclusion, the Floriade raised awareness of the urgency of several environmental concerns and showcased a myriad of innovative projects that can contribute to sustainable solutions for these issues. From the implementation of urban greenery to biobased materials and sustainable ways of food production, the Floriade displays the current best practices in horticultural applications that should be incorporated in the design of future buildings and urban landscape projects. This way, the Floriade inspires to make our cities more green, healthy and liveable, both for us and future generations.

Julian V. Maurer (24): is a Master student in Sustainable Development at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. He is passionate about ecology, urban green systems and every project that can mitigate the adverse consequences related to climate change and contribute to a sustainable future.

References

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Tanger, N. (2022). Green facade Aeres Hogeschool Almere. Cloud Garden. Retrieved November 7, 2022 from https://cloudgarden.nl/en/green-facade-aeres-hogeschool-almere/

The Natural Pavilion. (2022a). Home – The Natural Pavilion. Retrieved November 7, 2022 https://www.thenaturalpavilion.eu/

The Natural Pavilion. (2022b). Materialisatie. Retrieved November 7, 2022 https://www.thenaturalpavilion.eu/materialisatie/

Those Vegan Cowboys. (n.d.). Meet Margaret our iron lady. Retrieved November 7, 2022, from https://thosevegancowboys.com/

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