Belgium’s pavilion and garden take shape at Floriade’s 2022 expo site

BRUSSELS, Belgium:  With less than one month remaining before Floriade opens to the public on 14 April 2022, offers a sneak preview of Belgium’s immersive and regenerative pavilion and garden.

The Flemish horticultural sector is looking forward to the exhibit. Flanders’ Agricultural Marketing Board put landscape architect Nicolas Godelet in touch with numerous leading companies.

Belgium, its regions and communities have chosen a 500m2 triangular piece of land on the waterfront to promote the country’s horticultural characteristics and green innovations. The garden and the pavilion designed by Nicolas Godelet Architects & Engineers showcase Belgian solutions for “Growing Green Cities”, Floriade’s overal theme.

BelExpo, or the Belgian Commission General for International Exhibitions, launched a competition for architects and landscape designers to design the garden that would represent Belgium for six months. It was won by the company Nicolas Godelet Architects & Engineers from Yvoir. Their “regenerative garden” convinced a jury that was focusing on criteria such as aesthetics and sustainability.

Nicolas Godelet’s team had already designed the Belgian Garden for the last international horticultural exhibition in Beijing in 2019. They recently designed the “Big Air”, the famous infrastructure for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Playful and inspiring

For the Floriade, the firm designed a project that is at once architectural, geometric (look for the countless references to the triangle) and natural, reflecting Belgian gardens. It is a playful space, a place of relaxation where families can take the time to try out wooden games. The Belgian garden also offers an inspiring trail, for example the edible plant path.

Visitors will furthermore discover the strengths of the horticultural sector in the expo zone of the Belgian pavilion.

In an half-open modern pavilion in the centre of the garden where the Brussels-Capital Region, the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region will present the innovative solutions of Belgium for the horticulture and agriculture of the future.

The pavilion’s architecture is designed to minimise its environmental impact. Each material chosen is fully reusable or degradable, low-carbon, regenerable and natural: earth, wood, hemp, naturally compostable bioplastic, all these materials will be reused or recycled at the end of the exhibition.

The Floriade will welcome 2 million visitors to Almere (near Amsterdam) from 14 April to 9 October 2022.

 

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