#floriade

pavilion representing spain infrastructure on ex-floriade [2012] exhibition area, all pavilions were torn down in february 2022.

For the first time I felt compelled to smell a building; to actually go up and give it a good sniff. Hmphhhhh. A pleasing aroma of midsummer pollen filled my nostrils, but only briefly: a bee buzzed near my ear, so I ran away.  

I was at Floriade in the Netherlands, a once-in-a-decade horticulture expo that’s like the Chelsea Flower Show, only bigger, quirkier, and more solutions-focused. The theme this year is ‘growing green cities’ – organisers of the seven-month jamboree in Almere want to show the world how. With Europe sizzling in a heatwave, the timing is pertinent. 

The Dutch are uniquely disposed towards offering advice about constructing adaptable cities. They moved the sea to build theirs, using an elaborate system of dykes and pumps to keep the tide at bay – expertise that will be more valuable as sea levels rise. In fact, Floriade itself is located on what used to be the seabed, but is now one of the largest land reclamation projects in the world. A local saying immodestly sums up the achievement: “God made the world, but the Dutch made the Netherlands”.

Spread over sixty hectares – with a cable car shuttling visitors overhead – the site is carved into 192 plots, each one showcasing ideas and innovations that could help make our cities greener, more liveable. Or, at the very least, prettier. 

The building (main image) that made my nostrils twitch is one of the more eye-catching exhibits. Draped with violet bellflowers, white daisies and verdant foliage, the four-storey office is alive, aromatic and buzzing with pollinators. But inside, it looks like any other work place, with its ergonomic furniture and desktop computers – proof, perhaps, that building green cities doesn’t mean compromising on functionality.