The city of Almere, within the metropolitan area of Amsterdam, is on the verge of experiencing a large population growth geered by urban plans like that of Oosterwold or Almere 2030, which foresees the construction of 60,000 new homes. In this context, the international exhibition and garden festival Floriade 2022 becomes an opportunity to create a pioneering urban complex that can be exemplary for future developments.

A grid of gardens stretches over a 45-hectare-square-shaped peninsula on the southern shore of Weerwater Lake. Each block is devoted to one plant species, alphabetically ordered, and is combined with a different program in each case: from pavilions to houses, offices or even a university, generating a diverse ecosystem where visitors can stay at a jasmine hotel, swim in a lily pond, or dine in a rose garden. Although the initiative is organized around the garden festival, the project is not conceived as temporary but as an ecological and self-sufficient neighborhood that grows vegetables, produces food and energy, recycles waste, and cleans its own water, establishing a symbiotic relationship between plants, animals, and people.