Belgian-Dutch design wins trophy

The roof greenhouse Agrotopia in Roeselare, Belgium, has won the Benelux Trophy for Hot-dip Galvanization 2023 in the Aesthetic Galvanization category. The project was designed by Niklaas Deboutte of META Architects from Belgium and Jago van Bergen of Van Bergen Kopla Architects from the Netherlands.

Agrotopia was built on the existing roof of the crate shed of the REO Auction, an auction for fruits and vegetables. The rooftop greenhouse was to house high-tech research facilities for leaf and fruit vegetables, which could also be visited by the public. This presented a particular challenge. Namely, a climate had to be developed that was ideal for both crops and people. Not only for the workers, but also for the visitors. 

"When I saw the competition for this project, I knew immediately that I wanted to enlist the help of Niklaas Deboutte for this," Van Bergen says. "This because of his great expertise in designing public buildings and also because he is originally from Roeselare." Van Bergen, himself a specialist in architecture for food, found the competition ambitious and therefore called on the expertise of Smiemans Kassenbouw, Wageningen University and Tractebel, among others, for the design. The program of requirements described exactly what the ambition of the research greenhouse was. The conditions of the research also had to match the daily practice as closely as possible. Therefore, the greenhouse type "Venlo" was chosen because it is the most common type in the region.

The choice of hot-dip galvanized steel was not the first choice. In fact, the first choice was to go for a white powder-coated construction, also because of the light output due to reflection. However, this advantage outweighed a major disadvantage: cost. Galvanized steel is simply cheaper and is more in keeping with practice because many gardeners still have greenhouses made of galvanized steel. To fit in with the concrete building below, it was decided to finish all the added materials in the window gray color RAL7040. This is a business color that forms a harmonious whole together with the existing construction due to its specific coherent application.

Sustainable and circular is also the building. The collected rainwater remaining after watering the crops is recycled and reused. By applying the construction of the greenhouse on top of the existing building, no valuable land is sacrificed but rather existing land is used even more efficiently. The greenhouse is also heated with residual heat from the nearby MIRON waste incineration plant.

Rooftop greenhouse Agrotopia is Europe's largest public building for urban food production research. With its faceted glass facades, monumental entrance staircase and stacking of functions, Agrotopia gives a striking, architectural face to horticulture on the city's rooftops.