THE NATURAL PAVILION
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
While Bauhaus at the time of the first industrial revolution was the movement that allowed all social classes to make a leap forward with new possibilities in technology, materials and design, New Bauhaus does that again. But now by considering the limits of unbridled growth.
With The Natural Pavilion, we are shaping a new circular building ecosystem, accelerating the green transition and ensuring a better way of life. We show that architecture can contribute to solving the major world problem
Geographical Scope
Project Region
Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
EU Programme or fund
Which funds
Description of the project
Summary
The construction sector faces enormous challenges. Not only is the housing shortage very high, lowering CO2 and nitrogen emissions in combination with stricter legislation and environmental regulations also create great complexity in project development. Other societal challenges include the energy transition and the growing exclusion of the middle class from the market for owner-occupied houses. Besides that, the building sector has the ambition to be fully circular by 2050.
But why wait until 2050?
Our project The Natural Pavilion, part of the Dutch Innovation Experience at the Floriade Expo 2022, shows that it is already possible on an industrial scale to develop homes, schools and offices that are built fully circular, biobased, energy neutral and in close connection with nature. Moreover, we prove that they can be built at a pace that has never been realised before. It is the answer to the Floriade theme ‘Growing Green Cities’: a new spatial and social relationship between city and country for the ever-growing urban population worldwide, without exhausting Mother Earth.
With The Natural Pavilion we prove that solutions are available for the shortage in energy, raw materials and housing. We showcase a more sustainable agriculture, urbanisation and climate adaptation and restore biodiversity. The pavilion is almost entirely constructed from local biobased materials and is a literal accumulation of innovations. For example, the pavilion shows the possibilities of using greenery in the living and working environment (even with stacked construction), new forms of rainwater collection and use, sustainable foundation solutions, optimal use of natural daylight, natural ventilation and minimal energy consumption. The combination of a super flexible modular construction method, the industrialised construction process, and its biobased materialisation makes The Natural Pavilion the epitome of circular construction. A clear sustainable regenerative ecosystem.
Key objectives for sustainability
In order to be able to realise The Natural Pavilion, we had to meet very strict conditions in the tender. In the very first plans, we already assumed a 100% biobased construction and interior; we wanted to create innovative and scalable solutions for the entire market; we opted for a circular construction process with an eye for biodiversity; construction had to be emission-free; we wanted to design parametrically; we demanded the highest level of sustainability performance and demanded that the entire business case be circular. The result exceeds even our wildest expectations.
Our unique ‘WoodCore Construction Method’, which has been developed in-house, ensures enormous savings in CO2 emissions. The pavilion is therefore completely modular in construction from wooden beams and columns that are only held together at the corners by recycled steel knots.
Almost all other building products with which The Natural Pavilion is built, are also made from biobased materials. For example, the inner walls are made of (residual) materials from agriculture and horticulture: straw, flax, bell pepper stems and a finish with wood fibre textiles.
The building is designed in an environmentally inclusive way. We use native plants in line with the flora and fauna present. The plants purify water and air, strengthen biodiversity, retain rainwater and store nitrogen and CO2. With farmers, builders and consumers we grow and use renewable resources to create more climate-conscious communities.
The Pavilion is designed with the principle that it has multiple life cycles. In every construction detail, it is taken into account that the pavilion will return in a different place and in a different configuration. After the Floriade, the pavilion will be dismantled to serve as an exhibition space in various Dutch nature reserves. After 2025, the pavilion will be used for the new construction of the FlevoCampus, the knowledge institute that helps devise solutions for urban food issues.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The Natural Pavilion is characterised by a high degree of functionality, combined with minimalistic details. This results in a very powerful architectural image. An image that will also remain intact when the pavilion is later built up in a different configuration.
At the Floriade, the pavilion is 1000m2, three storeys high around an open atrium. At the front, a double-height space has been created that marks the main entrance.
The pavilion can be seen as a regular system of cells whose geometry is parametrically adjustable. It is a circular building system that gives a lot of room for adaptability in which new circular eco-architecture can be realised for a large number of combined functions. This new industrial freedom of form ensures that diversity can be realised as value.
The pavilion is clearly circular, biobased and demountable: visible in the large amount of wood, the greenery, the three elements with which the grid is constructed (wooden beams, steel knots and CLT floor elements) and the biobased walls.
The minimalist designed universal steel knot forms the connecting piece and makes the building demountable and adaptable, but also makes it very understandable for the public how the building is constructed.
The parametrically designed louvred facade - which ensures an optimum between daylight, building heating and view from the inside to the outside - gives the pavilion sculptural expression. This also applies to the sleek grid of the shed roofs, which provide optimal daylight, but also ensure a beautiful roof.
From the pavilion itself there is a view of greenery everywhere: the roof garden, inner gardens, urban farming where fruit and vegetables are grown, hanging inner gardens, and the lush ‘Garden of the Future’, where people, flora and fauna can be fed from their own gardens.
By working with a column structure instead of a wall structure, it is possible to create different spaces: long, large or square. This gives a great deal of flexibility.
Key objectives for inclusion
The Natural Pavilion was conceived, developed and built by citizens, architects, engineers, suppliers, construction companies, installers, safety, sustainability and garden and landscape consultants, but could not have existed without the input of governments and knowledge and research institutes. A new and unique form of collaboration has been deliberately chosen. The traditional construction manner of work has been exchanged for a consortium of companies and organisations with complementary expertise’s. There won’t be a main contractor: we chose for a transdisciplinary approach and participation process instead, to capitalise on the existing wealth of knowledge, experience and capacities.
As a partner collective, we work on a wide range of assignments and we have enormous experience in working methods, techniques and solutions. Our professionals work simultaneously and in close collaboration on concept development, construction, installations, building physics and sustainability. Interesting insights arise precisely in the interaction between client, architect, consultants, producers and contractor and future residents.
However, we didn't just value human inclusion at The Natural Pavilion. Nature inclusivity also largely determined the design, with the Garden of the Future as an inspiring example. The greenery enhances the local floral and fauna.
With the pavilion we also prove that a more industrialised construction process can lead to a cost reduction of up to thirty percent and a shorter construction time of up to fifty percent. These are crucial developments for a more social housing market that is crying out for affordable, healthier and sustainable houses for all.
The modularity and the decoupling of land and product ownership mean that even less well-off people can afford their own house and can expand it later - depending on their family situation. By extensively industrialising the construction process, we contribute to solving staff shortages.
Results in relation to category
Our construction method can make a major contribution to the upscaling of circular and biobased construction. The building system consists of highly rationalised modular elements. As a result, the modules can be freely combined in two directions and fit together like puzzle pieces. A module consists of a wooden floor and load-bearing laminated wooden columns. The walls are not load-bearing, so that the modules can easily be linked to create larger spaces. The connections between the different parts are standardised and can be easily disassembled and rebuilt.
Our construction method has been industrialised into an optimised and digital controlled production process. This is further enhanced by using proven techniques such as: dry bonding in construction, prefabrication in the factory and limiting work on the construction site. Mechanical connections between parts of the main supporting structure, building parts and components enable faster and safer assembly and repeated (dis)assembly. The various wooden modules are delivered 'plug and play' to the construction site, where the assembly process follows. As a result, the entire construction process has a minimal impact on the environment and leads to an 80% reduction in nitrogen emissions.
In our view, a building is only a temporary composition of components and materials that still retains value at the end of its life cycle and can be used again for new purposes. The Natural Pavilion can be reassembled at a different location after the Floriade Expo. Modularity makes it possible to create a completely different building with the same elements.
The life cycle approach for the use of materials, the R-principles for a circular economy as drawn up by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the Building Circularity Index were closely examined. Much of the wood used comes from production forests in the area, all the glass comes from a former office building and the steel used consists of recycled steel. The pavilion is also
How Citizens benefit
During the creation of The Natural Pavilion, we worked closely together with the Woningbouwatelier (WBA) in the city of Almere. WBA, as a representative of the local citizens, challenges the existing design and construction culture and focuses emphatically on ideas for regular, full-fledged and permanent housing. Thanks to WBA, we have been able to apply lightweight wooden foundations, researched new biobased building materials into fully certified and scalable products and developed a smart water buffer.
But cooperation has also been sought with the Dutch Ministry of the Interior, which is committed to stimulating biobased and circular construction by means of legislation and regulations. Moreover, research institute TNO is a permanent partner. They are investigating the possibilities of emission-free construction.
But what makes us most rooted in society is the collaboration with more than 50 different Dutch companies. Every partner has delivered a circular performance that is exceptional in their own discipline and that makes an indispensable contribution to the integrated project. And industrial and circular construction only has a chance of success if it is approached integrally. With the Natural Pavilion, we have shown that this approach works and that the construction industry, as well as citizens, flora and fauna reap the benefits.
In fact, for this project we have set up our own circular industrial ecosystem, with which we can not only strengthen the local economy, but also provide affordable, healthy and nature-inclusive homes. And that makes us a source of inspiration for the entire (international) construction industry.
Moreover, this project connects urban and rural areas and makes farmers not only food producers but also building materials suppliers. After all, a biobased economy is also a regenerative economy. We are changing the Netherlands as a global example of industrial agriculture into a frontrunner in circular agriculture.
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
One of The Natural Pavilion's goals is to achieve demonstrable performance with regard to the lowest possible environmental performance requirements and zero emissions. These are the different scores that are not achieved by any other property in the Netherlands:
- %kg biobased material: 96.09%
- %volume of biobased material: 99.74%
- Storage CO2 KG: 352 tons
- Nitrogen emissions: 75% reduction compared to traditional construction
- Building Circularity Index: >0,8
The Natural Pavilion also contains seven innovations that can structurally stimulate industrial circular buildings and cities:
- WoodCore Construction: a modular construction system consisting of constructive CLT wood and steel knots. A solution to realise biobased high-rise buildings up to 80m high in inner-city areas.
- Sustainable wooden foundation: Old technology - wooden foundation piles - with a new look: with sustainable concrete or recycled plastic attachments that prevent the piles from rotting. The experience now gained at the pavilion is of great value for the future of foundations.
- Climate Concept: sustainable innovation in installation technology. Keywords are: low-tech, energy neutral, solar panels, wind turbines, digitally controlled louvred windows that provide natural ventilation, pluggable, re-use and biobased.
- Materials passport: development of a materials passport in which all materials and products used are included. This document is a crucial link in the development of the circular construction industry.
- Biobased Materialisation: 25 biobased materials have been applied with a view to scalability and suitability for industrialization.
- Smart water buffer: a smart water buffer that is suitable as a concept for residential construction and that meets the highest BREEAM requirements.
- Construction process/industrial ecosystem: We opted for a different division of roles than usual in construction projects e.g. direct contact with the supplier and ensuring sustainability principles.
Learning transferred to other parties
The Natural Pavilion shows the world that biobased, circular and nature-inclusive construction can be done in an industrial way. The results and lessons learned will be experienced first by the more than 2 million visitors from all over the world who will visit the Floriade Expo in the coming months. The seventh Dutch edition of the International Horticultural Expo also offers a worldwide stage to national and international thinkers, innovators and smart people who see green solutions that make our cities more fun, liveable and sustainable. It is also an attractive platform for trade delegations, colleagues and business clubs. The Natural Pavilion can benefit from this and the broad platform for marketing and exposure of the Floriade Expo 2022.
The consortium behind The Natural Pavilion is also affiliated with the City Deal 'Circular and conceptual construction', an initiative in which the national government works together with various Dutch municipalities, provinces, knowledge institutions and the business community to shape the transition to a circular construction economy.
We also work closely with the Woningbouwatelier (WBA) in the city of Almere. WBA will report in various reports on the innovations regarding wooden foundations and new biobased building materials. Our materials passport will be publicly accessible to other parties in the construction industry.
And of course we communicate with a wide audience in the appropriate ways: via our website, short (online) films and a b2b symposium during Floriade Expo. The pavilion will house a radio and film studio for Dutch television, which will broadcast episodes around ‘Growing Green Cities’ from the pavilion.
When the Floriade Expo has ended, we will dismantle the Natural Pavilion and then rebuild it in various places in the Netherlands over the next three years. With our travelling pavilion we keep a large audience informed about the possibilities of industrial circular and nature-inclusive construction.
