The metropolitan area of Amsterdam and Almere houses trillions of inhabitants: people, animals, plants, trees and microbes. How can we organise these cities to support all human and non-human residents? The Amsterdam-Almere Pavilion at the Floriade Expo 2022 amplifies every inhabitant’s voice in gardens full of encounters between different species. Overtreders W, the Onkruidenier, Joost Emmerik and Kossmanndejong designed The Voice of Urban Nature for the Amsterdam and Almere municipalities. They designed the pavilion, gardens and exhibition as an integrated spatial and layered narrative. The pavilion’s building, nature and narrative become one.

Urban Activism

Construction, increasing human population density and climate change put pressure on cities’ various residents. As a response, urban nature initiatives are aiming to make cities more liveable for all their inhabitants. To bring the diverse “voices” to the foreground, illustrator Paul Faassen created humorous portraits of Amsterdam and Almere’s occupants. This visual and spatial manifesto is painted directly on the pavilion’s wooden walls and employs the same directness and energy as the countless messages that fly by as you move through the city. For example, a heron describes where he gets his lunch and a dead tree expresses how it is, in fact, bursting with life.

Surprising Perspectives

If we want to get an understanding of nature, we must listen to it. While wandering through six themed gardens, visitors can listen to urban inhabitants’ stimulating and surprising perspectives. Audio encounters with inspiring humans and non-humans from Amsterdam and Almere showcase how you, too, can contribute to a nature-inclusive future. Visitors discover how urban tree planters, material choreographers, nature optimists and a boy searching for herbs in the pavement make their cities greener. Their enthusiasm is contagious and entices you to join them.

"Figuring out the best way to visualise and share nature's voice was an incredible adventure for everyone involved in this project."
Herman Kossmann (Founding partner – KDJ)

Cross-Pollination

The collaboration between the Amsterdam and Almere municipalities, Pakhuis de Zwijger, Avanti Almere, architects, animators, audio makers, illustrators, and builders creates a special cross-pollination of design, expertise and perspective. From costume design and audio narration to painting and planting, everyone’s contribution creates a layered and multi-voiced narrative where all the parts seamlessly integrate and build on each other.

Sustainability

The building is completely bio-based. The pavilion’s walls are made of lime hemp and wood sourced from a VOC ship and old Rijksmuseum exhibitions. After the Floriade Expo closes, Amsterdam and Almere will relocate and reuse the pavilion for ten years. Considering the pavilion’s short lifespan, we decided to only use biodegradable materials. By building the pavilion with nature, the exhibition invites visitors to search for a new relationship with humans as part of nature.

Together with landscape architect Thijs de Zeeuw, Kossmanndejong also developed the concept for the Floriade School Garden for the municipalities of Amsterdam and Almere. Kossmanndejong is committed to climate awareness by actively seeking projects that contribute to it, such as the Coral Triangle Centre (2014), Eden Holland (2018), the Groote Museum Artis (2022), Nature at the Stapferhaus (2022) and our self-initiated project Growth, What is That? (2022).