The Dutch city of Almere has appointed the team of Design Erick van Egeraat and Amvest as the exclusive partner for the realization of the Floriade area and district as the result of a European tender in December 2018. The area will become a truly green, sustainable, and circular city district. The Floriade is the Dutch horticultural exhibition held every 10 years and, traditionally, houses structures that incorporate and showcase sustainable values of the time. Temporary structures are dismantled at the end of the 6-month exhibition, only a couple of main buildings remain, as a testament. For the 7th edition, Erick van Egeraat proposes to go even further. For the district to retain its value and success, it would make sense to introduce a mix of typologies of residential development, creating the foundation for the first truly sustainable Dutch neighborhood.

In this villa designed on a tiny triangular plot of land along the Weerwater lake, the building plan is defined by the shape of the site and the existing trees on it. The villa replicates the triangular form of the site and a patio is introduced to preserve the trees on the site. The longer edge of the triangle is elevated to the first-floor level to ensure access and views to the lake. The whole structure of both the ground floor and the first floor is composed of modular CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) units. The open plans of both floors ensure that the villa could be used as a pavilion during the Floriade Expo, and can be conveniently converted into a private residential space after the Expo.

On the adjacent plot, which is reserved for Ebony trees as per the masterplan, a landscape installation is introduced to add a new landmark on the Floriade terrain. The installation is composed of prefab elements of Corton steel that could be welded together on site. The central element of the installation is a corton steel ramp that leads the visitor to an elevated terrace from where the Floriade terrain could be enjoyed. The water from the lake that naturally flows into the garden is also elevated along the ramp to water the Ebony trees on the terrace, as well as to release them later forming the only waterfall in the Expo terrain. The waterfront villa along with this landscape garden makes a unique landmark on the Floriade terrain, both during the Expo phase and later.