The Dutch city of Almere 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 residential development, creating the foundation for the first truly sustainable Dutch neighborhood.

To create such a futuristic neighborhood, it is important that the noise levels from the adjoining National Highway(motorway) do not affect the living situation in the neighborhood, and that they are well within the acceptable noise limits for a residential neighborhood. The designer proposes an ingenious solution for this by creating ‘noise barrier built landscapes’ that obstruct the noise from the motorway. The main building of this noise barrier ensemble is a 300-meter long building, fully made out of modular wooden units that functions as lodges during the International Expo to host the visitors and the Expo organizers. The modular property of the built structure ensures that these lodges can be converted into residential apartments after the Expo phase of the project. The long building is flanked by a wooden Hotel Tower on one side, and a series of hills that houses commercial and cultural functions on the other side. Together, this built landscape obstructs the noise from the motorway, creating a tranquil residential neighborhood within the Floriade Terrain.