Niek Roozen has been involved in every single Floriade held in the Netherlands since 1972. First as a student, then as a member of the work team, and in 2002, as chief designer of Floriade in Haarlemmermeer. Since 1982, the landscape architect has also worked on Dutch contributions at horticultural exhibitions around the globe, from Germany to Poland and China to Taiwan. For the Floriade Expo opening in Almere next year, Roozen is part of the green team, which is responsible for all the existing greenery as well as the new arboretum.
Roozen is confident about the preparations for the upcoming Floriade. “I’ve done this before. The opening date is fixed, there’s no discussion about it. By the time it needs to be finished, it will be finished.” Roozen has already been working on the green structure of Floriade in Almere for 3.5 years, together with several other, external parties. Of the total 2,500 trees to be planted within the exhibition grounds, 2,300 of which in the Arboretum, 95% has been planted so far. The last trees, to be planted in the autumn, are several larger-size trees for the central square. They’re currently waiting in air-pot containers at the nurseries.
Roozen explains that Floriade Almere is unique, compared with previous international exhibitions. “Almost all horticultural exhibitions throughout the world are designed like parks and are used as parks afterwards, too. Think for example of Amstelpark, Beatrixpark and Gaasperpark in Amsterdam, as well as the green spaces in Haarlemmermeer and Beijing, where the most recent world horticultural exhibition took place in 2019. In Almere however, the exhibition grounds will be transformed into a green housing estate afterwards. The Floriade exhibition lasts six months, and immediately after that, construction works for the housing estate will commence. A decision about what to do with the grounds when the exhibition is over, is normally left until afterwards, so in that sense, Almere is different.”
