Meise Botanic Garden in Belgium Unveils Completed “Green Ark” Mass Timber Project

The Meise Botanic Garden in Belgium recently unveiled its Green Ark project, a comprehensive renovation and expansion comprising 82,000 square feet of new and improved greenhouse facilities, according to a feature by Architectural Record (7-29-24).

Anchoring the new complex is a striking hyperboloid visitor’s pavilion, designed by Belgian firm NU architectuuratelier, which showcases the material potential of timber and leverages the latest sustainable technology. The complex structure was inspired by Felix Candela’s Cosmic Rays Pavilion (1951) in Mexico City and constructed using Kebony Clear wood, a sustainable alternative to tropical hardwood.

Headquartered in Norway, Kebony’s wood modification process involves treating FSC-certified softwood, typically pine, with 99% bio-based and renewable chemicals, Architectural Record reported. This process permanently alters the wood’s cellular structure, forming furan polymers within the cell walls. The result is a material that rivals tropical hardwood in terms of durability, dimensional stability, and hardness, but with a significantly reduced environmental footprint. While tropical hardwoods can take 80–200 years to mature, the modified softwood used in this project reaches harvestable size in just 25–30 years.

Meise Botanic Garden, established in 1797 in Brussels, is one of the world’s largest conservatories of endangered plant species. The renovation prioritized the preservation of the garden’s vast repository of species—numbering over 23,000 and representing 6% of the world’s known plant species—an endeavor that requires highly controllable growing environments.