Agriculture has long since ceased to be a matter of ploughs and horses, fields and sunshine: technologically controlled greenhouses yield much more than traditional cultivation methods on the same surface area, especially if you grow vegetables in tiers. This type of tiered agriculture is even possible on the roof of another company’s building. Meta Architects and Van Bergen Kolpa Architects proved this with Agrotopia, a giant greenhouse on the roof of an auction warehouse in Roeselare. The beauty of it is that they gave the utilitarian construction a ‘face’. That is where the architectural contribution lies.

Agrotopia was one of the pilot projects of the Flemish Government Architect’s ‘Productive Landscape’ initiative. These projects ask how agriculture can be reconciled with other claims on open space, such as recreation or energy production. Inagro, a research institute for agriculture in the province of West Flanders, submitted a plan for a greenhouse on top of an auction building, which draws its heat production from a local heat network.