Situated in Pas-de-Calais, France, “Tropicalia” will develop an area of 215,000 sqf (20,000 sqm) with a dome that will house inside a tropical forest, turtle beach, a pool for Amazonian fish, and a one-kilometer-long interior walking trail. The biome aims to offer a “harmonious haven” where visitors are immediately immersed in a seemingly natural environment under a single domed roof.

French architects Coldefy & Associates Architects Urban Planners released details of plans for the world's largest single-domed of 15,000m² tropical biodome. Called Tropicalia, this vast indoor landscape will soon pop up in the Pas-de-Calais area in Northern France and house all sorts of tropical flora and fauna under an enormous pillar-less roof of EFTE pressurized air cushions held up by an aluminum frame.

Construction starts in 2019, and completion is scheduled for 2021.
 

Description of project by Coldefy & Associates Architects Urban Planners

Tropicalia is a 15,000m² tropical biodome that creates a harmonious world connecting man to an exotic natural, providing a constant temperature of 28°C in a region with notoriously poor weather. Whether it is an invitation into a dream, a grand voyage or an educational trip, Tropicalia is a place of discovery, amazement and ecological awareness.

This unique place will contain a diverse range of fauna and flora, butterflies, exotic flowers, hummingbirds, waterfalls, aquarium basins, fish, turtles, caimans and more. Beyond the eminently exotic interior world, the sensation of complete immersion is made possible with the innovative architectural approach.

The absence of any load-bearing columns that would disrupt the view or introduce artificiality, coupled with the natural treatment of the perimeter vegetal wall that allows only a view up to the sky from within, visitors have the sensation of a space disconnected from the world outside.

From the exterior, the architecture merges with the landscape: the building is partially set in the ground, diminishing its height and impact. From a distant view, the structure rises like a gentle hill in its natural landscape.

A project such as Tropicalia implies an increased resourcefulness and a serious sustainable approach. Therefore, the roof structure implemented is composed by EFTE pressurized air cushions within an aluminum frame.

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Coldefy & Associates Architects Urban Planners. CAAU
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Opale tropical Concept
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Coldefy is an architecture studio founded by Thomas Coldefy and Isabel Van Haute in 2006, with offices in Lille, Paris, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The studio has an international team with completed and ongoing projects, public and private at all scales, around the world.

Thomas and Isabel met at SCAU in Paris after working for, among others, Kohn Pedersen Fox and Richard Meier and Partners on large-scale complex projects. When designing, they pay special attention to the place, the urban culture related to density and diversity, as well as a conceptualization process where the various factors of the project come together continuously.

After founding the studio, they won the competition for the Hong Kong Institute of Design in 2006 against 162 teams. The project completed since 2009 has been the subject of numerous international publications, was nominated for the AFEX Grand Prize in 2012 and exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

In France, Coldefy continues to develop a series of projects, especially in the heart of the Lille metropolitan area, where they have already completed multiple operations: multi-family housing and offices at the Porte de Valenciennes Arboretum in Euralille, the Lucie Aubrac Secondary School. The school in Tourcoing, the first low-energy school in the region, or Rigot Stalars, a historic mixed-use rehabilitation and extension, creating a new neighborhood in Dunkirk.

In 2016, the office carried out two major construction projects in the Lille metropolitan area: the Aquatic Center in Douai and the Lycée Hôtelier de Lille. Having completed the first phase of the new OVH campus, the team worked on the project for a complex bringing together leisure, cultural and retail spaces in Orgeval, as well as the transformation of an eclectic historic neighborhood in Fuzhou, China. In addition, there are multiple commissions and competitions, including a graphic arts school in Montpellier, the planning of a new development area in the Paris region, the second phase of Rigot Stalars, a restaurant and high-end residential units in the historic Vieux Lille, the modernization of a Villa in Shanghai, etc.

Awards
5 finalists for the Louvre Lens international competition, together with Steven Holl.
International conference center in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 2009.
40 Under 40 Award in 2010, which recognizes the most talented young architects in the world.
WAF World Architecture Forum (nomination), 2011.
Pyramides d`Or, 2011.
IDA Award in 2012.
Awarded the silver prize for the IDA 2012 awards.
Public Service Hall in Kobuleti, Georgia in 2012.
Perspective “40 under 4”, 2014.
Asia «40 under 4», 2014.
Europe «40 under 4», 2014.
IDA-International Design Awards, 2016.
European Architecture Prize, 2021.
International Architecture Prize, 2021.
Order of Arts and Letters, Thomas Coldefy, 2022.
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Published on: March 30, 2018
Cite: "Coldefy & Associates designs the World's largest domed tropical greenhouse, in Northern France" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/coldefy-associates-designs-worlds-largest-domed-tropical-greenhouse-northern-france> ISSN 1139-6415
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