Agrotopia, a rooftop greenhouse in Roeselare, Belgium, is the largest research center in Europe dedicated to urban food production. Designed by van Bergen Kolpa Architects in collaboration with Meta architectuurbureau, the project demonstrates the potential of rooftop horticulture. With its glass facades, prominent entrance staircase, and layered functions, the building investigates intensive space use, circular energy and water systems, and approaches to making greenhouse cultivation more sustainable.

Agrotopia is located on the roof of a fruit and vegetable auction facility along the ring road of Roeselare, a hub for produce distribution in West Flanders. With wide views over the city and surrounding area, the project positions urban horticulture as a visible part of Roeselare’s skyline.

Research and education
The 9,500-square-meter building houses research facilities for cultivating fruit and vegetables, along with an educational route for visitors. It is divided into three climate zones: a greenhouse zone for plant cultivation, a reception zone for people, and a buffer zone for circulation and logistics. This approach reduces the size of climate-controlled areas, cutting energy demand.

One of the main challenges was reconciling the warm, humid environment needed for plant research with the comfort requirements of visitor areas. Agrotopia is designed as a place where plants thrive, and where people can also learn and work.

Training future urban growers

The building supports training for a new generation of urban growers, who learn to cultivate fruit and vegetables while also gaining experience with new technologies and business models.

In the facade conservatory facing the ring road, a double-height space allows for vertical cultivation. At its base, rainwater is collected and stored for irrigation.

Architecture and structure
Agrotopia’s design is a slender greenhouse of glass and steel resting on the concrete base of an existing shed. The entire building uses a standard greenhouse system with diffused glass.

Climate strategies 

Public access requires careful climate management to avoid contamination and maintain comfort. A buffer zone acts as an intermediate climate between production areas and the exterior, reducing energy demand. In winter, roller screens and heating pipes maintain moderate temperatures, while in spring and autumn solar heat helps lower energy needs. In summer, ventilation, sun shading, and evaporative cooling address heat build-up.

Since visitor areas have different requirements than production greenhouses, localized misting systems are used to improve comfort, aiming for around 25°C with minimal energy use.

Circular water and energy systems
Rainwater collected from the roof irrigates the crops, while wastewater is cleaned and reused. Residual heat from the nearby Mirom waste incinerator warms the greenhouse, creating a symbiotic link between the building and the city.

With the rooftop greenhouse Agrotopia, META architectuurbureau (BE) and van Bergen Kolpa Architecten (NL) have delivered Europe’s largest public building dedicated to urban food production, a commission from the Flemish research institute for agriculture and horticulture, Inagro, and REO Veiling. With its faceted glass frontages, monumental entrance staircase and stacked functions, Agrotopia gives a striking, architectural face to horticulture on the city’s rooftops. Through innovative water recuperation and by reusing urban waste heat, Agrotopia enters into a circular symbiosis with the city.Agrotopia was constructed on the roof of the REO Veiling headquarters: the logistic heart of West Flanders for fruit and vegetables. With a spectacular view across the expansive landscape and the city, urban horticulture atop industrial rooftops is afforded a prominent place in Roeselare’s skyline.Together with the clients, Inagro and REO Veiling, META and VBK have realised an ambitious building with numerous innovations. A single building featuring different climate zones, sustainable and economical use of space, research into leafy vegetables and fruit vegetables in the city, opening up the rooftop to a public function, circular use of space and energy, to name but a few.

Building for research and education
In the 9,500 m2 building, high-tech research facilities for the cultivation of fruit and leafy vegetables are surrounded by an educational trail for the general public. In four different climate zones, the cultivation of tomatoes and lettuce, but also peppers and strawberries, can be followed.

 "Agrotopia as a test case: building a greenhouse atop an existing building has never been done before on this scale and it presented many opportunities and challenges. The integration of the steel greenhouse with the concrete substructure and complex installations has resulted in a true public building with exceptional architectural quality for the city of Roeselare."
Niklaas Deboutte, META architectuurbureau

One of the challenges was to reconcile the needs for research facilities in a greenhouse – and therefore a warm and humid environment – with the requirements for visitor facilities. In Agrotopia’s greenhouse climate, it is not only plants that must thrive; it is also a place where people come to learn and work. 

"To achieve this, box-in-box spaces were created for research and education with a climate adapted to people. For the public spaces, fogging is used to temper the wind chill on hot days."
Frederik Ghyssaert, Tractebel engineering

Transparent sculpture
Agrotopia is a proud, transparent sculpture of steel and glass, which underscores both its agricultural and its public function. To this end, the architecture is composed of a slender greenhouse construction that stands out against the sky and rests on the concrete base of the crate sheds.The entrance, with a broad ascending staircase, leads to the urban horticulture square in the heart of the building where the visitor facilities are located. A double-height greenhouse for innovative vertical cultivation can be found in the façade greenhouse along the ring road. The foot of the latter stores the rainwater from the roof, which is then used to irrigate the crops.The entire building consists of one standard greenhouse with diffuse glass. The greenhouse on the two cantilevered building heads owes its striking appearance to the expressive, faceted façades in transparent glass. On the entrance side, it forms vertical glass bay windows to which specific sunscreens could be added whilst also preserving the interior and exterior views. On the west side of the façade greenhouse along the ring road, the horizontal faceted construction guarantees a good incidence of sunlight for the crops and a reflection-free view at ground level.

Sustainable and economic use of space
The increasing and urgent need to use space as sustainably, efficiently and economically as possible has created a growing trend for urban agriculture, especially as a way of activating residual space in the city. In Agrotopia, two previously independent worlds – architecture and agriculture – are united in a single building dedicated to urban agriculture.

Circular water and energy use
Not a drop of water is lost in this building. When irrigating the plants, the run-off is recycled and reused. The same applies to energy: the greenhouse is warmed by the surplus heat from the Mirom waste incinerator. In short, Agrotopia exists in a circular symbiosis with the city.

 "Agrotopia: where the urban farmer of the future is trained. The next generation urban farmer
will not only learn how to grow both leafy and fruit vegetables; they will also learn how to work with new technologies and business models."
Sjaak Bakker, Wageningen UR Glasshouse horticulture

A multidisciplinary and international team for a multifaceted project – collaboration between different specialisations
Specialists in the field of architecture, horticulture, greenhouses, climate and construction. META architecture office, van Bergen Kolpa Architects, Wageningen UR glasshouse horticulture, Tractebel Engineering and Smiemans worked together on this project.

Agrotopia is one of the Flemish Government Architect’s ‘Pilot Projects for a Productive Landscape’ (PPPL).  With these projects, the Flemish government architect places the focus on social challenges that demand innovative building projects. The aim of a pilot project is to establish cooperation across different sectors so as to facilitate architectural and social innovation. The strength of these pilot projects is that theories are directly tested against reality. Agrotopia was born out of this process.