Amsterdam's highest rooftop garden opens on NEMO science museum
Amsterdam’s highest rooftop garden will open on the roof of the Nemo Science Museum on Thursday. Mayor Femke Halsema will cut the ribbon to the rooftop park, which is a gift to the city and will be freely accessible to everyone from Friday.
Nemo director Géke Roelink is delighted. “It has become truly magnificent,” she said to Parool. “With this roof square, we offer a creative and inspiring place where everyone is welcome, and where a connection between visitors and an understanding of science and technology is central, where you can learn about yourself and the world around you, and where you can contribute to a more beautiful city and sustainable future.”
To make the rooftop garden, Nemo removed 24 tons of concrete from the roof and replaced it with sustainably produced accoya wood with a low CO2 footprint, Steyn van Hamersveld, head of facilities at the museum, told the Amsterdam newspaper. The removed concrete will be reused in the foundations of roads, among other things, he said. The accoya planks were treated in a vinegar bath, which makes them resistant to mold and rot. “This floor should last at least 15 to 20 years. Which is quite a long time for a wooden terrace that will be walked on a lot.”
The rooftop garden has 75 types of plants, divided into three biotopes. The roof slopes downward, with plants requiring the least water on top and the most water at the bottom. “A structure with retention crates has been constructed under the plant cover. When a crate is filled with rainwater or water from the irrigation, the water flows to the next, lower level crate, which then takes care of the watering of the plants,” Van Hamersveld said. Water bowls, piles of stones, and tree trunks make the garden even more attractive to insects.
The garden will soon also feature a large sundial. “The roof square is about biodiversity and about measuring and knowing,” Roelink said. “The sundial is part of that. But you can also measure the humidity and wind speed here and look at the sun and the stars through telescopes, or determine the color intensity of the sky with a cyanometer.”
