ACROS International Congress Hall

“I see the role of the architect as aligning the man-made environment with the nature that has been given to us.”
Emilio Ambasz, an architect originally from Argentina, is considered one of the pioneers of so-called Green Architecture. A distinctive feature of his buildings was the sophisticated combination of structures with gardens. He advocated the motto “green over gray,” where plants held a privileged position in the buildings. Ambasz has been promoting ideas of green buildings since the 1970s, and in Israel, there is even an award for green ecological architecture bearing Ambasz's name.
The convention center in Fukuoka represents one of the most prominent green buildings of the 1990s. The sixty-meter-high building is located in the very center of Fukuoka, terracing the square and covering more than one million square feet. Inside, in addition to the conference center, there is also a cultural and information center, galleries, a theater, shops, and exhibitions of traditional arts and crafts. The rich architectural program features fifteen stepped terraces with a total area of over 13,000 m² planted with more than 37,000 plants. Since its completion, the rooftop park has expanded to 50,000 plants of 120 different species due to seeds carried by the wind and birds. The natural atmosphere in the middle of the metropolis is complemented by a cascading waterfall on the roof of the convention center. Water features, together with plants, perfectly muffle the noise of the metropolis. Ambasz’s goal was to create a green oasis in the midst of a concrete jungle. The rooftop landscape covered with vegetation also contributes to the energy-efficient operation of the entire center.