Photographs of red and pink flowers spread underfoot while living plants bloom along both sides. At a hill-shaped terrace in Yokohama, Mika Ninagawa with EiM and the Taisei Group plan to join photographed flowers, planted flowers and the open sky in one view.
Photographed flowers beside living blooms
On 15 September 2026, the GREEN×EXPO 2027 Association announced that official creator Mika Ninagawa will shape the central TAISEI GREEN TERRACE. The upper level is planned with beds of varied flowers and plants, while its floor will carry floral photographs made by Ninagawa.
Below that meeting of beds and photographs, light and moving images are planned for the lower level. Flower colour and sky will define the daytime view; planting and light will give the structure another outline after dark. Further details of the lighting have not yet been announced.
Walking a ninety-metre slope
Plans released by Taisei in March 2026 describe a ramp of about 90 metres, a height of roughly 4.5 metres and a floor area of about 800 square metres. A hill built to overlook the central plaza will also become the path from which visitors meet the planting.
Ninagawa has described layering flowers she has photographed with living flowers blooming on the terrace, then letting the colour move toward blue and white and into the real sky. Instead of facing a flat bed, visitors will see the boundary between image and plant shift with their height and direction.
A flower bed changing across six months
GREEN×EXPO 2027 runs from 19 March to 26 September 2027. Across spring and summer, the photographed flowers will remain fixed while the living plants change with growth, flowering time and weather. That difference should make the passing season visible.
Species, cultivars and the sequence of replacement planting have not been announced. The useful questions now are not which bloom might imitate a colour in the photographs, but how the future planting list will explain flowering time, sun and wind at each position.
Water and the planting base belong to the view
The plan includes storing rain and surplus irrigation water for reuse in the planting. Water circulation may be easy to miss, yet it will be essential to keeping beds alive through the long event.
A planting mat using plants grown densely in dedicated trays is also planned. Technology can establish a green surface quickly, but it does not replace plant choice or seasonal care. Once the terrace opens, which plants settle and which are replaced will matter as much as the first full view.
A rendering, and flowers still to come
The image shown here is an official rendering of the overall structure released in March 2026, before the collaboration with Mika Ninagawa with EiM was announced. It shows the hill and its position in the grounds, not the final arrangement of photographic work or flower beds announced in September.
After the gates open, look beyond the floral images underfoot to the leaves and flowers growing beside them. As the sky changes, the distance between a fixed picture of a flower and a living bloom will change with it.
