Creating a rooftop garden using Nidaplast RA lightweight fill
For the interior rooftop garden of Villa Maïa, Lyon’s first boutique hotel, a lightweight Nidaplast RA fill was installed to create a landscaped relief reaching 1.20 m height on a roof terrace.
Using honeycomb blocks and panels made it possible to shape the desired volumes, obtain a stable and durable structure, and limit the load transferred to the building slab.
575 m2
filled surface
1.20 meters
fill height
2016
year of completion
Project Context and Challenges
Designing a rooftop landscape without exceeding structural load limits
Creating a rooftop green space involves strict technical constraints:
- limiting permanent load on the concrete slab,
- ensuring long-term stability without settlement,
- compatibility with waterproofing systems,
- providing enough volume to support a qualitative landscaped design.
The project owner and landscape architect needed a solution capable of shaping 1.20 m-high volumes while preserving the building’s structural integrity.
Objectives Defined by the Project Owner
The specifications required:
- an aesthetic interior garden with multiple topographic levels,
- a lightweight, stable and moisture-insensitive fill material,
- a modular solution allowing precise adjustment to the required 1.20 m height,
- fast installation compatible with the landscaping phase.
Solution Implemented with Nidaplast
Nidaplast RA blocks and panels: lightweight fill for rooftop terraces
To reach the required fill height, the engineering study selected a combination of Nidaplast RA products:
- two layers of 520 mm RA blocks, completed by
- one layer of 120 mm RA panels.
Together, they provide a lightweight, stable, durable and safe structure suitable for rooftop installation.
Advantages in this context:
- Lightweight fill 50 times lighter than traditional soil
- High mechanical resistance, suitable for pedestrian-accessible rooftops
- Hand-portable products, easy to cut and install
- Modular thickness options (120 to 520 mm) for level adjustments
- Material insensitive to water, with no settlement over time
Technical Characteristics of the Installed Product
Block dimensions
2400 x 1200 mm.
Panel dimensions
2400 x 1200 mm.
Block height
520 mm.
Panel height
120 mm.
Permeability
≥ 95 %.
Material
Polypropylène 60 % recyclé.
Geotextile
Non-woven PET 45 g/m² thermobonded on both sides
Nidaplast RA
Nidaplast RA lightweight embankments are extremely light and resistant. These honeycomb structures are the recommended solution for constructing landscape embankments, road embankments, or building embankments.
Voir la fiche produitInstallation Process
1. Roof preparation
Inspection of waterproofing and installation of a protective geotextile.
2. Laying the blocks and panels
Successive installation of 520 mm Nidaplast RA blocks in a staggered layout.
Final height adjustment using 120 mm RA panels.
3. Filling and finishing
Placement of planting substrate and landscape installation by Louis Benech Paysage.
Watch the installation video
Results and Benefits Observed
Complete rooftop garden created without structural overload
Stable topographic volumes with no long-term settlement
Lightweight solution compatible with building constraints (above parking)
Fast installation thanks to manageable and modular products
High-end aesthetic result in line with the boutique hotel’s image
