700,000 Flowers Transform Brussels Grand-Place Into Hokusai Wave

The central square of Brussels has undergone a temporary transformation as workers assembled a massive installation covering 1,680 square metres, incorporating more than 700,000 flowers across the paved historic plaza.

Organisers selected the Grand-Place (GP) as the site for the 2026 Brussels Flower Carpet, bringing together international designers and local installation teams to execute the complex public design.

Japanese artist Hiro Sugiyama reinterpreted Katsushika Hokusai’s classic woodblock print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, adapting the nineteenth-century artwork into a large-scale botanical layout.

The physical layout spans an area equivalent to 18,083 square feet, requiring precise placement of stems to replicate the detailed crests and motion of the original Japanese print.

Urban public spaces frequently host temporary installations, but the scale of the Brussels project demands specialized logistics to manage fresh floral materials in an open-air environment.

The design relies on contrasting natural tones to capture the signature blues, whites, and sweeping curves that define Hokusai's historic masterpiece.

Constructing floral displays at this scale requires coordinated assembly teams working directly on the cobbles, ensuring the living material remains intact throughout the exhibition period.

The Grand-Place installation showcases how classic artistic heritage continues to influence contemporary public spatial design and large-scale urban art projects across major European capitals.