With more than 15 species of butterflies, the award-winning Konya Tropical Butterfly Garden is the first of its kind in Türkiye. The striking insect conservatory, housed within a butterfly-shaped building, is one of the longest butterfly flying fields in Europe, allowing visitors a glimpse of these colourful creatures in their own natural habitat. 

Arup was appointed to provide a sustainable design for the butterfly house, focused on creating a habitat for tropical butterflies, which included multidisciplinary engineering design services including facade consultancy and technical architectural design services. 

We designed The Butterfly Garden to be an efficient and cost-saving green building – no mean feat considering that the complex is designed to re-create tropical weather conditions, very different from the local climate in Konya with its dry summers, cold winters and low humidity. Evaporative cooling proved to be the most efficient way to create such tropical conditions, which we accomplished by adjusting the garden’s huge glass cover to create an optimal environment.

Exotic vegetation and tropical temperatures provide a lush home to more than 5,000 butterflies. With a footprint of approximately 3,500m2, the striking architecture and structural design echoes the silhouette of a butterfly. A double-curved lattice steel shell supported by reinforced concrete shear walls at ground level constitute the main structure - key for areas registering seismic activity. This structurally challenging and architecturally stunning project was awarded ‘Best Architectural Design’ in the Public Building category of the Sign of the City Awards competition. 

Facade design to create an artificial microclimate

Our technical team worked to create an artificial microclimate within the Butterfly Garden, adjusting air temperatures to about 26 °C (with two degrees variation) and a humidity of about 85% (within a 5% variability range). 

Aerial view of the Konya Butterfly Garden showing the building's structure

The Konya Tropical Butterfly Garden seen from the air - the facade needed to support the creation of a strict microclimate for the butterflys to thrive.

Visitors inside the Konya Butterfly Garden

Visitors exploring the tropical butterfly garden

Arup’s challenge was to adjust the garden’s large glass cover with its footprint of 2,100m2 to these conditions to provide the optimal environment for the butterflies. Shading elements in the form of butterfly wings were designed to reduce solar loads during summer. Additionally, a system supplying warm air to the inner side of the glass façade was developed to prevent condensation during cold winter periods. Shading elements in the form of butterfly wings were designed to reduce solar loads during summer. Additionally, a system supplying warm air to the inner side of the glass façade was developed to prevent condensation during cold winter periods