SolaGlide Retractable Glass Roof | Sweet Lake Wellness Centre

In Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, a wellness resort needed a roof that could disappear, bringing people back into contact with nature, light, and stillness. To do that, a conservatory on a scale the Netherlands hadn’t seen before— a space that could open fully to the outdoors and close completely against the Dutch climate without compromise. A structure this size raises an engineering question: How do you move 4,521 square feet, or 20 tonnes of glass, reliably and safely every day, while keeping it insulated against a Dutch winter and shaded against a summer sun? Standard glazing systems weren’t built for this scale. The result: a fully automated retractable roof capable of opening up to 75 percent, engineered with integrated sun shading and fully opening façades, working with the weather instead of against it. Closed, it’s a fully insulated, climate-controlled conservatory. Open, it’s simply outside. The building doesn’t choose between the two. It becomes both on demand. For the people who come here to slow down, the engineering disappears. What’s left is light, air, and a garden that never feels far away, whatever the season, whatever the weather.