The Secret Garden is a restaurant and greenhouse that could be built in Iceland. Its author - {tag:studenci} from Wroclaw University of Technology, inspired by the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, designed the maze-like facility. Visitors, walking through its floors, discover nature and the rugged Icelandic landscape.
The Secret Garden project, view from the thermal pools
© Sebastian Kawalec
The Mysterious Garden project is an engineering work done under the direction of Dr. Ada Kwiatkowska.
The Mystery Garden restaurant project is a response to the losing romanticism in society. By expressing the literary original from Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel, the form of the building takes the form of a labyrinth, partially submerged in the terrain. However, this labyrinth has reference points that glorify nature - gardens for growing plants and landscape frames created by lunette-shaped dining rooms. The journey through the building provides an emotional experience of discovery and a glimpse of nature's mysticism, says Sebastian Kawalec.
The restaurant is located near the Hverfjall volcano
© Sebastian Kawalec
a mysterious garden in the Icelandic landscape
The area where the project could be built is located in Iceland, in close proximity to the thermal pools. By using a hill mounded from black volcanic tuff, the designed restaurant building is partially buried in the natural slope of the land. The thermal springs are a major tourist destination, so in order to attract interest and persuade travelers to visit the designed restaurant, the author used the theme of a secret garden. The first of the gardens is already visible outside the building, by aligning the sheet of glass covering the greenhouses with the slope line of the hill.
The dining area was divided into smaller modules, forming an asymmetrical sequence
© Sebastian Kawalec
Moreover, through the use of tinted black glass, the greenhouses give the impression of a continuation of the black earth. This is made possible by completely illuminating the grown plants with artificial light, due to the insufficient sunlight in Iceland, the designer explains.
The restaurant is laid out over four floors
© Sebastian Kawalec
observatory
The restaurant is spread over four floors, with the main entrance on the top floor. The first two levels are dedicated to ancillary rooms, and only on the last two, lowest floors, is the dining area with gardens and the kitchen designed. The dining area has been divided into smaller modules, forming an asymmetrical sequence, alternating with greenhouses.
The interior features cascading gardens
© Sebastian Kawalec
The architect deliberately decided to lengthen the path of access to the garden and dining area in order to evoke a sense of discovery in the guests, to get lost in the intricate corridors, and to provide observation of nature. It is also unique in that anyone ordering a meal will be able to pick their own set of vegetables and fruits growing in the themed greenhouses.
The name Observatory was deliberately given to the restaurant, because eating is not the only essence of the designed facility. It's about observation, discovery, and capturing the intangible, the author explains.
The author achieved the effect of framing the landscape
© Sebastian Kawalec
framing views
By giving cuboid forms to the dining modules and other architectural elements, the student achieved a framing effect. The highest part of the entrance, already visible from the entrance, is accentuated by trees growing next to the stairs. The main entrance with an arcade as an indentation shaped like a dining module forms the first frame for the landscape. Then, behind the reception area, another frame is formed by a mezzanine overhanging a large observation room. The next rooms are staircases in gardens arranged in a cascade, where frames were created by panels set parallel to the flight of stairs. The last, are for the already individual restaurant modules, where we can observe the partially hidden private themed greenhouses on one side and the unique Icelandic landscape on the other.
At night, the building emits light
© Sebastian Kawalec
day cycle of the building
In Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel, a garden is not just a beautiful place with plants, but a personified entity. Through human activity - caring, staying, interfering - it begins to live. The restaurant will have such a cycle every day. During sunlight hours, the greenhouses under the dark glass will cease to be visible, and the mirror coating on the modules will reflect the brightness of the day. This is phase one - architecture. At dusk, when the light from the greenhouses and modules begins to be visible, the facility will be practically all light. This is how the second phase - architecture/garden - is created. The third phase - the garden - is visible after guests leave the restaurant. The light from the interiors fades, and only the illuminated gardens are visible. In the morning, the gardens will again symbolically cease to exist, to be reborn by the human factor," Sebastian Kawalec concludes.
The main garden in the designed building
© Sebastian Kawalec
Read also about the designs of other restaurants created as part of the Iceland Greenhouse Restaurant competition: Långhus designed by Jakub Ciszewski, Mikołaj Chmiel, Tomasz Klepek and Oskar Mały from the Silesian University of Technology, Green Eden by Patrycja Ziemienowicz, Samkomuhús by Agnieszka Grzemska, Jakub Wichtowski andJan Zielinski from UAP, and Following the terrain by Katarzyna Drągowska and Eliza Lasek from Warsaw University of Technology.
