The interview with Natalia Budnik
appeared in A&B 10'2021
The pandemic has let up a bit. It is full summer, a sunny and warm morning. A beautiful green yard in Warsaw's Downtown with a mature, shade-giving tree. Can you imagine a better backdrop to talk about landscape, greenery and found designer Alina Scholtz? In an interview with A&B, Natalia Budnik - an architect for the landscape - talks about collaboration, design curiosity and how to help nature in the city.
Natalia BUDNIK - architect for the landscape. After her undergraduate studies in Poland, she continued her education in the Danish capital. For more than five years she was associated with the Copenhagen studio SLA. Two years ago she returned to Warsaw, where she designs, collaborates and creates landscape and plant strategies at different scales and time perspectives. She is also involved in many educational activities.
Dominika Drozdowska: The impetus for our conversation is an exhibition currently on view at Warsaw's Wola Museum - "More Greenery! Projects by Alina Scholtz." What would the eponymous landscape architect say about today's Warsaw - would she be satisfied with the city and greenery?
Natalia Budnik: Being able to step into Alina Scholtz's skin and see her own projects after a long time gives an amazing perspective. I think the time scale and how we understand time is an important aspect of landscape. Designed and executed in the moment, it will change with the passing of days, seasons and years. This is a beautiful aspect of the discipline. When I think of Alina Scholtz's designs, I imagine how trees were planted at the Sluzewiec horse racing track in the 1930s. Now, after almost a century, when I visit the place, I can observe how amazingly it has developed. The scale, the perception of the space has changed, and the landscape interiors have also become legible. In this respect, the Saski Garden, too, when viewed after so many years, with its linden trees planted in rather dense arrays, closes in like a defined mass. Many of the assumptions created by Alina Scholtz still function in the landscape of Warsaw and are still important for the city and its fabric. I think that if I were Alina Scholtz, I would have a sense of fulfillment - I did everything possible, and it still works.
Dominika:I ask about greenery in the city, because in our Polish reality more and more places are flooded with asphalt and concrete.
Natalia: There are certainly many things to work on. At the same time, we are increasingly aware of the overwhelming concreting of some public spaces. I hope we have reached the point where this awareness will be punctured into action. We feel that greenery is not just decoration, but also performs important functions in the city - at least providing shade, improving our urban microclimate.
Dominica:Who do you mean by "we"?
Natalia: This "we" is primarily the residents, who are beginning to demand changes. This can be seen especially in participatory budgets, in which projects related to greenery collect the most votes.
flowing landscape, collage by Natalia Budnik
© Natalia Budnik
Dominica:It seems that in today's world, change in many aspects comes from the bottom up.
Natalia: Maybe I'm too optimistic, but I hope that what's happening in Warsaw - the reconstruction of part of Marszalkowska Street, the spatial development study being developed for the city with a strong emphasis on blue-green aspects, or the Smile of Warsaw project - are all heading towards real changes in public spaces. It also seems to me that cities are beginning to recognize that greenery is associated with some potential in other sectors. It is not only decorative, but also has importance in tourism, transportation or the health sector.
Dominica:Staying in this optimistic trend, tell us, please, what good things have happened recently in the Polish landscape architecture world.
Natalia: If only waking up and realizing that the climate crisis is a fact. And we can either be afraid of it or choose a different path to move in a better direction. In Krakow, I'm collaborating on the so-called Climate Quarter project, where the idea of the 15-minute city and adapting mobility to climate change, among other things, is alive. I hope that the adaptation plans currently being developed will turn into real action and the implementation of concrete projects, first pilot projects and then broad urban policies. It is worth thinking of the landscape as a coherently functioning whole, rather than as separate projects. Connections between can be made, for example, through blue and green infrastructure.
Dominica:In the context of climate change, can landscape architecture fix what we have broken?
Natalia: Certainly to alleviate. For example, in urban areas we have to deal with urban heat islands. So we can bet on greenery, which will provide shade, transpiration and thus improve the microclimate. In turn, by sealing off urban spaces a bit, we are able to manage increased rainfall, delay its runoff and consciously use these resources later. This is in response to other extreme phenomena we face: heavy rainfall and increased droughts. Anyway, the scale of different actions should work from this micro, within one's own garden, to the macro - a conscious strategy for the whole city. The idea is to make better use of natural resources and take into account local conditions and the nature of the place. For example, the expected sizable amount of rainwater does not have to involve just building immediate drainage - maybe it's worth thinking it through and turning a potential risk into an asset or development opportunity.
Workshop in the series "City of the Future" with the Warsaw Pavilion of Zodiak Architecture
Photo: Igor Lysiuk
Dominika:The question is who should think about it.
Natalia: I would not like to create the illusion that landscape architects are the solution to climate change. I think the most important thing is for us to work together: architects, tradesmen, designers. So that we have an understanding for each other and a common goal set by the adaptation plans. When I worked at the Copenhagen design office SLA, we did such exercises related to taking someone else's perspective. As we worked with architects and tradesmen, at one meeting we swapped roles. The architect would talk about the landscape architect's work on this particular project, and vice versa. These were ten-minute speeches with no prior preparation. And since everyone was involved in the process, we began to recall who fought for what, why a particular solution was used and why it was extremely important to a particular professional. We were able to build understanding and curiosity for the other field was aroused. I think this approach has the potential to produce much more complete and better projects. And since good architecture never works in a vacuum, when it has a defined background, its value increases incredibly. A good example related to the exhibition is the Scholtz-Gutt duo. Their collaborative projects were always embedded in the landscape, so they acted not as an object, but as a well-functioning piece of urban space. I believe that understanding locality and embedding architecture in these factors will make a building a better part of a place, rather than something that landed....
Dominica: ...like a spaceship. Whose role is it to encourage the developer not to put up such UFO objects?
Natalia: That's a good question, and the answer is not so simple. When it comes to opportunities for landscape architects to act in the investment process, there are two main paths. We are invited to cooperate by architects who feel that by doing so they will enrich the project, or we deal with arrangements related to environmental conditions. I see an interesting mission here for us landscape architects, to reach out directly to investors and share what we can offer. I believe that landscape architects should become part of meetings, trade shows and industry events. It's important to understand that the public space of a building and the landscape where it will be located are just as important as what will be designed inside. When I worked in Copenhagen, we carried out a residential development project in the studio, the design of which began not with the buildings, but with the landscape. It's a change in thinking and dynamics - when you start with what's around you and design a building or housing development in accordance with that.
Bjørvika public spaces design, Oslo, work by SLA office
Photo credit: Tracy Yuan-Me Sun
continued conversation on next page
