Gabriela Kwasowska, Anna Krystkowicz and Marta Kozlow - third-year students of the Faculty of Architecture at Bialystok University of Technology - created the project "Olfactory Night Garden - Celestial Scents" ,which won second place in the international design competition "Olfactory Garden 2023", organized by archiol.org. In the same competition, the work "The Alphabet of Fragrances" designed by Dominika Sikora and Ariana Sawicka won one of four honorable mentions.
Awarded work: "Olfactory Night Garden - Celestial Scents".
© Gabriela Kwasowska, Anna Krystkowicz and Marta Kozlow
Olfactory Garden 2023" competition
The premise of the competition was to create a unique sensory experience focused on stimulating and engaging the sense of smell. The garden was to be a carefully designed space where visitors could explore and appreciate a variety of smells in a harmonious, natural setting. The contestants were to develop pathways and key elements of the garden, including the placement of plants or seating areas. The organizers wanted to select carefully selected plant species contributing to a diverse fragrance palette, taking into account seasonal variation, compatibility and care requirements. Proposals were also to include recommendations for suitable materials for paths, seating areas and other building elements that would be consistent with the overall aesthetic vision and sustainability goals. In addition, participants were to design educational elements, such as information boards, audio guides or interactive displays, providing information about the plants. The competition entries also had to include detailed plans, sections, elevations and axonometric views.
Featured entry: "The Alphabet of Fragrances".
© Dominika Sikora and Ariana Sawicka
"Olfactory Night Garden - Celestial Scents".
All participants of the competition, and also third-year architecture students, did their work under the guidance of Dr. Eng. arch. Jaroslaw Szewczyk, Prof. PB from the Studio of Urban and Spatial Planning. Anna Krystkowicz recalls:
We asked Professor Jaroslaw Szewczyk if we could enter a competition for a fragrance garden and get credit at the same time, and the professor agreed. Participating in the competition was an interesting challenge and an opportunity to present our ideas.
We decided to design just the "seed of the garden" and then invite designers and residents to jointly design its subsequent parts - further "garden constellations", inspired by the night sky, but to begin with we focused on a small part of the garden, the layout of which reflects part of the Little Bear constellation.
- Marta Kozlow adds.
We also designed three smaller pavilions in the garden. Their inspiration is the lily of the valley flower (Convallaria majalis), the fruit of the swollen bellows (Alkekengi officinarum = Physalis alkekengi) and the flower of the common hyacinth (Hyacinthoides non-scripta). These are plants that appear to glow in the dark.
- Gabriela Kwasowska enumerates.
"Olfactory Night Garden - Celestial Scents". - plants used in the project
© Gabriela Kwasowska, Anna Krystkowicz and Marta Kozlow
We wanted to create a night garden, so it was important for us to choose flowers and plants that bloom and smell at night. It was important that some of them were pollinated in the evening and at night by moths - nocturnal insects. We also focused on choosing plants that bloom in spring and summer, since we assumed that the location is inactive during the other parts of the year. All the plants and flowers have similar, subdued, uniform colors. It was important that the plants and flowers did not attract attention with their colors, but with the intensity of their flowering and fragrance. We also designed pavilions where visitors can fully focus on the olfactory experience and immerse themselves in the fragrance of the flowers.
- Anna Krystkowicz explains.
Geographically, we placed the garden in Wasilkow, a town in northeastern Poland on the edge of the Knyszyn Forest. The site is located within one of the largest natural protected areas in Poland, the Knyszynska Forest Landscape Park. It is a zone 6A frost hardiness on the USDA scale.
When designing, we tried to adapt our garden to the existing terrain without disturbing the natural landscape. Therefore, our intention was to design only the seeds of the garden, and then invite designers and residents to design its subsequent parts together.
- Marta Kozlow says.
The paths in the garden have permeable surfaces formed from natural aggregates. They are designed so as not to impede the movement of people with disabilities. The bright colors of the paths and garden lighting at night encourage visitors to explore and invite them to discover new scents, while ensuring their safety.
- Gabriela Kwasowska adds.
"Olfactory Night Garden - Celestial Scents". - aconometrics and elevations
© Gabriela Kwasowska, Anna Krystkowicz and Marta Kozlow
The garden's design also carries educational values.
The information panels are lanterns made of plywood. Each panel is dedicated to one of the key plants that can be found in the garden, as well as to a moth that pollinates the flower. The panels have laser-cut letters and moths. The panels are portable and can be hung in different configurations in each pergola. The interactive panels light up when you approach them.
- Anna Krystkowicz explains.
The students have taken care of the long-term maintenance of the garden.
The vast majority of plants require daily watering, mainly near the ground. Watering of leaves and flowers should be avoided. Some varieties prefer moist or wet soil, others do not; therefore, we separated the species. All plants like sunny positions. Individual species require fertilization once or twice a year, usually in autumn. They also do not like weeds, so regular weeding is necessary.
Some plants, namely "white wolf" and "One Night Queen", are to be planted in the winter greenhouse, in the hyacinth pavilion. They grow at a minimum temperature of about 10-15°C. They do not require pruning, weeding or watering.
- Marta Kozlow explains.
"Olfactory Night Garden - Celestial Scents". - garden pavilions
© Gabriela Kwasowska, Anna Krystkowicz and Marta Kozlow
They also imagined people coming to the garden. Gabriela Kwasowska tells us:
At midnight, an introvert meditates on the scents in a small hyacinth pavilion; then walks slowly along the edge of the alley and stops at the next meditation spot, thus contemplating each pavilion. An extrovert with friends dances around a circular alley. The smells help them feel oneness with the universe. Sometimes they try to follow a hairy moth, intoxicated by the scent.
A child stares in awe at the stars. Subtle smells allow children to dream. Don't the stars smell?
Award-winning students Gabriela Kwasowska, Anna Krystkowicz and Marta Kozlow.
Photo: Dariusz Piekut/Bialystok University of Technology
The international design competition "Olfactory Garden 2023", organized by the archiol.org portal, received 164 works by teams from all over the world, mainly students of architecture and landscape architecture faculties.
Distinguished students: Dominika Sikora and Ariana Sawicka
Photo: Dariusz Piekut/Bialystok University of Technology
