"Design, production and installation of the furniture for the Gardens of the Musée International de la Parfumerie, Grasse
At the request of the scientific director of the Musée International de la Parfumerie in Grasse, our team of landscape gardeners, architects and designers were consulted for the design, production and installation of exhibit furniture for the museum's gardens (JMIP) in Mouans Sartoux.
A garden of essences, a garden of meaning
The garden will be structured around a series of sensory experiences. The wind passing through the branches and leaves will bring freshness; the sound of the wind passing through the glass elements under the pergolas could initiate a poetic experience. The water that flows and trickles will nourish the earth. It will be channeled to provide a backbone for the garden; along the canal will be placed a series of water features, accompanying the visitor with its sound and providing a sense of freshness.
The pergolas and gazebos will be dedicated to sensory experimentation: like the water at the edge of the canal or the wind filtering through the glass pieces. All the light, almost all the imperceptible sounds of everyday life - wind, water, insects, birds and physical installations - will stimulate our auditory senses. While the scents and fragrances of flowers and other plant essences, which form the very heart of this garden, will appeal to our sense of smell at every step, and at the turn, of every new garden feature.
Wind, water, light, scents, sounds
Special attention will be paid to people with reduced mobility, impaired vision or deafness, to enable everyone - young and old, seniors, specialists and the general public - to experience and enjoy the garden in all its sensory dimensions: olfactory, visual, tactile and auditory.
Beyond the scientific experience, the JMIP collection will enable us to recognize the names of plants and their uses in perfumery or pharmacopoeia (ethno-botany) - the garden will be thought of as a vast sensory experience. In this way, the whole range of perception will be reinterpreted: feeling, seeing, touching and hearing will be called upon throughout the sequential tour.
Landscape framing, clouds, gradual shapes
Let the site speak, while walking, strolling.... Perceiving it through walking will bring experience and a fine knowledge of its terrain. For this reason, we attach particular importance to the treatment of the ground (promenade, path, access, raised areas). The visitor's journey could be experienced as a series of landscape framings: viewpoints created from the position of the spectator in motion.
The pergolas and gazebos create a gradual progression from the open space, of the fragrant, cropped fields to the more intimate space beneath the "clouds" of the wooden porticos, guiding and accompanying visitors on their journey.
The pergolas, which can accommodate 30-40 people, will be located on the main paths and dedicated towards sensory perception. The gazebos, which will convey more of a sense of intimacy (5-6 people), will be located off the main tour path - and in the fields themselves - as a diversion accessible only via an elevated wooden path.
The mirrored pergolas will be situated in open fields: their structures will be both super-built and deconstructed, with an interlocking system of wooden elements, a play on levels and progression in the size of their pieces.
The wooden roof elements will resemble the structure of clouds: chaotic, structured and complex forms that stimulate the imagination. These "clouds of wood" use their projected shadows to screen out the light.
The wooden porticos will provide partial protection while remaining a permeable membrane. In places, this membrane will become a more closed protection to shield visitors from the atmospheric conditions: large "sheets" of branches woven with waxed paper or soaked in natural resin.
In other places, the ground will be raised, to create recesses and deconstruct our relationship with the ground. Tables and benches will be integrated into the structure of the wooden portico system, both for the pergolas and the gazebos, creating a visual interpenetration between the ground, the soft furnishings and the wooden posts that punctuate the landscape.
5 families of structures
6 PERGOLAS & 3 GAZEBOS
(wood structure / Robinia or heat treated / retified wood)
- 3 open-air pergolas (for 30-40 people) on the main tour path
- 3 pergolas connected to the canal (for 30-40 people) on the main tour path
- 3 gazebos (for 5-6 people) off the tour path
- Raised wooden walkway (access to gazebos)
- Simple construction system with embedded wooden elements
- Floor with uneven levels (surface treatment, wood)
- Protective membrane (eco-designed materials: waxed paper or soaked with natural resin/durability over time)
- Benches and tables (eco-designed furniture integrated into portico structures)
- Study of climbing and fragrant plants that gradually cover the porticos
PARASOLS & UMBRELLAS
(natural linen fabric / optional: tree bark parasol)
- Set-up under the lime trees / shelter for 30 to 40 children
- Parasols suspended between the trees
- Umbrellas distributed to visitors with printed/cut "plant pattern" to underline the garden's visual identity
FOUNTAINS & WATER SPOT ADAPTATIONS
- Adaptation of water spots on the canal (central axis)
- Small water source/fountain inside one of the 3 pergolas connected to the canal
- Misting system / rain curtain / drip system (to generate tactile and auditory stimulation)
- Treatment of existing water spots (by progressive covering with moss and vertical plant wall)
LANDSCAPE FRAMING, PATHWAY
(optional surface treatment: ceramic or wood paving) leading to the gazebos
CAFETERIA, RECEPTION, BOUTIQUE
(eco-designed furniture, modular elements, trestles & enameled lava stone)
- Signage (chronology, color difference & graphic code)
- Feasibility study for thermal climate recovery
La Fabrique terrestre, aquatique et aérienne : Project Team : Christina Ottaviano, Yeaka Koggi, Murielle Hladik, Mariana Mascolo, Eric van Helmond, Miriam Campolongo.
Iconographic credits : DR, Droit Réservé, Christina Ottaviano, Mariana Mascolo, Eric van Helmond ;
