Category:
Exhibition design

Completed in:
2026

For 3daysofdesign 2026, we contribute a sensory layer to This is not a forest at the Danish Architecture Center, developed in collaboration with Archival and Dinesen Lab.

The exhibition invites visitors to reflect on how we perceive and understand nature once it has been transformed into architecture and design. Following the journey from forest to built environment, it explores the relationship between wood, architecture and our sensory experience of materials.

As architects, this is a question we continually return to.

How do materials shape our experience of a space? And how can we deepen our awareness of the qualities they carry with them?

Beyond what we see

Architecture is often considered primarily through sight. Yet our perception of a place is formed through the stimulation of all the senses.

We notice the warmth of a material, the way sound moves through a room, the texture of a surface beneath our hand and the subtle smell impressions that inhabit a space. Together, these impressions shape what we often describe as atmosphere.

At Studio Pneuma, we work with fragrance as a medium for exploring these sensory dimensions of architecture, inviting a deeper awareness of material, atmosphere and place.

Material, memory and atmosphere

When wood is transformed into architecture, furniture or objects, it continues to carry traces of where it came from. Its grain, texture and smell all speak of a material that once existed as part of a living landscape.

This relationship between material and memory is central to This is not a forest.

Our contribution unfolds a sensory layer that encourages visitors to engage with the material beyond its visual appearance. Rather than recreating the experience of a forest, the intention is to draw attention to the atmospheric qualities embedded within the material itself.

Fragrance as a spatial experience

Smell has an impressive ability to create presence.

Unlike visual impressions, it cannot be observed from a distance. It surrounds us, engages the body directly and often evokes memories and emotions before we consciously register them.

For this reason, fragrane offers a unique opportunity within exhibition design. It can deepen our engagement with a narrative, strengthen our connection to a material and create a more embodied experience of a space.

As interest in sensory and multisensory design continues to grow, fragrance is increasingly being explored as a meaningful component of architecture, exhibition design and cultural experiences.

This is not a forest

This is not a forest is presented at the Danish Architecture Center during 3daysofdesign 2026.

The exhibition explores how our understanding of nature changes when it is transformed into architecture and design. Through material, space and sensory experience, visitors are invited to reconsider the relationship between the forest and the built environment.

We contribute with a fragrance installation that unfolds an atmospheric presence around the exhibition, offering another way of experiencing the material journey from forest to architecture.

Photo credits: Hampus Berndtson, courtesy of Danish Architecture Center, and Dinesen.