Sweden

Candidate – Sweden

Submission by: Vandalorum

Project name: Piet Oudolf Garden

Short description

Piet Oudolf’s garden at Vandalorum, the art and design museum in Värnamo, Sweden, is his first at a cultural institution in Scandinavia, always open and free for visitors. In 2022, Oudolf presented a master plan for the entire 8.4-hectare site. Work began in 2023 with the transformation of the museum’s entrance area through the planting of 26,000 perennials, 47,000 bulbs, and 7,000 shrubs, trees, hedges and the build of a closed irrigation system. In 2025, the second phase—the courtyard at the heart of Vandalorum—was completed. Shaped like a gentle bowl, it invites visitors to experience a living landscape featuring 8,000 perennials, artworks, rest areas, walkways, educational spaces, and an outdoor seating area for the museum restaurant. Oudolf, one of the world’s foremost garden designers, is known for projects such as The High Line in New York, Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, and Noma in Copenhagen. His naturalistic design celebrates shifting vegetation and beauty across all four seasons.

a) Social Cohesion

When Vandalorum first announced that a dialogue had begun with Oudolf, the response was immediate and extensive. Artists, designers, and landscape architects from across the country reached out to express their interest in participating. At the same time, a movement arose among local garden enthusiasts and associations eager to get involved. Vandalorum therefore decided to make the collaboration with Oudolf public and enable his monumental garden project to become a platform for learning, cooperation, and development in naturalistic garden design. Through workshops, volunteer programs, courses, and guided tours, the garden project serves as a continuously evolving hub of knowledge about the naturalistic garden’s value for biodiversity, wellbeing, and a sustainable future. The project thus becomes an educational initiative aimed at children and young people; professional artists, designers, and landscape architects; the gardening public; and elderly people with dementia and aphasia within a special programme.

b) Biodiversity

The garden significantly enhances local biodiversity by creating a resilient, self-sustaining ecosystem based on perennial plantings. With thousands of carefully selected species and cultivars, it provides a continuous supply of nectar, pollen, water, and shelter for pollinators, birds, and beneficial insects throughout the year. Seasonal variation ensures habitat continuity. The garden also functions as a small-scale model of naturalistic planting design, demonstrating how aesthetic, ecological, and sustainable values can coexist in private landscapes. All around the garden there has planted a larger number of noble trees that will grow to their full size and thus not only create a microclimate for the park’s visitors but also a source of food and habitat for the wildlife.

c) Economic Factors

As an inspiring model of ecological design, it attracts visitors, professionals, and students, supporting tourism and knowledge exchange in the region. Moreover, it highlights the economic value of ecosystem services such as pollination, soil regeneration, and water retention.

The garden project began with the creation of a circular irrigation system featuring two large ponds that collect meltwater, rainwater, and runoff from the area, which is then used to water the garden. This means that no municipal drinking water is used, and it also allows Vandalorum to continue watering the plants even during periods of irrigation bans, which occur every summer in this part of the country.

Through education and demonstration, the project encourages sustainable consumer behavior and shows that ecological investment can generate long-term financial and environmental returns.

d) Climate

The project serves as a living example of how private gardens can act as climate-positive landscapes—absorbing carbon, conserving water, and fostering ecological balance. Through education and demonstration, it inspires a broader shift toward regenerative design practices that align aesthetic goals with climate responsibility.

e) Wellbeing of Visitors/Users

The garden promotes wellbeing by offering visitors a deeply restorative experience grounded in natural rhythms and sensory richness. Its naturalistic design invites slow observation and connection, reducing stress and fostering mindfulness. Seasonal change, movement, and texture create a living artwork that encourages reflection and emotional balance. The garden delivers a burst of flowering bulb plants in the spring, a blooming sea of perennials in the summer that then remain until the next spring. Preserving the withered plant material in the beds during the winter creates a beautiful experience for visitors throughout the whole season. The diversity of plants stimulates curiosity and a sense of wonder, nurturing both mental and physical health. Paths and open areas provide space for contemplation, informal learning, and social interaction, supporting inclusion across ages and abilities. Through its naturalistic design the garden helps reconnect people with nature in an everyday context.

f) Selection, Origin, and Quality of Used Products and Materials

Piet Oudolf is involved in every plant selection—each color variation, flowing form, and structural detail is chosen with meticulous care. Oudolf himself is the originator of several of the plant varieties and works in close collaboration with a local nursery in his home village of Hummelo, the Netherlands. The soil used in the project was also developed under his guidance, in collaboration with Hasselfors Garden, and is produced in Sweden. In the work with the garden, one always tries to work with local materials and companies to reduce transportation and emissions.

g) Overall Design

Between the fields on the outskirts of Värnamo in Småland lies Vandalorum, a museum showcasing leading contemporary art and design. Just a stone’s throw away, the E4 and national road 27 meet, linking Sweden across the country. Visitors are invited to experience inspiring exhibitions, a beautiful garden, enjoy well-prepared food, and explore good design in the museum shop.
Vandalorum is a living museum presenting unique exhibitions by prominent Swedish and international designers and artists. The buildings, echoing the monumental hay barn that once stood here, were designed from an original concept by the award-winning Italian architect Renzo Piano. The interiors were developed by Icelandic architect Sigurdur Gustafsson in collaboration with Vandalorum’s founder, Sven Lundh.

One of the barns houses the Småland Art Archive, featuring exhibitions that highlight artists connected to the Småland region. As a complement to the buildings on the site, a sculptural garden has been created where the planned meets the natural, and where the visitor is invited into warm and welcoming greenery.

h) Impact on the Environment

Piet Oudolf said at the announcement of the project: “We are very happy to have begun creating a garden around Vandalorum, a garden that will interact with the beautiful natural surroundings of the museum. A garden is not a painting that you look at, but a dynamic process that is constantly changing, and one that you can keep returning to.”

i) Innovation Value of the Project

Elna Svenle, Vandalorum’s museum director, said at the announcement of the project: “It has been 10 years since we inaugurated Vandalorum. During the first decade, the focus has been on developing what happens within the museum’s walls — the exhibitions, education, food, and so on. We are now ready to take on the large part of the museum that our outdoor environment represents — a place we want to offer artistic depth, contemplation, experimentation, learning, play, and the simple joy of immersing oneself in nature. For many years, we have dreamed of working with Piet Oudolf, who has a unique design language, a constantly innovative approach, and extensive experience. We are incredibly proud and happy that our collaboration has begun!”