Christian Stayner, the William Muschenheim Fellow in Architecture for the 2012-13 academic year, recently teamed with Jennifer Bonner, TVSDesign Distinguished Critic at Georgia Tech, to develop a project for the first Istanbul Design Biennial.

The project titled, "OLFACTORY FUTURES," released "conceptual" smells throughout the gallery and is based on the idea that smell is a neglected realm in the design disciplines. The project considers the role of scent as an unexplored realm for architectural practice.

A pull from the press release reads as follows:

"While smell in the urban sphere has been focused upon the management of odors (usually foul) or the subtle manipulations toward consumption by marketing and advertising, Bonner and Stayner embark on a re-reading of landscape and cultural history through its olfaction, both designed and unintended. In doing so, Bonner and Stayner seek a non-visual design agenda for civic spaces, one in which scent leads and building follows. In collaboration with a noted perfume designer, Christophe Laudamiel, Olfactory Futures presents two scents designed specifically for Istanbul that responds to the historic and future of the city and its olfactory geography: Bosphorus and Pink Rose & White Gardenia."

The exhibition at the Istanbul Modern Museum of Art recently closed on December 12th. For more information, visit: istanbuldesignbiennial.iksv.org