Archinect - News

Harpa Wins 2013 EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award

2013-04-30T13:37:00-04:00

The European Commission and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation have announced Harpa, the Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Center in Iceland, as the winner of the 2013 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award.

The 'Emerging Architect Special Mention' award goes to María Langarita and Víctor Navarro for the Nave de Música Matadero (Red Bull Music Academy) in Madrid, Spain.

Previously: Five Finalists for 2013 EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award

Rafmögnuð Náttúra By Marcos Zotes

2012-04-06T14:49:00-04:00

Marcos Zotes has shared with us his winning light installation for the Reykjavik Winter Lights Festival 2012.

Photo by Ragnar Th Sigurdsson

Marcos Zotes, winner of the Reykjavik Winter Lights Festival 2012, and Chris Jordan presented Rafmögnuð Náttúra in Reykjavik, Iceland, as the main event for the festival in February. The work consists of a temporary, site-specific installation that appropriates the facade of Hallgrímskirkja church with a large video-mapping projection. The aim is to transform the static condition of this iconic landmark into a dynamic, engaging and participatory visual experience, and to intervene by socially activating its surrounding public space.

Photo by Pétur Már Gunnarsson

Marcos explains: “I am fascinated with finding new ways to interact with the existing urban environment. I feel the city is there for us at our entire disposal, and we must reclaim its public spaces and urban structures in ways that exceed the limited uses for which they were o...

Harpa – review

2011-08-28T00:18:00-04:00

The facade of Harpa is the work of an artist, the Icelandic-Danish Olafur Eliasson, who gets more attention and a higher billing than the hall's architects, the 52-year-old practice Henning Larsen Architects. They wear sober suits; Eliasson's leather waistcoat and silver-framed shades suggest creative leadership. His job is to provide that service that would once have been performed by Corinthian columns and statues of buxom nudes: to endow the house of culture with meaning and importance.