Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
Lava will shape Iceland's official entry Lavaforming at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, showcasing how its density and other natural properties can become a viable future building material for designs as far-ranging as small residential structures, cityscapes, and more. Image render... View full entry
Copenhagen/Reykjavik-based Esja Architecture, in collaboration with Arkibygg Arkitektar, has unveiled plans for a ring-shaped viewing platform to be located 2,100 feet above sea level on the slopes of Mount Bjólfur, Iceland. Named the Ring of Bjólfur, the platform will overlook the scenic... View full entry
Some of Northern Europe’s leading architecture firms have signed an open letter lamenting the lack of “serious development” laden in Autodesk’s proprietary design software, an aging suite of tools the authors claim is asking usurious prices despite neglecting years of industry-wide... View full entry
Panorama Glass Lodge is a luxury vacation cabin in Hvalfjörðu, Iceland. Situated directly by the sea, visitors will experience stunning views of the Aurora Borealis from above and reflected off the water below. The structure features an all glass bedroom allowing travelers to experience... View full entry
The Turf House Tradition of Iceland was nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status in 2011. “The turf house is an exceptional example of a vernacular architectural tradition, which has survived in Iceland,” according to the nomination. “The form and design of the turf house is an expression of the cultural values of the society and has adapted to the social and technological changes that took place through the centuries.” — National Geographic
Although living walls are still considered to be somewhat noteworthy in contemporary design, Iceland's architecture has been overgrown with the technique for hundreds of years. Along with a history of turf as a building material (and the pressures of modernism on Iceland's architecture in the 20th... View full entry
Scientists think they have found a smart way to constrain carbon dioxide emissions - just turn them to stone.
The researchers report an experiment in Iceland where they have pumped CO2 and water underground into volcanic rock.
Reactions with the minerals in the deep basalts convert the carbon dioxide to a stable, immobile chalky solid.
Even more encouraging, the team writes in Science magazine, is the speed at which this process occurs: on the order of months.
— BBC
It feels rare to hear good news from the climate front these days. Here's some more:Copenhagen divests from fossil fuelsArchitect turned sea-flooding specialist keeps Panama City afloatSan Francisco to mandate solar panels for new constructionsThe scientists trying to harness the power of waves View full entry
These public pools, or sundlaugs, serve as the communal heart of Iceland, sacred places whose affordability and ubiquity are viewed as a kind of civil right....The pool is Iceland’s social space: where families meet neighbors, where newcomers first receive welcome, where rivals can’t avoid one another. — NYT
Dan Kois considers how communal pools and the sociability of soaking, are "a key to Icelandic well-being." On a related note, Dan Hill recently published an essay reflecting on ‘The Pool’, a book published as part of The Australian pavilion for the 2016 Venice... View full entry
There's an interesting construction/excavation project going on over in Iceland right now: an artificial tunnel and cave complex being dug into the Langjökull Glacier.
When complete, the publicly accessible infra-glacial facility "will consist of numerous nooks and dens which will house exhibitions, information, restaurants and even a small chapel for those who would like to marry deep within an ice cap."
— bldgblog.blogspot.com
Two Rotterdam based offices jvantspijker and Felixx will design the new redevelopment plan of an industrial seaside area in Reykjavik, Iceland. The firms have won the first prize through an invited two-stage competition. The plan consists of 110.000 square meters of mixed use program, including... View full entry
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. — bustler.net
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 View full entry
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... View full entry
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. — guardian.co.uk
