But they admit there are some drawbacks, even though they personally have been lucky, winning the DV Cultural Prize for Architecture for the best public building in Iceland in 2008 for their new Borgarnes School in a small village 75km north of the city. “The competition system is not that friendly, and its culture needs to be developed. Clients tend to turn their heads to the more established offices”.
Nonetheless, in and around Reykjavik they have mainly built private houses, and galleries such as SAFN, Living Art Museum and the brand new i8 Galleri. They want to help offset the declining quality of public spaces in the city through “architecture with a clear relationship with its environment”. This is exemplified by Borgarnes School, their first major work, set in a beautiful rocky landscape. It reflects its environment, using materials like brass cladding with weathers to golden brown, echoing the rocks around, and the upper roofs are covered with granulated gravel, while the lower roofs are green roofs covered with vegetation. Large windows create a range of depths and widths of views, creating a variety of relationships with the building’s surroundings.
The College is owned by the locals, including the municipality, and so the programme is multi-functional, ideal for this small community. The lecture hall has folding walls created by Thor Vigfusson, a local artist, in a multi-coloured striped design reacting to the white and grey of the hall, and visible from outside through the large windows. “Our goal was to create a building where students would not feel like being in a community centre nor would a concert guest feel like being in a school”. Lucy Bullivant
