Landscraping - Röðull & Snorri

Ever since we started working on this project we saw a golden opportunity to connect Frakkastígur again with the element that it was originally derived from. The first actual house on Frakkastígur was the french hospital which served the purpose of servicing french sailors in Iceland.

The location is in our minds an ideal spot to connect Frakkastígur to the sea, as well as connecting the street to other parts of the city via. the footpath that runs along the shore by Sæbraut. This footpath goes all around Reykjavík and is used quite a lot by the inhabitants of the city. With the arrival of a new concert hall just a few hundred meters away there is an even bigger reason to create a sort of an "urban pause" close by. A place where people can meet up, with friends or family and take part in various activities within the space provided.

The area may be regarded as a series of clusters rather than one single element. We wanted to provide interesting and stimulating spaces where people can enjoy the scenery, have a nice cup of coffee, participate in sport events, attend concerts or just take a little time to escape the everyday urban life.

It is in our human nature to search out the new, the exciting. Something that will release us from the bonds of the ordinary. We wanted to create challenging and exciting spaces that challenge people to perceive their environment in a new and fresh way, if only for a little while. Light is very important to our project, and is used in different ways for each cluster.

The main clusters are as follows. A green space with ponds and playgrounds right next to the Skuggi-towers. A tunnel that lies under Sæbraut and connects Frakkastígur to the area by the sea. A large dome that can house concerts, lectures, sport activities, markets and gatherings of just about any sort. A multi-level café which also houses a kind of an underwater safari, where you can look straight into the sea and witness the amazing array of life that can be found underwater.

In the tunnel we wanted to create something more than just a plain concrete tunnel. We wanted to make it an adventurous place to visit by intertwining different light elements that come together to create a cozy, yet exciting environment. At an intersection within the tunnel there is enough space for concerts or even a market, surrounded by benches where people can sit down. We also wanted to make the tunnel "readable" from above by extending the light-cairns up onto the surface. We envisage that this will also grab the attention of anyone that walks or drives through the area.The ceiling of the dome is covered in holes of various shapes and sizes that break up the light and scatter it´s rays throughout the center of the dome. The dome is open on five sides, but each opening serves a different function. One opens up to the sea and creates a small alcove within the dome. The second one is linked to an outdoor recreation area and playground on the western side of the area. The third one provides access to the platform surrounding the Sun Voyager. The fourth one is situated by a kayak harbor and a large wooden deck surrounding the café. The fifth one provides access to the café itself.

The café is on three levels, resembling an iceberg with only one level above sea level. By venturing down to the second and third level one catches a glimpse into the sea itself, which will surely be a powerful visual experience. On the second level, one can access an underwater tunnel under the kayak harbor that connects again to the aforementioned intersection within the tunnel.

There is also a kayak harbor behind the "peninsula" that the cafe sits on. The peninsula provides shelter for the kayakers in is meant as a training ground before venturing out to the open sea. The tunnel beneath the harbor has a glass ceiling so that people can watch the kayakers getting ready from beneath.

Food court, restaurant, shops, art gallery and more

A cultural melting pot

The initial idea of this project was to create a cultural melting pot and a hive of activities. We wanted to add life and art to the area which is located on the lower part of Frakkastígur. The site is on the corner of Frakkastígur and Hverfisgata where Kastalinn is today, near the tall rise buldings of Skuggi and the sea. The three key words we started off with were dynamic, flow and life. We wanted these words to describe our building and the program
The characteristic features of Hverfisgata are those of a busy street with a mixture of residentials, offices and shops. Across the street the new Listaháskóli is yet to be realised and the Skuggi blocks by the end of Frakkastígur have not been fully erected so the surrounding area is under a lot of changes. This uncertainty in the surrounding area shaped and influenced the vision of our project. We envisioned a neutral building that would adapt to changes and by that be able to serve different activities in the best possible way. It allows a wide range of possibilities and does not take on a distinctive stile of architecture.
We wanted to create a multi purposed art center, a melting pot of cultural activities related to art. We researched what kind of activities could incorporate this idea and the result was an artist residence program and a book café. The idea was to create a place where people could come together, sit down for a cup of coffee and read art magazines and books. At the same place there will be open art studios where artists can be seen at work and anyone can step inside and see their works in the making. The building is to be an impartial framework, framing the activities, art pieces and installations of the artists staying there at the time. Artists from anywhere in the world can come to live and work for a few months at a time. They will have their private living space in a part of the building, workshops in the basement and a studio that opens to the café that is open to guests at any time. There will also be a gallery selling some of their products and a small exhibition hall.
We want to make this place attractive to all kinds of people and everyone will be welcome to put their mark on the place in any way. We want to make the building dynamic and adaptable to all kinds of different activities and happenings. We initiated this buy creating various outdoor spaces that could easily be changed with curtains and cloths according to different requirements at each time.
The exhibition gallery is closed off from the outside with rotating walls that can also be opened up so they allow different possibilities. On the inside the gallery is closed off from the studio with sliding doors, so it can be completely open or completely closed, and easily adjusted to different demands. With these features we see the building change with the artists staying there and the people visiting.
We wanted to make the building open and easy to enter from the street, everyone should feel welcome and attracted to the building and what it has to offer. We wanted to allow good flow around the whole space, from the café to the studio and gallery and from there to the outside terraces on both sides of the building. We have put various stairways between levels of the building that allow the stream of people to enter the roofs where performance art exhibitions could take place or art pieces could be on display and be seen from the street as well. The beacon also allows people to flow around the whole building, both outside and inside. It also serves another purpose, to create an identity for the building and its operation, and to allow advertisement of events or display works of art.

The building has three main walk troughs and visual axes that are created to lead people through the different parts of the building. They are meant to mark the flow in which you can move through the building. One axe leads from the entrance at Hverfisgata to the studio in the other end of the building. Another axe leads from the port between the old and new part of the building, through the building to the terrace on the other side. The third axe is the beacon, going from the basement and straight up, connecting all three levels of the building.
By all this we have tried to follow and fulfil what the three key words we started up with idicate.
We have made the building dynamic by making it possible to easily alter spaces and create new ones. You might visit the place and experience it, then come back a month later to find a different space and another experience. The artists that will come and go regularly will also create dynamicity because they will shape they place with their precence and their art works. Same goes with visitors, everyone should be allowed to put their mark on the place, be it with only their precence or a graffity on the wall.
We hope that the many different activities taking place at this art center and all the things it has to offer will attract alot of people and the will make it lifely. The people will make life, and we have tried to arrange it so that the life can flow around the building unhindered. The visual axes, the stairways and the usage of rooftops is a part of that.
We wanted the building to be a frame that the artist and the public off the street will paint, that they and the activities will be the ones shaping the building, not the other way around. Hopefully this building can accomplish that.

The Site

Seen into the café and the corridor connecting it to the studio
Inside the studio
plan- 1st floor- Workshop
Plan- 2nd floor- Café, galley and studio
plan-3rd floor- café, apartments
Section 1
Section 2
The site today
The site with our design
The building seen from Frakkastígur.


Pétur Stefánsson & Kristín Una Sigurðardóttir

Students apartments

My project is designing a student oriented houses on the corner of Frakkastígur and Hverfisgata. The idea came while I was travelling in Morocco in the Easter-break. The houses are traditionally built in a square with a courtyard in the middle. There are also buildings called riad, but there lived the rich families back in the days. Riad is a 3-4 floor house with a courtyard in the middle and the courtyard had a fountain or something that could be a centre and a meeting place for the families that lived there.

I began to pick a spot on Frakkastígur and thought about how I could get the best out of it. The site that I mentioned at first was a perfect place for student oriented houses with the future location for the Icelandic academy of arts, just around the corner. I decided to tear down the existing house and the shed that belongs to it. After that a lot of space was available. First I drew four boxes that surround some kind of centre that evolved into something that began to look like houses. The roofs have a slight grade that all increases to the courtyard. The concept consists of four houses and then I joined them into two pair which is connected with stairways covered with glass. Three of the four units is a two floor building and each floor has a single studio apartment. The fourth unit, the one that is located in the back of the plot, is a three floor building and each floor has a one-room apartment that could be suitable for a couple. All the apartments have the same concept with a living room facing the courtyard through a big window. This is ment to enjoy the view of the courtyard from inside the apartments and to connect with the other people living in the complex. The sleeping rooms, bathrooms and kitchens are located in the outer walls of the buildings. The courtyard is intended to be a place where the residents can meet and hang out, relax and get to know each other. Benches made of concrete are located all around the courtyard along the building and also a circular bench around a big tree in the centre. Some of the walls are covered with climbing plants and the ground has also a bushes and vegetation. Part of the ground is paved with grass-stone and the rest is paved with rough, irregular stones that give the courtyard comfortable atmosphere. In front of the staircase there is a water feature that could for example collect the roof water. The main entrance to the courtyard is on Frakkastígur where it is possible to peek inside from the street and see the life in the garden. A secondary entrance is on Hverfisgata, but there it’s not possible to see into the courtyard. On the other hand it is possible to see the courtyard through the transparent stairway as you walk on by at Hverfisgata right before you cross the intersection of the streets. The facades facing the street, is inspired by the old house that stood on the spot before and the houses in the neighbourhood. These facades are clad with unpainted, corrugated iron which makes it blend in with the street scape despite the modern shape of the building. The windows gives is also related with the other houses in the street, square, regular and basic. The facades that face the courtyard are made out of glass and boarded with dark and cosy wood planks. The wood will also help creating a comfortable atmosphere in the courtyard.

The emphasis in the project has been on the courtyard as a midpoint for the small society of students living there, and also making the building blend in its surrounding but still in a modern way.

Apartments and daycare

heterogeneous