Meet Studio Granda, the Icelandic structure studio
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Icelandic agency Studio Granda’s architect founders, Steve Christer and Margrét Harðardóttir, had been aged 26 and 27 when their proposal for Reykjavik’s Metropolis Corridor received first prize in 1987. Simply three years out of the Architectural Affiliation in London, the starry-eyed pair envisioned two daring metal and concrete volumes housed underneath curved roofs and linked by a ground-floor walkway.
The constructing’s trendy look – fairly marked in its historic and central location on the northern financial institution of Lake ‘Tjörnin’ – could have ruffled various feathers when it was constructed, however over time, turned a much-valued a part of the town’s architectural cloth, evocative of its time and that technology.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy Studio Granda)
Studio Granda and their award-winning Alþingi constructing, Smiðja
Quick ahead 29 years to 2016 and one other competitors is launched, this time for a parliament constructing to be situated on an adjoining web site overlooking the Metropolis Corridor. The temporary referred to as for a construction that mixed places of work and assembly rooms for members of Iceland’s parliament (Alþingi) and its workers.
‘That competitors had our title on it,’ smiles Steve Christer of Studio Granda. ‘So we took half. We received it, and that is how we acquired this constructing on this spot. We envisioned this city surroundings 4 a long time in the past, and finally, we’ve managed to complete it.’
Christer is standing within the concrete-wrapped foyer of the newly opened Smiðja (an Icelandic phrase that interprets to “workshop” or “smithy” in English), which, simply final week, was awarded a prestigious Icelandic Design Award within the Place class. Within the three-decade hole between these two career-defining tasks, Studio Granda has established itself as one of many nation’s most profitable corporations with a formidable listing of Icelandic public and residential buildings to its title.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy Studio Granda)
Distinguished by a deep connection to Iceland’s landscapes and cultural heritage, Studio Granda’s tasks combine pure supplies—similar to basalt and timber—alongside concrete and metal, creating modern types that really feel each timeless and rooted of their surroundings.
Smiðja makes an attempt to proceed on this vein. Its distinctive facade, that includes bands of six several types of stone, references the strata and historical stays that had been uncovered beneath the bottom right here.
‘They discovered the earliest archaeological stays which have ever been present in Iceland right here on the location of the parliament,’ informs Christer, peering down right into a gap within the foyer ground the place an Eighth-century Viking pathway, now preserved, is on show precisely the place it was discovered. ‘It is sort of unimaginable, and it’s one thing we constructed our competitors entry on. We requested, ‘How about this constructing, is the strata of the long run?’ And that is the place the thought of the putting facade got here from.’
(Picture credit score: Courtesy Studio Granda)
All of the stone for the venture is surplus materials taken from different development websites, eliminating the necessity for brand spanking new mining. To additional scale back waste, any offcuts from the facade had been used to create ornamental flooring within the six rooms that make up the bottom ground—a type of Icelandic terrazzo with every room that includes a distinct sort of stone.
‘As a result of politics is often left and proper, we wished to have one other orientation within the constructing,’ explains Christer, pointing to the positioning of the oblong offcuts embedded within the ground. ‘You’ll discover that all the things is oriented north-south—the ground, the ceiling, the wall, they’re all the identical so you already know the place you are going and you already know the place you’ve been.’
On the ceiling all through the foyer space, plenty of what appears to be like like thick, twisted crimson wire cling overhead. The tangled construction—an artwork piece by Þór Vigfússon—makes ingenious use of a byproduct from aluminium smelting, one in all Iceland’s main industries, additional echoing the constructing’s theme of repurposing surplus supplies in artistic methods.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy Studio Granda)
Elsewhere, areas of concrete and stone are damaged up by the nice and cozy oak panelling and screens. Flexibility was a key requirement of the temporary, which Studio Granda answered by creating rooms with movable oak partition partitions that glide open if an occasion requires an area with a a lot greater capability.
As we make our method up by way of the constructing by way of a monastic concrete and oak staircase lined with metal rods—every one painstakingly welded in place in-situ—we see a transition from open-plan workspaces to extra intimate, mobile workplace layouts and assembly rooms. All furnishings was customized by the architects except refurbished Icelandic items from Alþingi’s assortment, and chairs by Erla Sólveig Óskarsdóttir, manufactured by Á. Guðmundsson.
On the fifth ground, a workers refectory and terrace get pleasure from sweeping views of the town skyline and the mountains past. On the south facade, the constructing opens as much as create a courtyard planted with indigenous Icelandic crops and a lightwell that funnels treasured Icelandic daylight into the decrease flooring. Walkways that cross the opening present alternatives for employees to get contemporary air whereas additionally serving as fireplace escapes.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy Studio Granda)
‘As you grow old, you realise you do not really want that many concepts,’ displays Christer. ‘The truth is, we’re all the time making an attempt to cut back the quantity of concepts that we put right into a constructing. Right here we’ve acquired the strata, we have the north-south axis, and we have three completely different supplies: concrete, wooden and glass, with stone thrown in for enjoyable. So that you deal with these and make these issues actually matter.’
Our go to befell only a few days earlier than Studio Granda found the venture had received within the Place class on the Icelandic Design Award ceremony. Now in its eleventh yr, the awards had been based to recognise and have a good time the rising significance of design in Icelandic society, tradition, and enterprise.
‘I don’t suppose we’ll win,’ Christer whispers conspiratorially as we conclude our tour, ‘however actually, I’m simply glad if folks get pleasure from utilizing the constructing. That is really a pleasure for me. That is the place I get my kick.’
