Extra terrestrial: new student halls in a remote Icelandic campus combine poetry with pragmatism.Building in Iceland is a bit like building on another planet. A tectonically perilous geology and barely habitable habitable adj. referring to a residence that is safe and can be occupied in reasonable comfort. Although standards vary by region, the premises should be closed in against the weather, provide running water, access to decent toilets and bathing facilities, heating, climate scornfully rebuff attempts to make a lasting mark on this isolated, island terrain. Everything manmade defers to the terrifying ter·ri·fy tr.v. ter·ri·fied, ter·ri·fy·ing, ter·ri·fies 1. To fill with terror; make deeply afraid. See Synonyms at frighten. 2. To menace or threaten; intimidate. grandeur of the natural world, yet from the earliest turf houses (literally grafted from the earth) to very particular interpretations of Nordic functionalism functionalism, in art and architecture functionalism, in art and architecture, an aesthetic doctrine developed in the early 20th cent. out of Louis Henry Sullivan's aphorism that form ever follows function. , the most memorable Icelandic architecture is a gutsy synthesis of the pragmatic and the poetic. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Studio Granda's latest building for Bifrost University draws deeply and intelligently on this tradition. Founded in 1918, Bifrost is one Iceland's oldest institutions of higher education higher education Study beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. , originally specialising in business studies for the aspiring elite, but now grown to encompass law and social sciences. Bifrost itself derives from Norse mythology as the name of the rainbow bridge Rainbow Bridge may refer to:
Set in the Nordurardalur valley, ninety minutes drive from Reykjavik, the Bifrost campus occupies an almost extraterrestrial landscape. Here the rugged terrain is dominated by the stumps of extinct volcanic craters and percolated by rivers and lakes. As the campus embarked on its most recent phase of growth and development, preserving this landscape was an emphatic priority. Studio Granda developed a masterplan for the expansion and this residential building is the third new piece by the practice in a still ongoing jigsaw. The brief, for what is effectively one of the largest buildings on campus, specified 51 residential units, together with a reading room, meeting room, a mixture of open plan and cellular offices, plus laundry facilities for the entire campus. All this had to be realised on a less than generous budget. Pragmatism quickly kicks into play with laundry and storage relegated to the basement of a simple four-storey block. Stacked above ground level are three identical floors of student rooms economically double banked off a spinal corridor. The ground floor is given over to contemplation and administration (reading, meeting rooms and offices), with a glazed wall overlooking the campus quadrangle quadrangle Rectangular open space completely or partially enclosed by buildings of an academic or civic character. The grounds of a quadrangle are often grassy or landscaped. . From here, a mustard coloured wall marks the main entrance, which connects with a dramatic, quadruple-height lobby. The pragmatic spirit finds further expression in the building's construction. Precast concrete wall and floor units helped to cut construction time and minimise on-site disruption. Corrugated cor·ru·gate v. cor·ru·gat·ed, cor·ru·gat·ing, cor·ru·gates v.tr. To shape into folds or parallel and alternating ridges and grooves. v.intr. steel is a common local cladding material, but here sheets of copper are used, corrugated in the same way, giving a new twist to a very basic form of construction. Though initially more costly than steel, copper is virtually maintenance free, and with no pollutants in the pure Arctic air to precipitate the familiar green oxidisation, it quickly develops a rich, leathery leath·er·y adj. Having the texture or appearance of leather: a leathery face. leath  er·i·ness n. patina. The rippling texture of the brown walls and graphic patterns of fenestration fenestration /fen·es·tra·tion/ (fen?es-tra´shun)1. the act of perforating or condition of being perforated. 2. soften the stark lines of the block. And were you to hike to the rim of one of the surrounding craters, you could see that a roof of lava and moss poetically merges the new building into its sublime, primeval landscape. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion