JULY 2023 · ESCAPE
Reykjavik, Iceland - buildings
Reykjavik, Iceland
Reykjavik builds in corrugated iron. It's a practical material for a place with this weather — light, maintainable, replaceable — and the city has turned it into an aesthetic. The old residential streets are lined with houses in salmon-pink, red, green, all painted over the corrugated sheets, white-framed windows punched into the colour. The effect is coherent without being designed, as if each house made an independent decision and they all arrived at the same place.
Hallgrímskirkja sits above most of it. Leif Erikson in bronze at its foot, facing toward the harbour and whatever he was looking at nine centuries ago. The concrete spire behind him moves through different tones depending on the light. It's the reference point you navigate by — visible from most of the city, the one vertical thing that doesn't change.
On Laugavegur and the streets around it, street art covers the corrugated walls with a range in quality from exceptional to fair. One building near the harbour has intricate ink work — detailed figurative drawings, fish and birds in charcoal on weathered metal — the kind of work that takes weeks and which most people walk past. It sits next to a building with layered tags. Both on corrugated iron, both on the same street.
The effect is coherent without being designed, as if each house made an independent decision and they all arrived at the same place.
Reykjavik — July 2023
Harpa is different in scale and material. The concert hall on the waterfront has a glass facade in geometric hexagons, each panel reflecting a different section of harbour or sky. From inside looking out, the harbour comes apart into fragments. From outside, the building assembles fragments into something continuous.
The aerial view from higher ground shows the residential district in its full variety — red roofs, blue houses, yellow walls, green trees — the colour range of a place that built without a unified plan, each street doing its own thing.
The moss-covered dock wall with three viewing portholes along the waterfront: that one took a while to find.
Corrugated iron building with postcard shop display in Reykjavik's old town
Salmon-pink corrugated iron house with red door and dark roof, typical Reykjavik architecture
Harpa concert hall's white geometric glass facade overlooking Reykjavik harbour
Colourful street art on corrugated buildings in Reykjavik's creative quarter
Grid pattern of coloured windows on a modern building facade in Reykjavik
Rainbow flag draped across street in Reykjavik near Hallgrímskirkja church spire
Striking red and dark corrugated iron buildings on Reykjavik's historic street
Moss-covered dock wall with three viewing portholes along Reykjavik's waterfront
Reykjavik waterfront churches and spires under dramatic clouded sky
Green corrugated wooden house with white windows on residential Reykjavik street
Bright red corrugated iron house with white windows and black roof in Reykjavik
Harpa concert hall's mirrored glass panels reflecting sky and architecture
Hallgrímskirkja church spire with bronze statue of Leif Erikson against sky
Aerial view of Reykjavik residential district showing coloured houses and green trees
Overhead view of Reykjavik's diverse architecture with red, blue and yellow houses
Aerial cityscape of Reykjavik showing residential rooftops in pastel colours
Modern red and white corrugated cabin with colourful plants in Reykjavik's old harbour