criceland

-The Fishermans Bath-

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Fish restaurantFishing shops

Empty s i tepreviously planned resident ia l

An older residential neighbourhood

Ship-yard

Smaller f ishing boats coming and going when weather is good for

f ishing

Trawlers

Marit ime museum

Creative off ices

café

Small Theatre

Fish industries

Concrete skeleton-The Fishermans Bath -

Fisherman’s café

Song School

old boat

A f ive minute walk to the city center

Situat ion plan1:1000

In an area f i l led with l i fe , cul ture and act ivi ty a big concrete skeleton s tands quiet in the middle .

By giving i t a new meaning in l i fe by adding a publ ic funct ion i t takes on a new rol l . . . .

. . .and by act ivat ing a par t of this bui lding i t invi tes to more act ivi t ies f i l l ing the rest of i t .

Site & ConceptSeveral archi tectural compet i t ions have been held in regards to development in this area where the shipyard would be removed and the area made into a res ident ia l harbour dis t r ic t .

But in the “inbetween” face of a l l th is planning i t has got ten a program that has somehow grown by i tself . . . a crooked f ishermans café , creat ive off ices and a café in an older bui lding, a mari t ime museum, a l i t t le theatre , a song school and the shipyard which s t i l l s tands there with al l the act ivi ty that fol lows.

And in the middle of a l l of this a concrete skeleton s tands as a reminder of what was supposed to become.

I would l ike to add a new element to this fantast ic program by act ivat ing a par t of the concrete skeleton and the bui lding s i te . Not a huge project . Just enough to get some meat on the bones.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . something that easi ly can adapt to the rough concrete s t ructure

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . something for everyone to enjoy

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . something unexpected

The fantast ic “ inbetween phase”

Put t ing some meat on the bones

A l i t t le bathouse!

Bathing is essent ia l for any man. I t i s equal ly important to wash the whole body, as washing the face and hands, as any civi l ized man does on a dai ly basis . Reykjavík Bath House is a much needed inst i tut ion that no one wil l object to i t receiving a considerable sum from the counci l budget annual ly. (Reykjavík bathhouse 1905-1966)

— Morgunblaðið, The Morning Newspaper, 20th of march 1917

A typical bathing faci l i ty in Reykjavík / Iceland consis ts of a swimming pool , chi ldrens pool a sauna, dressing rooms and some hot tubs.

There are 20 swimming pools in the Greater Reykjavík area. Almost a l l are outdoors .

In Reykjavík near ly a l l of the water comes direct ly f rom the ground where i t heats up through geothermal energy. I t i s c lean and used as i t i s and the abundance of i t makes i t a cheap al ternat ive in energy use.

The Icelanders have been making use of their hot water s ince the is land was set t led.

The Icelandic hot- tubs are made by ancient role models , the natural hot spr ings, and the f i rs t one was opened in 1962.

In this cold cl imate these pools and hot tubs are wel l used by the people of Reykjavík who averagely vis i t the pool 15 t imes a year. Many go on a regular basis and some every day and the hot tubs are a colorful arena of of ten heated discussions.

Wet wel l -being

Average s ize swimming pool (25 m) uses as much water as 80-100 resident ia l houses anual ly.

Each resident uses around 1000 l of hot water and 220 l cold water every 24 hrs . (most goes to house heat ing)

There are 170 swimming pools in Iceland. One for every 1900 residents .

Ways of keeping warm in Iceland

Going for a blood pumping hike into the mountains . . .

Enjoying Geothermal Power

Dressing in wool . . .

dressing rooms

drying room-warm f loor

sauna

l i t t le hot dark sauna

bath bathsouts ide baths + entrance entrance

Program diagram from sect ion a-a

Possibi l i ty of expanding bath-house to the sea.

a

a

a

a

Bathouse creates access to concrete skeleton act ivat ing i t and making a new movement through i t .

Reusing Mater ia lsMaking use of what´s lying around.

Main frame s t ructure

Fi l l ins

Pure s t ructural

Steel f rame bol ted or welded at intersect ions.

A sol id s t ructure that can s tand independent ly or with a l i t t le help from an exis t ing bear ing s t ructure .

I t can serve as wal ls-f loors-roof .

The frames can be f i l led with different kind of mater ia ls .

Glass or plast ic for le t t ing in l ight .

Formwork plates are exel lent f i l l in mater ia l , s t rong, ever las t ing and covering.

Half covering-dressing room

Fully covered-saunas

There are mater ia ls lying around bui lding s i tes a l l over the ci ty.

Most contractors have gone bankrupt and now the government/banks owns much of this mater ia l .

Much of this could be “harvested” for another use than or iginal ly intended.

Light emit t ing mater ia ls

Threading

Transparency

A new structure - parasi te

Sketch models

Sect ion a-a

-The Awesome Alley-

2

A luxury apartment house is bui l t very close to an old boat house that once housed a res taurant .

The 24 ready bui l t luxury apartments s tand empty.

The restaurant is for rent .

A t iny café with one table outs ide

City l ibrary

An adventurous kni t t ing s tore and a gal lery bout ique

Contemporary ar t museum

A fish restaurant and a small museum

The oldest par t of the ci ty centre

The Kolaport market hal l

In the new luxury apartment house a hole exis ts in the facade leading to the s t reet , showing a gl impse of the old boathouse in the back. . . .

There is a l i t t le passage to the al ley between these two houses , the old and the new one, that both s tand empty and wai t ing for somebody to f i l l them with l i fe . . . .

One s tar ts to wonder what the al ley could hold. . . . i t could be the most wonderful space f i l led with color and happenings. . . . .

I t could be AWESOME.

-The MeetPoint-market-

New icon - HarpaThe New Music House

Reykjavík HarbourCruise Ship Pier

Busy t raff ic s t reet

Tol l HouseMarket Hal l

Local iconThe Hot Dog Shack

City centre

A new connect ion is made between the harbour and the ci ty centre .

In the middle of the 20th century i t was hugely popular to have a colonial garden on the outskir ts of town. Here the r ich and the poor s tood s ide by s ide and planted potatoes and cabbage and s tayed in their l i t t le colonial huts over weekends.

But soon the growing ci ty took over and these colonial gardens disappeared.

Now, with al l the empty space, even r ight in the ci ty centre , i t i s t ime to revive a good thing.

The market spreads out of i t ´s c losed market hal l and over the s t reet towards the sea and the new music house. . . . . .

5-The Heart Square-

Between two busy s t reets in the ci ty centre I f ind a s i te that looks l ike i t was born af ter the crash.

. . . I had discovered the hear t square.

An empty + closed off bui lding s i te in the ci ty

centre .

Benches and l ight ing set up.Grass plane planted.A path is paved over the s i te between two busy s t reets .

Art is ts invi ted to decorate wal ls .

Old birch t rees get to l ive. A hear t is paved in the middle of the space.

. . .and af ter a few of days a l i t t le colorful square is born.

s i t down and wiggle your toes f i l l the wal ls with colour se l l your old toys p lay your music look up through the birch t rees v is i t a chr is tmas market

and just enjoy l i fe . . . .

In few easy s teps the s i te became a place where you can

-The viable view- 6

A high r ise block s t ructure r ises between the sea and the low r ise c i ty centre .

Ris ing high

Laying low

Public agendaInstead of being a barr ier the high-r ises invi te you up to higher ground and share their view.This could be done with offer ing publ ic programs in the vacant spaces .

This leads to no physical and l i t t le visual contact between the ci ty and the sea.

Building high is a good way of maximizing land use and densifying ci t ies .

In Reykjavík a plan was made to bui ld high r ise resident ial housing with expensive luxury apartments as wel l as high r ise of f ice bui ldings.

Now these bui ldings s tand unfinished and empty, programmed to fulf i l l needs that do not sui t today’s society.

When lef t empty a high-r ise is a very prominent reminder of a plan gone wrong

ViableWorld Engl ish Dict ionary

viable ( ˈvaɪəb ə l )

— adj1. capable of becoming actual , useful , e tc ; pract icable: a viable proposi t ion

2. (of seeds, eggs, e tc) capable of normal growth and development

3. (of a fe tus) having reached a s tage of development where fur ther development can occur independent ly of the mother

-The Heal ing Hole-7

A hole between two houses . Inside i t a low-rise commercial bui l ing was planned, meant to make the s t reet a bet ter place. A small project but yet i t was cancel led.

What can be done so this hole could s tar t to heal?

1:1

People unconciously walk faster past the high, fenced off s i te than past the shopping windows.

A quick sketch was made with some bal loons that were hung on the wal l . . .

I t was interest ing to see what a l i t t le bi t of color and movement can do.

People watched curiously.

They took a bal loon.

The s topped and poked.

Some stopped for a second and looked around to see i f something else was happening.

Today the most act ive movement is outs ide the s i te , in the shopping s t reet . There is cont inuous movement of cars

and people .

. . . the res ident ia l area in the back is more quiet but yet a neighbourhood populated by people who love being

close to the act ive l i fe of the ci ty centre .

Opening the closed s i te creates a new possibi l i ty in the area for an act ive common space that could both be used by the vis i tors of the shopping s t reet

as wel l as res idents f rom the surrounding area. This could be a much needed playground.

In f ront In back Right in the middle

-The Emerging Park-8

A big, empty bui lding s i te

An empty bui lding s i te barred off with high fences al l around.

A path is created between two paral le l s t reets .

. . . .and s lowly but surely a park emerges.

More and more space opens upMore elements appear over t ime. . . when needed. . .when someone wants i t bad enough. . . . i f there´s some money. . . .

Behind closed wal ls new elements are being created.

And af ter they f inish they are made publ ic .

-The Wannabe Hotel-

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On an old factory lot s tands an older concrete bui ldingIt´s the only thing lef t s tanding on a big empty plot .

Close to the Icelandic Art Academy, the bus terminal and ci ty centre .Stands in an area which is a mix of older res ident ia l and commercial bui ldings with

different kinds of businesses .

The remains of an old facade becomes a gateway into a new structure .

A planned 100 room hotel s tands a lone and unfinished. I t ´s an older concrete house with new addi t ion on top.

The facade of an old house - a reminder of what was before .

I t now becomes the new facade of this empty concrete s t rucutre .

Opening up to a publ ic program on the f i rs t f loor. A l i t t le kni t t ing café perhaps. . . .There are no other cafés around. . .

And i f enough money is earned a room is f ixed up and leased out as a hotel room.

. . . the bal l s tar ts to rol l . . .and over t ime a hotel is born.

-The Hot Spot Highrise -

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What do you see from the top of an Icelandic

skyscraper?

Volcanos!

A skyscraper is a ta l l , cont inuously habi table bui lding. There is no off ic ia l def ini t ion or height above which a bui lding may clear ly be classi f ied as a skyscraper. Most c i t ies def ine the term empir ical ly; even a bui lding of 80 meters (262 feet) may be considered a skyscraper i f i t protrudes above i ts bui l t environment and changes the overal l skyl ine

wikipedia .com

The current ly highest skyscraper in the world is the Burj Dubai 818 m tal l .

When i t comes to skyscraper, the Icelandic skyscraper is not so very high. I t i s 16-20 s tory ta l l and s tands way higher than the rest of the low r ise c i ty s t ructure .

The t rend of bui lding skyscrapers in Reykjavík is new and there are not many of them. The recession put an end to that .

The Höfðatorg Skyscraper is the ta l les t one in the ci ty r is ing 65 meters high. Only the tower of the Hal lgr ims-Church is higher, around 80 m. high.

Sketch diagrams of bui lding and s i te

Occupied-Fast food

Occupied -Lawfirms

Empty Being furnished for lease

The skyscraper today

A lonely skyscraper

From down to UPmaking a publ ic access

The Skyscraper Adding a new structure Creat ing a new movement on and through an exis t ing

bui lding

Hallgrímskirkja - Reykjavík’s tallest building

The Hengi l Area-An act ive volcano covering 100 km2

my roof needs fixing.

The skyscraper was or iginal ly meant to be a complex of 6 high-r ise business/resident ia l bui ldings. But instead of becoming a par t of the nearby business dis t r ic t i t towers over a smaller res ident ia l are .

The residents protested profoundly against these high r ise bui lding plans but they were unheard and one of the high-r ises rose.

Then came the recession and no more high r ises were bui l t . So this one s tands alone and watches over the neighborhood.

The residents say that i t has got ten windier and some lost the evening sun.

- Giving the tower a more publ ic facade and a more open program would change the effect i t has on i t ´s surroundings.

- The neighbors could get their own private park on the top of the l i t t le tower, where they can look over their neighborhood.

Enemies of the skyscraper

The Hot Spot

Highrise

HOT SPOTIceland is one of the most act ive volcanic regions in the world, with erupt ions occurr ing on average roughly every three years . There are 132 volcanos in Iceland and 40 of them are act ive.

The la tes t erupt ion was a huge erupt ion in Eyjaf ja l la-glacier the spr ing of 2010. I t caused great global problems for the f l ight industry as wel l as t remendous f inancial and enviromental problems for the Icelanders .

In geology, a hotspot or hot spot is a port ion of the Earth’s surface that may be far f rom tectonic plate boundaries and that experiences volcanism due to a r is ing mantle plume or some other cause

The Iceland hotspot is a hotspot which is par t ly responsible for the high volcanic act ivi ty which has formed the is land of Iceland.

HOT SPOT HIGHRISEYou can get used to everything. Even l iving with highly act ive volcanos. So maybe you forget how fantast ic i t real ly is . . . .

You are reminded once in a while when the ear th shakes or a mountain explodes. But in between, l i fe goes on as usual .

There are no volcano museums in Reykjavík. I t could be a new place for the locals to learn more about what they are l iving with as wel l as an amazing place of discovery for the touris ts .

I t would give the ta l les t high-r ise in Reykjavík a new and more publ ic role .

L iving with volcanosand sharing the experience

+ =

A growing s t ructure

The new program is a tenant of an exis t ing bui lding. . . . . . . . .

Future scenarioMore elements can be added/taken away according to need

a new element is added on an

exis t ing s t ructure

the new element has a publ ic funct ion.

Linked to other e lements by an exter ior access .

Making use of par ts of exis t ing.

More elements - inter iour access

ScenarioThe Hot Spot Highrise

Cafe

Exhibion

Exhibion

Roof park

Viewpoint

Library

Current Si tuat ionA half-used highrise

Structural e lementsusing exis t ing s t ructure as a basis for the new one

Steel beams are fas tened under exis t ing s lab.

New f loor constructed Stair system fastened onto f loor and beams.

New facade New structure uses bear ing forces f rom exis t ing s t ructure .

Concrete s lab

Bearingwalls

Bearing columns

Exist ing s t rucutre

Windows moved from frames to make way for a new structure .

Sect ion1:100

The museum structure . Boxes and s ta i rcases

Experiencing an urban volcanic erupt ion Learning about the force of the mountains Loving the lava Going over more levels