My diploma project

Reykjavík 10 sites:Menu:view fullscreen
CRICELAND

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Diploma finished

I´m sorry for a very long time of "noblogness". But I was very focused on my project towards the end and the blog got the worst of it....

But now I´m finished. I am an architect and the project went very well!

Here are some images from my CRICELAND exhibition. I will put more info on the project soon.

Olafia, the architect :)

Comedy, Ash and Concrete

Now Reykjavík has a new mayor.... Comedian Jon Gnarr took over the keys of the city today after his comedy party won the local elections two weeks ago... People claim they are tired of how things have been run and want new blood into politics.....

I hope the new party will take the problems of the city seriously and will be open to solutions and alternative actions!

http://euobserver.com/843/30169

In the meantime...ash blows from the Eyjafjallajökull area and colours the city even more grey......

Local and foreign scientists + engineers are now researching if the ash can be used in production of cement.... .... welcome GREEN CONCRETE!

http://www.cowi.com/menu/news/newsarchive/generalnews/Pages/volcanicasheyedasbindingagentingreenconcrete.aspx

Very relevant in a country where almost everything is built out concrete!

and some pics from my sisters balcony......

Slowarchi-interview

I don´t know about the sweater Gundersen.... but there´s not so much stuff on this on youtube. Some in Italian....but I´ll keep on looking.

Poor but peaceful

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9G6T1G84&show_article=1

Project Manifesto

After third conversation and time with tutors this week and last it was time to look over my project and start making a clearer frame around it.

Starting with a manifest of intentions and goals.

And to accompany the manifest, some pics of site nr. 5 - the empty building site that became a little square.

Found this.....

..... picture of when I was in Reykjavík last autumn.... Just found it again and I loved it. The movement in it. The one high element sticking up from everyting else, the tremendous paste....

maybe it´s a "so 2007" image ?

Post eruption tourism campaign

Inspired by Iceland Video from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

3rd confrontation

Last Thursday we had our third confrontation. The last one before handing in our project in august.

Tips and comments on my project (short notes).

Go more into models, research each site, go closer into situations you find interesting. Human scale and materials.

Goal is to connect sites again to the Icelandic situation.

Dealing with slow architecture (origin in slow food movement, opposite of fast food). -you build because you need.

The space I don´t touch is equally important as the space I do touch.

Confronting my own culture, beware of coming too emotional.

Juxtapositions.

Vernacular Culture.

Emphasizing the voids.

Questioning sustainability.

People are given more power to participate.

Registrations, walk"a"map, site-sketch books

1:10 000 10-site models. (one to the right is upside down....)

1:1000 landscape born... some earlier analysis on top.

My workspace

The golden circle.....

From Wikipedia.

The Golden Circle is a popular tourist route in South Iceland, covering about

300 km looping from Reykjavík into central Iceland and back.

The three primary stops on the route are the national park Þingvellir,

the waterfall Gullfoss (meaning "golden falls"), and the geothermally

active valley of Haukadalur, which contains the geysers Geysir and Strokkur.

Other stops include Kerið volcano crater, Hveragerði greenhouse village,

Skálholt church, and the Nesjavellir geothermal power plant.

96% of all the tourists in Iceland visit the city of Reykjavík and it´s centre. Tourism is now providing for around 18% of the national income after the crash and that seems to be the main reason for all the hotel focus in the city. This is where investors are looking these days to invest their money.

But over time this unstable economy will change. Become more stable, even more unstable, who knows. Putting too much power in the hands of investors should really not be the way to go and the evidence of that are everywhere.

Build to last-not build on a whim.

A little sketch I did some time ago.... the "fools golden" circle...

More on slow architecture

http://archinect.com/news/article.php?id=P2852_0_24_0_C

After the fast and the furious building frenzy the last decade slow architecture is a concept well worth focusing on in Reykjavík.

Small scale implementations that focus on reconnecting sites and buildings back with the system or city structure.

It´s not only about building up slowly but to see how already existing structures can be taken into use again....piece by piece.

I´ve started on a 1:1000 model...and 10 smaller ones.... Jumping between 1:100-1:1000 scales.....1:50´s and 1:1´s will soon emerge I hope!

Going to try out my ideas and find out what kind of structures can be a part of solving some issues.

This week it´s all about models....

Slow architecture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Slow Architecture is building a building slowly and gradually

as opposed to building it all at once.The resulting building

usually is far more cost efficient than that of a traditional

building.Governments and companies can use this building

method to cut down on costs.

The term Slow Architecture is also used in a broader context,

not limited to one building.'The use of the characteristics of

the existing will maintain a strong bond between a building,

its environment and society. The present environment is the

result of a string of aspects that

together keep the process alive of which the present is the result.

The use of the context will make it possible to maintain local

traditions in building and create unique images. Not to preserve

history, but to give new developments a place in a continuous

proceeding process.'

Centre and Sites

Scenario making

Me and my group-buddy Anette made a quick task for our selves today. Two hours to make a reflection on our scenario.

...going through my process in my mind....

(normally I don´t like to leave long writing posts, but today has been about clearing my head)

Energy...

The new energy within people, the will to take matters into their own hands. Energy as a natural force, the landscape and climate conditions that bring over-abundance of flowing water and steam that keeps the society going.

Nature...

What nature gives us and what it takes away. Such harsh and beautiful nature, so cold and windy, so rugget and wet. A volcano taking control of the whole world.

Unemployment...

So many idle hands that could be given the opportunity to start something on their own or participate in building their surroundings.

Scale...

How do you define a new building in your neighborhood that is 10 times higher than your house, took away some hours of sun and blocks the mountain view you had. Can you accept it, feel a part of it...

Green...

What is green in Iceland? A crooked birch branch on a hillside, the green moss meeting the pitch black sand.... "Green" spaces...A little lee from the northern winds outside a café or behind a house... a spot to play football...the wonderful vegetables and fruits from the green houses....a little potato patch.

Space...

All the space the car occupies, all the new open space, redefinition of space.

Knitting...

The power to pick up the knitting pins and put clothes on your family´s back, merchandise in your little shop, discuss the situation, swop recipies, let your mind flow...something so local yet very international, global.

Democracy...

Redefining democracy. The power back to the public. The will to influence your own future, participation.

The leavers...

Why do they leave, feeling of hoplessness, anger, discrimination, hundreds of applicants for one job.

Creaters...

The music scene, artists, architects, colouring the society.

Time...

Learning to linger... appreciate...adapt. The relevance of the now and the later.

The financial city becoming the city of hotels....

The main thought of planning the city-center of Reykjavík in 2002 was "densification". The densification plan 2002-2024 became a formal goal within the planning commitee and became main focus for the formal area plan. In the end of 2008 it wasn´t controlled by the city anymore but by private investors who with help from the banks were controlling the whole planning scene, building pretty much whatever they wanted. The ideas of the planning comittee of preservation of older buildings and new projects were the basis to work with but instead of enforcing stronger building regulations, the situation got out of control. What now is left is not a denser city at all but huge gaps left when older housing was torn down to make way for the new. And the new that stands ready, mostly empty and was builtmostly with great resistance from nearby residents that formed organisations to stop rising of high rise in the midst of their neighborhood. So they stand left with an unwanted guest.

What´s happening now is that these buildings and plots stand and wait. Some have or wait for their contractors/investors to go bankrupt and some wait for projects to be pressed through to keep the wheels going.

Suggested use for empty houses are mainly to make them into hotels even though there is not a shortage of accomodation in the city. I called the Icelandic tourist board for information on accomodation. There are various guest houses and hotels and it is only during high season or special events that guesthouses are fully booked and then there are normally empty rooms at the better hotels.

It´s very important to think further than just hotels and that the city plan is revised in accordance to the new situation. What can be done right away, what various programs can fill these empty buildings and plots that benefit their surroundings. They can´t all be filled with hotels....

How can these spaces become meaningful again and how can the people around get a connection to them?

Inspiration

Thanks V.

Walk_a_map

Architecture as a protagonizer....

I´ve just got back home and am sorting out my travel stuff. So I haven´t been posting here for some days. But now I´m backkkkkk and stuff will start to pop up again :)

I was working with my 10 sites in Reykjavík and I sadly realized I can´t fix them all since I´m just one student with one diploma. But I non-the less realized that each site has a potential to become something else than what it is today.

Most if not all of the sites have been brutally cut with their past function and use leaving them unfamiliar to the city and it´s inhabitants. They need a new purpose in life.....

a jump start.

Site 4 minimovie

Site 10 minimovie