Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.03.2011, Síða 39

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
DesignMarch SPECIAL
Two years ago a fresh cohort of architects re-
turned to Iceland from their studies in Denmark.
The six of them wanted to do something together
and decided to unite under the name ‘Skyggni
Frábært’ (‘Visibility Fantastic’).
“It all started on Culture Night 2009. Every-
thing really sprouted out from there. That project
led to the next project, which led to the next one
after that,” Ástríður Magnúsdóttir recalls. She is
one of the six architects behind Skyggni Frábært.
Although past projects have very much been on
the side with other work or school, Ástríður and
another one of the six, Gunnar Sigurðsson, are
now working full-time on a new one.
In cooperation with the city of Reykjavík, Skyg-
gni Frábært has taken on a project to improve ur-
ban space in the Fell neighbourhood of Breiðholt,
the district of Reykjavík corresponding to postal
code 111. Drawing on the ideas of Danish Archi-
tect Jan Gehl, Gunnar elaborates on the impor-
tance of urban space. “The city is defined as what
happens between the buildings,” he says. “The
city is our playground and should be furnished.
Furnishing the outdoors is like furnishing your
room—you have to think about how you use it and
how you want to organise it.”

A NEGLECTED SUBURB
Despite a tight city budget, Breiðholt has been
flagged and money has been promised to the
area. “It’s the largest district in Reykjavík,” Gunnar
tells me. “If it were an independent municipality, it
would be the fourth largest in Iceland, larger than
Akureyri, and very little has been done there for
years.”
“It was built from the late ‘60s and into the
‘80s.” Ástríður continues describing the neighbour-
hood. “At that time there was a scarcity of housing.
People were still living in barracks left over from
World War II. The barracks were supposed to serve
as temporary housing for the army, but then there
was such a great need for housing that Icelanders
started living in them. The last Icelander to move
out of the barracks didn’t do so until 1960.”
Breiðholt was built to address this housing
need. “It is the first comprehensive planned com-
munity in Reykjavík to be designed and built in
one-go,” Gunnar says. “And the building strategy
was to maximise the amount of housing as quickly
and cheaply as possible,” Ástríður adds.

Not only that, but the style of the buildings is 20th
century modernism. “At that time, architecture
in Iceland was dominated by a very strict, rigid,
controlling European modernism style. It was
very effective, impressive and utopian,” Gunnar
explains. “But it’s just too rigid and too controlling.
So we’re working on softening the area and mak-
ing it more flexible.”

WITH A NEGLECTED URBAN SPACE
Ástríður opens her MacBook on the coffee table
and pulls up a presentation detailing their vi-
sion, starting from square one. She shows me a
diagram of the area that Skyggni Frábært will be
working on. It’s located behind a 300-metre long
apartment building that sits at the highest point of
Breiðholt. “Because it was expensive to construct
gables, it was decided to build one 300-metre long
building to get away with just two gables. As a
result, there are twenty stairwells in the building,”
Ástríður says.
Behind the building is a long walkway, or
“pedestrian highway,” as Gunnar calls it. It’s this
area that Skyggni Frábært is tackling. “It’s quite
central, surrounded by a school, a gymnasium and
a swimming pool,” Ástríður says. “If you’re out and
about in the Fell neighbourhood you are likely to
pass through it. You always seem to end up here.”
The problem is that the walkway is very dark and
kids try their best to avoid it, especially at night—
and the nights can be long.
“Last fall we were working with ten to fifteen
year old students at the Fell elementary school.
We met them once a week for eight weeks to
define the space with them—how they use it, what
they think about the area and how to improve it,”
Ástríður says. “So, we were basically program-
ming the design phase with them.”
TO BE SOLVED BY A VISION
Ástríður and Gunnar click through to the plans.
First they show me some ideas for the surface,
which involve replacing the broken up concrete
with different materials, including asphalt, the soft
track and field material, grass, wood and pave-
ment. “We’re going to mix it up,” Ástríður say, “get-
ting some softer material in the squares to break
up the monotony of the pathway”
Ástríður explains that there are three meeting
points where small local paths which intersect the
main walkway. “The area is very homogeneous and
at points there is an opportunity to create small
plazas, which can create a local atmosphere,” she
says. “We may use the same colours or the same
theme, but each plaza will have its own character.”
Gunnar explains the diagrams, which show
a variety of neat fixtures. “We don’t want to just
put down traditional benches. We want to do
something that allows people to dream up their
own games, to do something inventive. At the
same time, it’s important that people have a sense
of place and space. If you want to go out to read a
book, you need a good space to do it.”
Third, they address the two-metre tall wall that
divides the pedestrian traffic from the car traffic.
“We are going to open up the wall in a number of
places,” Gunnar says. “The wall blocks the natural
flow of walking traffic. Today some people climb
over it so that they don’t have to walk around
some extra 200 metres. We are humanising the
rigid system.” Not to mention, Gunnar adds, “At
best, the wall casts a shadow over half the path,
which means that half of it is always cold and
damp.”
Lastly, it’s the issue of lighting. They’ve come
up with a combination of overhead lamps, ground
reflectors, which will guide bike traffic, and
spotlights cast on the wall, which will make for fun
shadows as people walk past.

FOR A BETTER FUTURE
Their vision should come to fruition over the next
three to four years with the first phase starting
this summer. “We want this to come slowly from
within the neighbourhood, rather than something
that comes suddenly from the outside,” Gunnar
explains. By that token, Ástríður and Gunnar say
they would like to get students from FB, the local
high school, involved in designing the remaining
portions of the wall, taking on one wall per year
for the next few years.
Ultimately they hope this small improvement
will have a compounding effect on other aspects
of life in Breiðholt. “It would also be great if this
would inspire people in the neighbourhood to
activate and improve other areas,” Ástríður says
optimistically.
Architecture | Breiðholt
Words
Anna Andersen
Illustrations
Skyggni Frábært
Improving Life In Suburbia
Six architects with a fantastic vision for Breiðholt
Skyggni Frábært welcomes everyone to stop by their open house during
DesignMarch. They've just finished packing up their former offices at Hug-
myndahús (The House of Ideas) and can now be found at Klappastígur 4.