Reykjavík Grapevine - 18.05.2012, Blaðsíða 38

38
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 6 — 2012 This is the seventh entry in a fascinating series of articles Gerður Jónsdóttir is writ-
ing about Reykjavík's neighbourhoods! Log on to www.grapevine.is to read the rest!
Reykjavík | City planning
Exploring Hlíðar - From Its Bums To Its Beach
How Reykjavík got to be what it is, part VII
The area in Reykjavík called
Hlíðar (“Hills”) is made up of six
smaller neighbourhoods: Norður-
mýri, Hlemmur, Holt, Suðurhlíðar,
Öskjuhlíð and Nauthólsvík. While
ten thousand people call Hlíðar
home, the 3.3 square kilometre
area is not exclusively a residential
one.
Norðurmýri was the first planned
neighbourhood to be built outside of
the city centre. It was 1935 and the ex-
isting urban plan was already too small
for Reykjavík’s growing population. The
houses in Norðurmýri are character-
ised by their concrete facades—some of
which were covered with sea-shells—
a technique that architect Guðjón
Samúelsson developed while working
on the National Theatre on Hverfis-
gata—to protect the houses against the
harsh weather conditions in Iceland.
As State Architect of Iceland, Guðjón
Samúelsson designed many notable
buildings, such as the main building
at the University of Iceland, Sundhöl-
lin swimming pool, Landakot Roman
Catholic Cathedral, and Hallgrímskirkja
church.
BUMS, JUNKIES ANd ARTISTS
Not far from Norðurmýri is Reykjavík’s
main bus terminal, Hlemmur. Before the
bus evolution, the area had for centu-
ries an important, yet different, travel-
related role as the main water-well for
the horses of those travelling to and
from Reykjavík. A statue of two horses
stands there today in a memory of the
water-well and the horses that served
us. For many Icelanders, however,
Hlemmur immediately conjures up im-
ages of bums and drug abusers, who
did a lot of hanging out there in the ’80s
and ’90s. This scene was depicted in
Ólafur Sveinsson’s 2002 documentary
called ‘Hlemmur,’ which follows some
unfortunate homeless people who
spend most of their time in and around
this bus station. The soundtrack to the
film is composed and performed by the
Icelandic rock group Sigur Rós, who
some of you might know.
Not far from Hlemmur, at Flókagata
17, you’ll find a house called Englaborg
designed by the modernist architect
Gunnlaugur Halldórsson. Built in 1942
for the artist Jón Engilberts, Englaborg
is one of very few houses in Iceland that
have been built specifically to be an art-
ist’s working and living space (another
example is the Einar Jónsson Museum
on Skólavörðuholt). On the same street,
you will find Kjarvalsstaðir, the first mu-
seum in Iceland built specifically for art.
It was built between 1966–1973 in hon-
our of one of the greatest Icelandic art-
ist of the twentieth century, Jóhannes
S. Kjarval (1885–1972).
Kjarvalsstaðir is adjacent to a green
park called Klambratún, which served
as farmland until World War II. Today
it is a fairly popular place for picnics,
playing volleyball, football or guitar
during the summer. Although the farm
Klömbrur, from which the park gets is
name, does not stand there today, one
does not need to go far to find a farm
in Hlíðar. One such farm, Þóroddsstaðir,
dates back to the ’30s when it was built
to meet the growing need for milk and
meat during the Great Depression. It is
one of few farms from that time that can
still be found in the city.
THE PEARL
Perhaps Hlíðar’s most visible landmark
is The Pearl, a dome atop large water
tanks, located on a hill called Öskjuhlíð.
While one might be tempted to think
that the structure was designed by
someone that had OD’d on Sci-Fi mov-
ies, the idea dates back to 1930. It was
Kjarval, the aforementioned artist, who
proposed the building of a mirror-cov-
ered temple in Öskjuhlíð, the idea being
to bring the northern lights closer.
Nine years after Kjarval’s grand
ideas, or in 1939, the first geothermal
water tank was built in Öskjuhlíð. The
location was almost chosen by default,
as the top of the hill at Öskjuhlíð is
61 metres above sea level, which was
enough to provide sufficient water
pressure for high rises. When the first
geothermal tank was built, an architec-
tural competition was held to design
something around it. Nobody won, as
all of the ideas were too outrageous
and costly. Several more competitions
were held in the following decades,
but none of the ideas were ever fully
realised. The Pearl was finally opened
in 1991, 61 years after the idea of the
mirror covered temple was introduced.
ARTIFICIALLY HEATEd BEACH
Although the geothermal tank was not
much to look at, it had some pleas-
ant side effects. Hot water ran from
the tanks to the ocean at Nauthólsvík,
through a stream that soon became a
popular bathing spot amongst residents
in Reykjavík. However, it was closed in
1983 after becoming a bit too popular,
especially during the weekends after
bars closed. A few years earlier, two ar-
chitects were serious about the idea of
using hot water to build a tropical zone
in Nauthólsvík—a tropical paradise with
a hotel and shopping centre, among
other things. This idea was unfortu-
nately never realised. Today the hot wa-
ter coming from the water tanks is used
to heat up the ocean in Nauthólsvík,
making for a popular beach year round.
Nauthólsvík has become a popular
place to go sea swimming, which has
become a fairly popular sport in recent
years.
Öskjuhlíð itself is also full of history.
It has for a long time been a meeting
place for lovers, dealers, climbers, and
airplane enthusiasts who go there with
binoculars to watch airplanes take off
and land. In 1930, a large rocky part
of Öskjuhlíð was moved to build the
harbour in Reykjavík. The rocks were
moved via train on a railway—the only
that has ever existed in Reykjavík. Then,
during World War II, the British military
was posted up in Öskjuhlíð and one
can still find evidence of this military
presence. In fact, they make a per-
fect playground for Öskjuhlíð’s rabbit
population, which was begun at some
point when proud owners of pet rabbits
ditched them there. They have since
multiplied like, well, rabbits.
Take a walk through the neighbour-
hood and you will definitely find some-
thing that amazes you. If the weather
bothers you, you can sit in the hot tub
at Nauthólsvík, enjoy the art at the
Kjarvalsstaðir museum, take a bus from
Hlemmur to someplace else, or just
close your eyes and imagine yourself in
the tropical paradise that never materi-
alised!
Words
Gerður Jónsdóttir
Photography
Alísa Kalyanova
“Hlemmur immediately conjures up images of bums
and drug abusers, who did a lot of hanging out there
in the ’80s and ’90s.”