Saga - 2015, Síða 98

Stokkhólmssýningin markaði án efa spor í þróun módernisma á
Norðurlöndum en hún markaði ekki upphaf fúnksjónalisma í bygg-
ingarlist á Íslandi. Úr smiðju Sigurðar Guðmundssonar voru þegar
komin fúnksjónalísk verk um og fyrir 1930. Stokkhólmssýningin var
tæpast hvati að tillögum Gunnlaugs Halldórssonar því sem nemi í
arkitektúr hafði hann fúnksjónalismann þegar á valdi sínu árið 1930.
Tímamótaverk frumkvöðlanna á heimsvísu áttu þá þegar um tveggja
áratuga sögu sem vart hefur farið framhjá konunglegu dönsku lista -
akademíunni í kaupmannahöfn, þar sem Gunnlaugur stundaði
nám.
Samtvinnun félagslegra hugsjóna og fagurfræðilegrar sýnar fór
fram með ýmsu móti, en þar sem saman fór skýr pólitík í anda
félags hyggju, góð félagsleg lausn, vönduð tæknileg vinna og hæfur
framsækinn hönnuður var von á góðu, þ.á m. í þriðja áfanga verka-
mannabústaðanna við Hringbraut á fjórða áratug 20. aldar.
Abstract
gunnar s v e inb jörn ó skars son
THe HRINGBRAUT WoRkeRS’ APARTMeNTS IN A eURoPeAN CoNTeXT
This article presents the workers apartments on Hringbraut road, Reykjavík, in a
european context. Built between 1932 and 1937, these apartments established new
standards in urban housing for common Icelanders. In many ways the housing
challenges in Reykjavík resembled those of other european cities, following
developments in employment and lifestyles. In Reykjavík as well as other cities,
long-term housing shortages were causing complex planning issues which could
only be managed by a coordinated political effort aimed at improving conditions
of the masses while no less guarding the interests of the upper classes — those
who owned real estate and possessed financial means.
european countries had implemented laws on social housing from 1889 to
1918, and during the third decades of the 20th century the con struction of such
housing provided a field for the architectural innovation known as Functionalism.
Typical examples may still be viewed in major cities, from where this building style
originally spread to smaller places and eventually to Reykjavík.
The search for possible european models of the Reykjavík apartments leads
one to various structures in cities such as vienna, Berlin, and Frankfurt. Nonethe -
less, buildings in Reykjavík were low-rise and the standards were quite different
from those in european metropolises, though various smaller european cities are
fairly similar to Reykjavík, such as the German city of Halle. Following the
practice elsewhere in europe of engaging independent, professional architects to
gunnar sveinbjörn óskarsson96